Boston, MA
Boys volleyball All-Scholastics and league All-Stars
ALL-SCHOLASTICS
Carter Barbosa (New Bedford)
Branch Barnes (Natick)
Finn Bell (Wayland)
Henry Bonney (Cambridge)
Owen Ching (Needham)
Adam Christianson (Newton North)
Mason Cleary (BC High)
Brian Cloonan (Needham)
Devin Dellamarggio (Needham)
Drew Eason (Methuen)
Kieran Fagan (Lincoln-Sudbury)
Jack Fan (Lexington)
Arthur Gomes (Milford)
Alex Guerra (Milford)
Samuel Huang (Newton North)
Cameron Johnston (North Quincy)
Harrison Landry (Natick)
Tyrell Lout (Lowell)
Sai Nallajennugari (Acton-Boxboro)
Alec Smagula (Brookline)
Kristaps Vaivars (Brookline)
Simon Vardeh (Newton North)
James Watt (Winchester)
HONORABLE MENTION
Joey Burke (Wayland)
Ben Cleary (BC High)
Victor DeSouza (Malden)
Brady Dwyer (Newton North)
Cody Fitzpatrick (Lowell)
Marco Gomez-Cabo (Andover)
Jake Koterba (Medfield)
Daniel Imasuen (Latin Academy)
James Levesque (Methuen)
Luke Lorence (Needham)
Tighe Lusk (St. John’s Prep)
Francis McGonagle (St. John’s (S))
Joey Newman (Milford)
Liam Quinn (Chelmsford)
Ruben Rodriguez (Revere)
Matt Salerno (Natick)
Tuto Sampaio (Winchester)
Colin Stuessi (Greater New Bedford)
ALL-SCHOLASTICS
CARTER BARBOSA
NEW BEDFORD
The Whalers brought back their well-decorated volleyball tradition with an undefeated regular season, anchored by their senior setter. Barbosa dished 604 assists to set a program record of 1,868 on his career, alongside 140 digs, 42 blocks and a 95-percent service percentage to earn his second Southeastern Conference volleyball MVP award and third overall (soccer). The National Honors Society member is set to study government at Harvard.
BRANCH BARNES
NATICK
An All-Scholastic honorable mention last year, the junior dialed up his game another notch to surpass 500 kills, 100 aces and 100 blocks on his career. Barnes was one of the most dynamic hitters in the state, posting 268 kills, 39 aces and 53 blocks to help lead Natick to its first Div. 1 state semifinal appearance since 2019. He is a High Honors student with a 3.95 GPA, plays volleyball year-round, and looks to play in college.
FINNIAN BELL
WAYLAND
Bell dominated as a sophomore outside hitter, leading Wayland to the Div. 2 state final. Bell earned co-MVP honors of the loaded Dual County League and was the only sophomore to make the Massachusetts Volleyball Coaches Association All-State Team. He plays club volleyball for Smash in pursuit of playing collegiate volleyball.
HENRY BONNEY
CAMBRIDGE
With 220 kills on a .221 hitting percentage, Bonney closed out his high school career as co-MVP of the Dual County League. The two-time DCL All-Star had four kills per set, following up a DCL All-League First Team season in soccer and a second DCL title in basketball. He is an AP Scholar with distinction, a National Honors Society member and graduates with a 4.0 GPA. Bonney heads to Vassar College in the fall.
OWEN CHING
NEEDHAM
Ching led the program to its fourth straight Div. 1 state final appearance as the state’s top libero. The senior passed a 2.4 rate in serve receive and accrued 233 digs, often extending rallies and initiating an effective attack. He was named a Bay State Conference All-Star, as well as to the Massachusetts Volleyball Coaches Association All-State Team.
ADAM CHRISTIANSON
NEWTON NORTH
The consensus top player in the state led Newton North to its first Div. 1 state title. Christianson dished 262 assists in his first year setting, adding to 194 kills on a .271 hitting percentage, 107 digs, 44 blocks and 35 aces to get the Tigers over the hump after falling in the state final last year. Christianson receives his second All-Scholastic nod. He heads to UMass in the fall.
MASON CLEARY
BC HIGH
Cleary wrapped his career with a bang as the Eagles reached their first Div. 1 state quarterfinal, notching 304 kills on a .300 hitting percentage, 295 digs, 60 blocks and 36 aces. He also passed at a 2.27 rating, bolstering a second All-Scholastic nod and MAVCA All-State honors. The senior is a High Honors student and is interested in coaching. He heads to Marquette next year.
BRIAN CLOONAN
NEEDHAM
The senior basketball star excelled in a leading role for the Rockets, posting 245 kills with a .296 hitting efficiency to help power a fourth straight Div. 1 state final appearance. Cloonan earned Bay State Conference All-Star honors and graduated with two state titles in the program’s three-peat. He’s a National Honor Society member and Honor Roll student, set to play basketball at Claremont McKenna College (Calif.) after two All-Scholastic and two BSC MVP selections in the sport.
DEVIN DELLAMARGGIO
NEEDHAM
After sharing setter duties last year, Dellamarggio was one of the state’s best. Needham’s dynasty continued to a fourth straight Div. 1 state final appearance, largely aided by his 681 assists and 168 digs in a Bay State Conference All-Star season. He won two state titles with the program and started on the Rockets basketball team. The senior heads to Saint Louis University in the fall.
DREW EASON
METHUEN
Eason followed impressive seasons in football and basketball by anchoring Methuen’s first Merrimack Valley Conference title since 1998. His 254 kills, 118 digs, 29 blocks and 17 aces won the MVC I Player of the Year award and helped the Rangers reach the Div. 1 state quarterfinals. He’s a two-time all-conference first team selection and a High Honors student (4.03 GPA). The football star heads to Stonehill next year.
KIERAN FAGAN
LINCOLN-SUDBURY
The 6-foot-1 outside hitter’s career finishes with over 500 kills and 500 digs, posting 187 kills, 175 digs, 14 blocks and 20 aces as a senior this year. Fagan is a two-time Dual County League All-Star and two-time DCL All-League selection. A two-sport athlete, he is set for Elon University in the fall.
JACK FAN
LEXINGTON
A four-year letterman, the senior wrapped an impressive setting career at Lexington by snapping the program’s assisting single-season (658) and career (1,271) records this year. Fan also notched 101 digs, 35 aces, 32 blocks and 25 kills to earn his second Middlesex League All-Conference nod. He’s a four-year Honor Roll student and National Merit Scholarship finalist with a 3.98 unweighted GPA, bound for Harvard in the fall.
ARTHUR GOMES
MILFORD
Gomes proved one of the state’s most versatile players as a libero and outside hitter, partially anchoring Milford to a third straight state semifinal appearance. The senior two-time All-Scholastic had 257 digs and a 2.28 serve receive rating, along with 66 kills and 32 aces. He is a QuestBridge Scholar, AP Scholar, High Honor Roll student, and he plays the saxophone. Gomes is set for Middlebury College.
ALEX GUERRA
MILFORD
Guerra erupted for a school-record 329 kills his senior year to set Milford’s new all-time mark with 1,012 while leading the Scarlet Hawks to a third straight state semifinals appearance. The two-time All-Scholastic also surpassed 500 career digs with 189, earning him a second MAVCA All-State Team selection. He’s a High Honor Roll and Honor Roll student, set to study two years at Mass Bay before heading to Bentley.
SAMUEL HUANG
NEWTON NORTH
Huang’s elite athleticism in the middle played a major role for Newton North to reach consecutive Div. 1 state finals, including the program’s first state title this spring. The senior Bay State Conference All-Star had 126 kills to make the MAVCA All-State Team, finishing with 367 on his career. Huang heads to UMass Amherst in the fall.
CAMERON JOHNSTON
NORTH QUINCY
The three-time All-Scholastic selection didn’t slow up in his final year, sounding off for 335 kills and 195 digs. Johnston’s 6-foot-6 frame and athleticism made him one of the more daunting hitters in the state over the last few years, leading North Quincy to its first Div. 2 state final appearance in 2022 and a state quarterfinal trip in 2023. He finishes with 935 kills, 474 digs and 100 blocks, and is set to play at Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.).
HARRISON LANDRY
NATICK
Landry was stellar in his senior season, posting 545 assists, 44 kills and 28 blocks as the RedHawks reached the Div. 1 state semifinals and were a set away from reaching the title game. The three-year captain closed his career with 1,345 assists and 104 kills en route to two All-Scholastic selections. A High Honors student, Landry is bound for Sacred Heart to study exercise science.
TYRELL LOUT
LOWELL
Lout dished out 450 assists this year after distributing 500 last year. The senior second-year starting setter earned a second All-Scholastic selection and is a two-time Merrimack Valley Conference First Team All-Conference selection. He is a National Honor Society member and made a state semifinal appearance in 2022. Lout heads to UMass-Lowell for computer science and hopes to continue his volleyball career.
SAI NALLAJENNUGARI
ACTON-BOXBORO
Nallajennugari had 246 kills and 41 blocks as a senior middle. He earned a Dual County League All-League nod and led the team to a second straight DCL title. Nallajennugari is a High Honor Roll student, a National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student, and a two-time President’s Volunteer Service Award recipient. Also a volunteer at hospitals and leader of the school’s Red Cross Club, the senior is bound for a six-year BA/MD program at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine.
ALEC SMAGULA
BROOKLINE
The sophomore built off an impressive freshman season, posting over 600 assists to already crack 1,000 on his young career. A two-year captain, Smagula notched over 100 digs as well and was a Bay State Conference All-Star in leading Brookline to the Div. 1 state quarterfinals. He is a standout in beach volleyball as a member of the USA Beach U17 National Team Development Program.
KRISTAPS VAIVARS
BROOKLINE
Vaivars had a breakout season for Brookline with 290 kills, leading the team in hitting efficiency as part of a trip to the Div. 1 state quarterfinals. The junior standout is committed to his craft in the sport as a grass and beach volleyball player and is headed to AAU nationals with his Smash club team. Vaivars plans on studying business and playing volleyball in college.
SIMON VARDEH
NEWTON NORTH
Following up an All-Scholastic honorable mention last year, Vardeh proved as elite as any on the outside to fuel a loaded and well-balanced Newton North squad. He delivered huge performances in the state final and state semifinals, contributing over 225 total kills to the Tigers’ first Div. 1 state title and their second straight state final appearance. He was selected to the MAVCA All-State team and was a Bay State Conference All-Star. He was a Wharton Global High School Investment Competition semifinalist.
JAMES WATT
WINCHESTER
Watt closed out his career as one of the most dominant players in Winchester history, notching 375 kills on a .285 hitting percentage while racking up 198 digs. His 28-kill and 26-kill performances this year marked the two highest single-game kill totals in school history to help him graduate with the program’s second most kills all-time. The three-year starter heads to UMass in the fall.
LEAGUE ALL-STARS
BAY STATE CONFERENCE
Anthony Volpe (Braintree); Kristaps Vaivars, Alec Smagula (Brookline); Adam Chan (Framingham); Harrison Landry, Branch Barnes, Matt Salerno (Natick); Owen Ching, Brian Cloonan, Luke Lorence, Devin Dellmarrgio (Needham); Adam Christianson, Simon Vardeh, Sam Huang, Brady Dwyer (Newton North); Luke Thompson (Weymouth)
MVP: Anthony Volpe, Adam Christianson
BOSTON CITY LEAGUE
Daniel Imasuen, Teddy Stylianopolous (Latin Academy); Ivan Tran (Madison Park); Max Dong, Otavio Perk, Tochukwu Njoku (O’Bryant)
MVP: Daniel Imasuen
COMMONWEALTH ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
UPPER DIVISION: Mamady Camara, George Robles, Ason Oeun, Ayden Young (Greater Lowell): Maddox Nguyen, Matty Bellerose, Matteo Wright, Luke Dennis (Lowell Catholic); Keegan Doherty, Kelvince Heang, Anthony Rubim (Greater Lawrence); Malcom Edwards, Eddie Butler (Salem)
LOWER DIVISION: Felipe De Oliveira, Elmer Duran, Ederick Gonzalez, Keury Mena (Lynn Tech); Bryan Tolentino, Darren Ath-ly, Brandon Rabanales, Xavier Pena (KIPP); Ayden Rogers, Luke Williams, Monireach Kong (Innovation); Noah Mercier, Matt Venturi, Miguel Robles (Whittier)
DUAL COUNTY LEAGUE
Kieran Fagan, Ben Gottlieb, Timmy Kearney, Ryan Hebrlig (Lincoln-Sudbury); Sameer Vasudeo, Sai Nallajennugari, Part Pawar, Obi Umeh (Acton-Boxboro); Tashi Mulug-Labrang (Cambridge); Zach Weiss, Ashish Uhlmann (Newton South); Joey Burke, Finn Bell, Liam Frenzel, Joe Kelly (Wayland); Henry Bonney, Eric Su, James Rochberg, Brennan Loud (Cambridge); Nicholas Tsie, Johan Pineda (Boston Latin); Dillon Power (WA); Bentley Huang (Weston/Waltham)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Henry Bonney, Finn Bell
GREATER BOSTON LEAGUE
Ahmed Abdelrahman (Lynn English); Brandon Rodriguez, Xavier Gonzalez, Jason Rodrigues (Chelsea); Ellis Vasquez (Medford); Ozzy Marks, Juelz Johnson (Somerville); Viet Tran, Long Pham (Lynn Classical); Aiden Chen, Edward Mei, Kenton Nguyen, Victor DeSouza (Malden); Henrique Franca, Kalleb Miranda (Everett); Ruben Rodriguez, Isaac Portillo, Larry Claudio (Revere)
MVP: Victor DeSouza, Ruben Rodriguez
MERRIMACK VALLEY CONFERENCE
Marco Gomez-Cabo, Noah Chanthaboum, Griffin Connell (Andover); Michael Ngyuen, Jaithain Medina (Central Catholic); Liam Quinn, Zach Spengler, Jack MacPhee (Chelmsford); Audom Mok (Dracut); David Castillo (Lawrence); Cody Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Lout, Ceazar Joseph (Lowell); Drew Eason, James Levesque, Shawn LaDuke (Methuen); Gyan Mistry, Prady Mistry (North Andover)
MVP: Drew Eason, Jaithain Medina
MIDDLESEX LEAGUE
Jamie Watt, Justin Girott, Kirk Levesque, Adam Lubomirski (Winchester); John Fullerton, Jack Fan, Nicholas Sanchez de Rojas, Aleesandro Luciani (Lexington); Matt Raines (Woburn); Ian Lewis (Arlington); Tony Mathew (Arlington); Erik Roberts (Belmont); Rubens DaSilva Jr. (Wakefield)
MVP: Jamie Watt
SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE
Carter Barbosa, Juan Grau Montano (New Bedford); Chris Milford, Daniel Matuszer, Josh Sanon (Durfee); Jason Bryant, Santiago Duquette (Brockton)
MVP: Carter Barbosa
TRI-VALLEY LEAGUE
Zach Mantegani, Aiden Gibbs (Bellingham); Ian Hoskins, Connar Dexter (Dighton-Rehoboth); Henry Kiggen (Millis); Jake Koterba, Hayden Hillenmeyer, Thomas Waters (Medfield); Anthony D’Amore, Andrew Strojny (Norton); Benjamin Berry, Liam Foley (King Philip); Sebastian Eugene, Khyrell Miller (Norwood); Logan DeMarzo, Haden Houchantara (Nipmuc)
MVP: Ian Hoskins
Boston, MA
Between Providence And Boston Is A Vibrant Massachusetts Town Bursting With Diverse Entertainment – Islands
For some, New England might conjure images of skating rinks, Colonial architecture, and quaint villages. Others might picture waterfront cities like Boston or Providence, rich in history and — in the case of Boston, especially — towering skyscrapers. As you drive between these two capitals along Interstate 95 — a trip that should take about an hour — you’ll pass by towns like Foxborough. For the last few decades, this little community has developed a reputation as a hub of diverse entertainment, making it a worthwhile pit-stop as you journey along the East Coast.
If you’ve ever watched the Patriots kick off from Gillette Stadium on TV, then you’re already familiar with this Massachusetts town. The stadium, considered one of the 10 best in the U.S. for fun activities and events, was completed in 2002, but Foxborough itself has served as the home base for the Patriots since the 1970s. In the decades since, the team has attracted millions of visitors.
Foxborough — also spelled “Foxboro” — is normally home to about 6,500 year-rounders, but it floods with thousands more people on game or concert days. In total, the stadium can accommodate over 65,000 fans. When you’re not at Gillette Stadium, which is less than 4 miles from the heart of downtown, you’ll find plenty of other things to do. There’s live theater, outdoor recreational opportunities, and an eclectic mix of dining options, each deserving some exploration.
NFL games and Cranberry Bogs in Foxborough
Foxborough is located roughly 30 miles from Boston and just over 20 miles from Providence. In the area, you’ll find plenty of suburbs with historic downtowns and lush trails, like Hopedale, but Foxborough, nicknamed the “Gem of Norfolk County,” has one of the most diverse mixes of entertainment options. Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center, for instance, housed in a 1920s-era silent movie theater, offers a busy calendar of comedy and musical performances year-round.
Football fans will also enjoy visiting the Patriots Hall in Patriot Place Mall, which is open daily for $10 per standard ticket. Here, you’ll be able to watch interviews with former players and stroll through a range of exhibits. “I liked all the different memorabilia from all different players all labeled with who and what milestone they came from,” reads one review on Tripadvisor. Afterward, check out the dozens of shopping and dining options in the surrounding mall, which also has its own commuter rail station and connected hotels. Gillette Stadium is next door; along with the Patriots, the venue has hosted performers like Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, and The Rolling Stones.
The Ocean Spray Cranberry Bogs and surrounding nature trails are also part of Patriot Place. Planted back in the 1920s, these bogs continue to thrive. They’re typically harvested in October, when visitors can attend the annual Harvest Festival. At this fun and family-friendly local event, you’ll be able to enjoy an inflatable corn maze, a beer garden, live music, and more.
Where to eat and sleep in Foxborough
As you explore Foxborough, you’ll find a range of dining options, from classic breakfast plates at The Commons, to artisanal burgers at Union Straw. As one reviewer writes about the latter on Google, “[This is a] Gorgeous venue, one of our favorite daytime lunch or date places. All food options are 10/10, truffle burger, gnocchi bolognese, and the flatbread pizzas are delicious and the fries are perfect.”
If you’re planning to spend the night rather than hit the road after a burger at Union Straw or a long football game, you’ll have a range of vacation rentals, local inns, and chain hotels to choose from. The Rally Point Inn & Pub, for instance, is within walking distance of local restaurants and shops. It also has its own sport-themed bar, weekly trivia nights, and karaoke. Just make sure to book your stay well in advance, as places tend to fill up before popular events.
The nearest airport is also in Providence, but you’ll find more flight options at Boston Logan International. Travelers can also opt for the “Event Train,” which runs between Patriot Place and Boston’s South Station on game days, providing a convenient way to avoid the notorious traffic. Besides the I-95 drive from Providence to Boston, there are plenty of other New England road trip tours you can take through gorgeous small towns. That being said, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a destination that attracts as many annual visitors as Foxborough.
SALT LAKE CITY — Up until the past month or so, Clayton Young wasn’t sure if he’d make it to the starting line of the 130th Boston Marathon.
By Monday afternoon, he was walking away from the course with a stunning new personal best.
Young finished the 26.2-mile point-to-point course in a personal-record time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 41 seconds Monday, good for 11th place in an all-time year. Zouhair Talbi ran the fastest time ever by an American, finishing fifth overall in 2:03:45 and Jess McClain broken the American women’s record in 2:20:49.
In all, seven American men and 12 American women finished in the top 20 of the prestigious marathon — including Young, whose streak of six consecutive top-10 finishes dating back to 2023 (including the Paris Olympics) ended, albeit barely.
But donning the No. 24 bib and a brand-new kit for new sponsor Brooks, the former BYU national champion who prepped at American Fork High jumped into the lead pack from the start and never looked back as he broke his previous lifetime best set from the 2023 Chicago marathon and the Olympic trials nearly a year later by close to 3 seconds.
“With only nine weeks of training. … I was really happy to be a 2:05 guy,” Young told FloTrack after the race. “Obviously, falling outside the top 10 is a little disappointing, but I’m really happy with the time.”
The final finish was only the faintest disappointment in the incredibly fast field.
Young’s finish as the third fastest American on Monday marks the fifth-fastest time by an American man all-time in Boston. Charles Hicks finished 50 seconds behind Talbi in 2:04:35, with Young coming in just over a minute later to cheers of friends and family.
His former BYU teammate, Canadian international Rory Linkletter, finished 14th with a personal-best time of 2:06:04. Former BYU runner Michael Ottesen finished 52nd in 2:16:06, and Utah resident Todd Garner finished his 11th running of the Boston Marathon all-time in 3:14:35.
“I think we’re in an era in distance running, on the men and women’s sides, but especially the women’s side, where we’re all making each other so much better every time we line up with one another,” McClain told the Associated Press. “And I think it’s just going to get stronger and stronger.”
Former Utah Valley and BYU runner Kodi Kleven finished 14th in the women’s race with a personal-best time of 2:24:48. The three-time St. George marathon course record holder from Mount Pleasant led for large portions of the race en route to her qualifying time for the 2026 U.S. Olympic marathon trials.
Former BYU standout and Utah State coach Madey Dickson, who also runs trains locally with Run Elite Program, beat her previous personal record in 2:28:12 — good for 18th in the women’s race.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
For an industrial robot built for the rigors of factories and power plants, tidying up a living room may seem like a light day at the office for Spot. Yet, a recent video of the robot picking up shoes and soda cans in a residential home represents the promise of AI models in robotics. In this case, Google’s visual-language model (VLM) Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 was empowering Spot with embodied reasoning.
This particular demo grew out of a 2025 hackathon at Boston Dynamics that built on prior projects using Large Language Models (LLMs) and Visual Foundation Models (VFMs) to enable Spot to contextualize its environment and engage in more complex autonomous actions than a typical Autowalk mission. Rather than write formal software logic or a “state machine” program that defines each step of a given task, we interacted with Gemini Robotics using conversational language. In turn, it communicated with Spot on our behalf.
A Robust SDK and Natural Language Prompts Save Time
Using Spot’s SDK, we developed a layer that facilitated interaction between Gemini Robotics and Spot’s application programming interface (API). The API normally gives developers access to the robot’s capabilities to create custom applications or behaviors. For example, researchers at Meta have used Spot to test how an AI system could locate and retrieve objects it had never seen before.
Our ability to engage Gemini Robotics using natural language prompts was a huge timesaver, compared to traditional programming. We told Gemini Robotics it had access to a mobile robot equipped with cameras and a robotic arm. It also had a finite set of tools it could use to control the robot. A tool is a lightweight script that performs some internal logic and translates inputs from Gemini Robotics to actual API calls. We limited the actions to navigating between locations, capturing images, identifying objects, grasping them, and placing them somewhere else.
The extent of our SDK means there are great examples one could leverage to add more access to the API with minimal development.
Giving Gemini Robotics a Baseline
To start we needed to explain to Gemini Robotics what we wanted it to do. We did experience a learning curve when writing these baseline prompts. Simple instructions like “put down an object” or “take a picture” weren’t detailed enough to produce expected behavior. We had to add context in our descriptions as we refined each tool.
A good example is the detailed prompt for the “TakePicture” tool:
This command will cause the robot to take a picture with the specified camera. There is some nuance to choosing the correct camera. Once arriving at a location using GoTo, you should always start by taking a picture with the gripper camera, because it's the most informative.
If the robot has arrived at location and is already holding an object, you can do one of two things:
1. Immediately call PutDown
2. Search the area with either of the front cameras. The front cameras are low to the ground, so if you're trying to put things on an elevated surface, they won't give you useful information.In this example, we gave Gemini Robotics no detailed description of the robot’s chassis or arm. Instead, we simply explained that Spot’s front cameras would be too low to photograph objects on elevated surfaces. We were able to iterate rapidly, as small changes in wording produced noticeably better results. Once it had this set of basic tools through the API, Gemini Robotics could sequence Spot’s actions and follow the handwritten instructions on a whiteboard on the day of the demonstration.
How Gemini Robotics and Spot Collaborate
Until the robot powers on, Gemini Robotics has no context for what specific tasks we might ask it to perform in a given demo. We only provided simple written instructions, such as, “Make sure all of the shoes at the front door are on the shoe rack.” Gemini Robotics evaluated images from Spot’s cameras and identified objects in the scene that matched the instructions. These objects became the reference points for Spot’s navigational and manipulation systems.
In many respects, Gemini Robotics was identical to an operator manually driving Spot using its tablet controller. For example, to pick up an object with Spot, an operator positions the robot near the object and then uses a grasp wizard to identify the target object. The operator provides high-level direction and Spot figures out the exact details. In this demonstration, Gemini Robotics functioned as both the operator and the tablet sending commands to the robot. This freed us up to act more like a team lead, providing a high-level to-do list and trusting Spot and Gemini Robotics do the rest.
Call and Response
When Gemini Robotics engages a given tool, the tool responds with results and context, such as, “I picked up the object,” or “I can’t pick up something while my hand is full.” Gemini Robotics then makes adjustments on the fly based on this feedback from Spot. For example, to pick up shoes, Gemini Robotics requests an image, identifies the shoes in that image, and calls the “pickup” command. By creating fundamental tools that semantically flow in conversation, Gemini Robotics can manage the sequence of tasks required to clean up the room. Spot’s existing software stack manages the locomotion, navigation, and manipulation of the robot itself.
It’s important to note Gemini Robotics has strict boundaries in this scenario. It can’t invent new capabilities or control Spot beyond what is available through the API. This keeps Spot’s behavior predictable, while still allowing Gemini Robotics to adapt to different situations.
A Force Multiplier for Developers
For developers already working with Spot, this research has tremendous potential. Through Spot’s SDK, they have access to a robust toolkit of capabilities. Companies use these tools today to build applications for inspection, research, and industrial data analysis, among others.
An AI model like Gemini Robotics offers a way to expand those applications more rapidly. Rather than write extensive task logic on top of Spot’s APIs, developers can experiment with having AI systems interpret natural language instructions and dynamically choose to engage the robot. As a result, models like Gemini Robotics can act as force multipliers, amplifying the reliable toolkit and robust performance that is already delivering value for Boston Dynamics customers.
Our Next-Token Prediction for Spot and Gemini Robotics
Although this is still an experimental step and not a hardened application, it illustrates a compelling direction for robotics and physical AI. Robots like Spot are already extremely capable of navigating complex and changeable environments, collecting data and sensor readings, and manipulating objects. Rather than reinventing the wheel, AI foundation models offer a new way to expand these capabilities in new settings and to new applications.
Physical AI is a rapidly evolving field and our team is leading the way in the lab and in real applications of AI empowered robots. While we are early in our formal partnership with Google Deepmind, we’re excited for what the future holds with Atlas and we’ve already rolled out practical enhancements for Spot and Orbit, with AIVI-Learning powered by Google Gemini Robotics ER 1.6. This next evolution of our AI Visual Inspection tool unlocks a new level of visual intelligence, as users benefit from shared expertise bringing a deeper level of contextual intelligence to Spot and Orbit. Model improvements automatically happen behind the scenes, adding more capabilities to the same software and hardware.
Today, this demo points to a future where users can rely more on natural language to guide Spot’s actions, rather than complex code. The engineer’s role shifts toward setting goals and objectives. The multi-modal robot foundation model interprets the instructions to form complex and adaptive plans and Spot executes the action.
This article was contributed by Issac Ross and Nikhil Devraj, engineers on the Spot team.
-
New York48 minutes agoHarvey Weinstein’s Third Trial on Rape Charge Opens in Manhattan
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoMan jumps into action to save girlfriend in crash involving teen driver fleeing MSP
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoSanta Rosa: The 1906 earthquake almost lost to history
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoJohnston scores twice, Stars hold off Wild in Game 2 to even West 1st Round | NHL.com
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoBetween Providence And Boston Is A Vibrant Massachusetts Town Bursting With Diverse Entertainment – Islands
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoMinnesota Timberwolves vs Denver Nuggets Apr 20, 2026 Game Summary
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoAthletics Beat Mariners in Seattle 6-4
-
San Diego, CA2 hours agoEl Cajon crisis unit opens, bringing county’s total to eight