Pups that carry your shopping are one thing – but what about the mechanical canines being bought up in the US by ICE? Or the mutant mutts due to be developed by a startup called Warhound? Have you ever wanted to hang out with a dog with no fur, no face and a chip in its shoulder? If so, I suggest you head to San Francisco, where a startup called Dimensional has been paying people $20 (£15) an hour to walk four-legged robot dogs .
This story was curated by Byte Panorama from reporting published by Science | The Guardian. Our summary condenses the essential facts available at the time of collection; it does not reproduce the full article. Details, quotes and later updates may appear in the original report.