Robot delivery dog dumps hot steaming packages on your doorstep [video]

This story is about a delivery robot, not a home energy upgrade, so it has no real bearing on your house or any rebate program. A company called Robot.com has unveiled a concept delivery robot shaped like a dog, called R-dog, meant to drop packages at doorsteps. It's built to look approachable, with expressive eyes and a furry tail, and it can supposedly climb stairs and get around obstacles better than the boxier delivery robots already on some city streets.

The bigger twist is that R-dog doubles as a moving billboard. It carries screens that play ads while it delivers packages, and its cameras and sensors are also used to track who looks at those ads, measuring engagement for advertisers. The company says it limits how long it keeps this data and lets people request access, correction, or deletion of their own information by email, though how a passerby would even know to do that isn't clear.

None of this involves weatherization, heat pumps, insulation, or any rebate program that would affect your home's energy costs. It is simply a look at where delivery-robot and advertising technology is headed, tested so far on streets in Miami Beach. If you're weighing actual home upgrades, this one is worth skipping.