Boston Dynamics have built a new robot and it’s their scariest yet
Just over eight years ago a robot Atlas was introduced to the world by Boston Dynamics and we collectively freaked out.
But nearly decade later, the humanoid that has been learning to do everything from walking like a toddler to some pretty impressive parkour has retired.
However, rather than breathing a collective sigh of relief, you need to see the machine’s replacement.
The new Atlas is younger, smarter and way more flexible, as the video above shows, and it’s pretty terrifying.
But before the old Atlas was consigned to a storage unit (or more likely a museum), its creators have had one last bit of fun, releasing a farewell video that shows some of its best/worst stumbles – including a fart that turned out to be hydraulic fluid.
But like humans, Atlas I learned from its mistakes. Over time, it dealt with tumbles by waving its arms to regain balance or did some fancy footwork to remain upright.
The new Atlas is fully electric and, in the words of his creators has ‘an advanced control system and state-of-the-art hardware [that] give the robot the power and balance to demonstrate advanced athletics and agility’.
They added: ‘We use Atlas to explore the potential of the humanoid form factor, leveraging the robot’s whole body to move with grace, speed, and dexterity.
‘Atlas demonstrates our efforts to develop the next generation of robots with the mobility, perception, and intelligence needed to be commonplace in our lives.’
The life and times of Atlas The First
Atlas was revealed to the world in February 2016.
In November 2017, footage showed the robot jumping on boxes and doing a backflip.
A video released in May 2018 showed Atlas running on grass and jumping over a log.
In October the same year Atlas ran around while jumping over boxes.
Nearly 12 months later, and things really picked up for Atlas in September 2019 when it started showing off its parkour skills.
As a Christmas present, Boston Dynamics treated us to a video of Atlas and some friends dancing to ‘Do You Love Me? (see below)
In August 2021, another video showed a couple of Atlas robots doigna parkour run, but what we enjoyed most was the blooper real.
Atlas: the lowdown
Boston Dynamics first revealed Atlas as part of a robotic competition funded by the Department of Defense to speed up the development of advanced robotic technology.
Standing around 190cm tall and weighing 150kg, the earliest iteration still had a lot to learn.
Ten years on, the parkour-nailing, backflipping, dancing version (it can do the running man) is a more slight 152cm tall and 86kg, with 28 hydraulic joints.