Products You May Like
Boston Dynamics announced earlier this week that it was retiring its hydraulic Atlas humanoid robot. But the company best known for its creepy robot videos isn’t giving up on bipedal machines. Boston Dynamics has unveiled a new electric Atlas that doesn’t just move like a human—it improves on human flexibility. Naturally, there’s a video demonstrating the new Atlas robot, and it’s a bit unsettling.
The hydraulic Atlas could walk, run, and even do parkour. Boston Dynamics spent years perfecting the technology that lets Atlas balance on two legs, which is seen as an important skill for robots. After all, they have to inhabit a world built around human bodies. However, Atlas’ hydraulic tubes were a weak point, often blowing out when the robot attempted tricky maneuvers. Boston Dynamics gave the old Atlas a video send-off featuring some of its best bloopers.
Consider that a refresher on how Atlas worked because the new electric version is a totally different machine. The latest Boston Dynamics video begins with a humanoid robot lying flat on the floor. Then, it channels the little girl from The Exorcist. It folds its legs backward to bring itself to a standing position, facing away from the camera. Atlas casually spins its head around, revealing a glowing ring surrounding a circular “face” with embedded cameras and sensors. The torso follows a moment later, so the entire construct faces the camera. Finally, the head and torso spin back around, and Atlas walks slowly out of frame.
Atlas has dropped a lot of weight with this move to electric. The clunky “backpack” torso with its pump and network of hydraulic tubes is gone, replaced with a streamlined chassis free of exposed wiring. That allows the limbs to rotate fully and bend in ways hydraulics would not allow. With its more malleable shape, the electric Atlas has moved past the almost human movement of the original to become a little bit superhuman. “It’s going to be capable of a set of motions that people aren’t,” Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter tells TechCrunch. “There will be very practical uses for that.”
Boston Dynamics was never going to be able to sell a hydraulic robot, but the electric version might lead to a viable commercial robot. The company plans to begin testing the new Atlas in Hyundai factories early next year (Boston Dynamics is owned by Hyundai). A final version of Atlas could arrive in a few years, and it should look very similar to the robot Boston Dynamics is showing off today. This would be the company’s third retail robot, following the quadrupedal Spot and the box-lifting Stretch. The company has not talked pricing for its next robot, but the much simpler Spot costs about $75,000.