The age of robotics is heating up as robots are now doing things we previously thought were impossible to engineer and program. Atlas, is an agile and very talented robot created by Boston Dynamics. One of its most amazing characteristics is the ability to do backflips. Beyond doing backflips because it is a robot with a humanoid build it also has the ability to walk, jump and balance itself.
Check out this video to see Atlas walk, hop, leap, rebalance itself and perform an amazing backflip before raising its arms in a sign of victory!
To be clear: Humanoids aren’t supposed to be able to do this. It's extremely difficult to make a bipedal robot that can move effectively, much less kick off a tumbling routine. The beauty of four-legged robots is that they balance easily, both at rest and as they’re moving, but bipeds like Atlas have to balance a bulky upper body on just two legs. Accordingly, you could argue that roboticists can better spend their time on non-human forms that are easier to master.
This is an interesting arguement but I'm quite sure humans find themselves magnetically pulled to creations made in their own form. Although roboticists should continue to advance the field of non-human form robotic engineering, there's nothing wrong with tinkering around developing humanoid models as well!
But there’s a case to be made for Atlas and the other bipeds like Cassie (which walks more like a bird than a human). We live in a world built for humans, so there may be situations where you want to deploy a robot that works like a human. If you have to explore a contaminated nuclear facility, for instance, you’ll want something that can climb stairs and ladders, and turn valves. So a humanoid may be the way to go.
I'll be honest about my thoughts regarding the deployment of robots that work like humans. I don't see this application doing much to help humanity as in my opinion there are already plenty of humans that are in dire need of opportunity and training, essentially they are without a job and capable of learning and our world would be more inclusive if it devoted resources to making them a bigger part of society.
Either way this is an amazing accomplishment for Boston Dynamics! The Atlas robot is extremely impressive and when I saw this video my jaw dropped in amazement. I had never seen anything like this in the field. We truly are building the future! Lets hope its a future we all want to be a part of.
Thanks for reading this article. Please leave your thoughts and feedback below and let me know what you think of the new Atlas robot!
Source:
Boston Dynamics' Atlas Robot Does Backflips Now and It's Full-Tilt Insane - Wired