Boston Dynamics Atlas — the Most Dynamic Humanoid Robot
The second floor of Boston Dynamics headquarters in Massachusetts, U.S., overflowed with energy and enthusiasm as two humanoid robots took charge of the entire floor, performed backflips, danced, and jumped on plywood panels. While their movements seemed almost perfect to the eyes of ordinary people, the robotics engineers at Boston Dynamics did not make a big deal out of their innovation. And surprisingly, they got back to work to overcome the challenges and perfect the movements of the two humanoid robots — Atlas.
After months of hard work and determination to perfect Atlas’ movements, the Hyundai-owned robotics company released a video of the robots performing parkour routines to showcase its upgrades. At the end of the reveal, one of the two robots pumped its arm like a league-pitcher — also known as ‘Cha-Ching’ by the robotics team.
Even though it looked near-perfect to others at the launch, the robotics engineers at Boston Dynamics immediately were able to spot an error. Atlas showed a minute stutter in its step. Atlas’ Team Lead, Scott Kuindersma, said: “If you watch the video with utmost attention, it looks a little wonky. We are going to replace the behavior we have tested before, so we have some confidence it will work.”
History of Atlas
In 2013, Boston Dynamics launched Atlas for research purposes. The goal was to push the limits of whole-body movement in bots. Atlas was at first designed and programmed for search and rescue tasks. In any case, its highly advanced control system and hardware gave it the ability and balance to show human-level agility.
The 1.5-meter tall robot consists of valves, a custom battery, and a compact mobile hydraulic system to power its 28 hydraulic joints. It gets its diverse and agile movements because of its control system.
The algorithms make it possible to reason through confusing interactions that involve the environment and the whole body to plan mobility. Hence, Atlas moves with a speed of 1.5 m/s. Weighing at 89 kgs, the robots’ 3D printed parts give it the required strength-to-weight ratio needed for handstands, leaps, backflips, and somersaults.
