After poor Hitchbot’s cross-country journey came to an end when it was vandalized in Philadelphia, one might think that robotics companies would be hesitant to allow their valuable creations out into the world. Then again, not every robot is as imposing as Boston Dynamics’ Atlas.
Unlike the friendly, youthful-looking Canadian hitchhiker which failed to even leave the Eastern time zone let alone make it to California, Atlas’s Google-owned creators describe the bipedal bot as “strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet,” mobile enough to “negotiate outdoor, rough terrain,” and capable of using its limbs to carry or manipulate objects.
Now, as the Washington Post reported, the beast has been unleashed. Atlas went for its first journey in the wild recently, walking through the woods like “a drunk Iron Man” or “the less-coordinated cousin of a Transformers character,” the newspaper said. Video of the journey, shown by Boston Dynamics at the Fab Lab 11 conference this month, has now gone viral.
The video was significant in that it marked the first time that the robotics firm had ever shared footage of one of its humanoid robot creations making an outdoor excursion, although there are apparently multiple videos of its quadrupeds running in the wild, according to the Post.
Bipedal robot said to be making ‘good progress’
At the conference, Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert explained that Atlas was sent on his excursion as a way to test its balance and ability to adapt to unpredictable environments. During the trip, he was tethered to a power source, the newspaper said, and its makers are hopeful that it eventually be able to perform military or disaster-relief tasks too dangerous for humans.
According to PC World and the Huffington Post, Raibert told those at the MIT conference that Atlas currently lacks the grace of the company’s four-legged robots, and that its gait is shuffling. However, he said that the development team was “making pretty good progress so it has mobility that’s sort of within shooting range” of human capability.
“I’m not saying it can do everything you can do, but you can imagine if we keep pushing we’ll get there,” he added. He also said that sending Atlas out into the woods was an important part of the robot’s progress. “We’re interested in getting this robot out in the world,” Raibert added. “All kinds of stuff happens out there. You can’t predict what it’s going to be like.”
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Feature Image: Boston Dynamics
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