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Don’t expect an easy getaway if one of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robots is chasing you. The Hyundai-owned company shared a video (below) of humanoid robots successfully completing a parkour routine in an obstacle course for the first time. The Atlas pair of machines skipped holes, vaulted beams, and even coordinated a backflip, all without missing a beat – they could be more graceful than you.
The routine took “months” of development, according to the company, and served as a useful test of the robots’ ability to maintain their balance while changing behavior and coordinating actions. It’s not just canned behavior either. As with other recent tests, Atlas now uses visuals to adapt its movement to the course.
Don’t worry that the bots will be chasing you anytime soon, though. The safe in particular has a failure rate of around 50 percent, and there is still a slight chance of failure at each step. Even a punch at the end didn’t go well, Boston Dynamics said. The company still needs to fine-tune movements that are limited by the very nature of the robots themselves, such as the lack of a spine and the relatively weak arm joints.
As it stands, Atlas is not a production robot like Spot. It is a research model intended to push the boundaries of robotics. However, Boston Dynamics envisions this parkour practice leading to future assistive robots capable of handling a wide variety of tasks with human-like dexterity. Let’s just hope they stay on our safe side.
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