Atlas lies motionless in a prone position on an interlocking gym mat. The only soundtrack is the hum of electric motors. It's not exactly quiet, but it's nothing compared to the hydraulic jerk of its ancestors.
As the camera pans around the robot's back, the robot's legs bend at the knees. It's a natural move at first, before going into creepy territory like a Sam Raimi movie. The robot, which appeared to be lying on its back, effectively switched positions with this clever rotation of its legs.
Atlas turns his back to the camera when fully standing. His head rotates about 180 degrees and then his torso follows. It stands for a moment, giving the camera its first clear view of its head, a ring light that forms the perimeter of a perfectly round screen. When Atlas moves away from the camera and out of frame, the torso again follows her 180 degrees of the head.
A day after discontinuing the hydraulic version of its humanoid robot, Boston Dynamics just announced that Atlas, like Bob Dylan before it, will be electric.
The pace is fast, and the steps are still a little jerky, but much more fluid than many new commercial humanoids we've introduced in the last few years. If anything, its gait reminds me of the cocky confidence of Atlas' cousin Spot. Spots are a branch of the evolutionary tree that diverged from humanoids several generations ago.
all new atlas
The new version of the robot is virtually unrecognizable. Gone is the heavy torso, arched legs and plated armor from above. There are no exposed cables anywhere in the sleek new mechanical skeleton. The company, which has fended off reactionary complaints about Robopocalypse for decades, has opted for a kinder, gentler design than both the original Atlas and more modern robots like Figure 01 and Tesla Optimus. .
The new robot's aesthetic is more similar to Agility's Digit and Apptronik's Phoenix. The traffic light robot has a softer, more cartoonish design. According to the video, it's an “all-new Atlas.” Boston Dynamics bucked its own trend by maintaining research names for products that positioned them for commercialization. SpotMini is now Spot. The handle is now stretchable. But for now, Atlas is still Atlas.
“We may reconsider this once we're ready to actually build and deliver it at scale,” Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter told TechCrunch. “But for now, I think it's worth keeping the brand.”
The executive's statement indicates that the project is still in its early stages. Under Boston Dynamics' current schedule, the electric Atlas will begin pilot testing at Hyundai's facility early next year, with full-scale production several years away.
“Starting next year, we will be conducting field trials with Hyundai,” Player said. “We already have Hyundai equipment on site. We've been working on this for a while. To make this successful, we need more than just good technology. We need to really understand the use case and There needs to be enough productivity to make the investment in robots worthwhile.”
do 180
Image credit: Boston Dynamics
The most impressive thing about the 40-second “All New Atlas” teaser is the robot's movements. These are reminders that building humanoid robots doesn't necessarily mean making them as human-like as possible. As an investor pointed out to me many years ago, billions of years of evolution have not made us perfect machines. If we're going to create machines in our own image, why not create machines that can do things we can't do?
“We built a set of high-performance, highly flexible custom actuators for most of the joints,” Player says. “It has a wide range of motion. This is really the power of an elite athlete packed into this small package, and we used that package throughout the robot.”
One thing to keep in mind when watching this footage is that Boston Dynamics has made a name for itself through decades of viral videos. Recent additions to the canon are as likely to introduce “bot” dance moves as they are to be truly useful in an industrial setting. So it's hard to separate what the company considers actual features from what it just flaunts.
For example, starting in a prone position is an opportunity to show off a cool reverse craw trick, but it's also practical. As Boston Dynamics happily demonstrated in their Hydraulic Atlas farewell video, falling is part of the job, and so is getting back up. In fact, most modern industrial robots require human intervention when they malfunction. On the other hand, if robots can dust themselves off and get back to work, productivity will be greatly increased.
The system's ability to power up for just a penny also contributes significantly to its productivity potential. This reminds me of his Digit demo from Agility (especially since the company is the only demo system of its kind on this scale). There, the robot walks to a shelf, turns around, walks to a conveyor belt, turns around, and walks back again. As he multiplies that task hundreds or even thousands of times a day, he begins to see the value of saving those precious seconds.
“It allows for a series of movements that humans cannot do,” the player explains. “It would have very practical applications.”
In tight spaces, it is also important to significantly reduce the robot's turning radius. Keep in mind that these machines are brownfield solutions. This means it's designed to connect to existing workflows in existing spaces. Improved maneuverability can ultimately mean the difference between working within the settings and redoing the layout.
head and hands
Image credit: Boston Dynamics
The needle is not new for the video and has appeared before in a hydraulic model. But they also represent the company's decision not to fully consider human design as a guiding force. The difference here is simply choosing his 3 fingers instead of his 4 fingers on the end his effector.
“There's a lot of complexity to the hand,” says the player. “When you take on the world with actuators, you have to be reliable and robust. So we designed these with less than five fingers to control complexity. We designed them with less than five fingers. We want a compliant grasp that can adapt to different shapes and understand when it's in contact with a wealth of on-board sensing.
Internally, the head may be the most controversial part of the design. The large, round display has a shade that resembles a makeup mirror.
“That was one of the design elements that we struggled with a lot,” says Player. “Everyone else was shaped like a humanoid. We wanted it to be different. We want it to have a friendly, open feel. It provides a palette for display. Of course, there are sensors embedded in it, but the shape is actually meant to indicate familiarity, which will be important in interacting with these things in the future. I guess.”
atlas for christmas
Image credit: Boston Dynamics
In the decade since the introduction of the Hydro Atlas, the landscape has changed dramatically. Electric Atlas has partnered with quite a few companies in the form of humanoid robots, including Figure, Apptronik, Tesla, and 1X.
“For us, there's obviously been a huge amount of interest. I think this influx was driven by three things: Boston Dynamics was acquired. [by Hyundai] For almost $1 billion. Then everyone woke up and was like, “Oh, there's an exit.'' Tesla is interested in manufacturing something that has been validated, which we have been doing for many years. And the emergence of AI as a tool to address generality has made all of this possible. We have been patient in presenting because we wanted to do enough research to understand that we can resolve operational issues and have confidence in the new generation of machines.
Even though Boston Dynamics has a huge head start in the humanoid space, Playter said the company put together the first build of its new robot around Christmas 2023. Until then, he said, he had been working on many of the more complex problems with simulation.
This week, it looks like the company is finally ready to start showing off what its robots can do, or at least the early stages of what it plans to do with its systems.
general intelligence
One thing you can definitely say about Elon Musk is that this man promises big. In the early days of Optimus' public release, when Tesla's bots looked like humans in spandex, executives talked about a system that could do it all. Your Optimus can work all day at the factory, shop for groceries, and then make dinner. That's the dream, right?
The truth of the matter, of course, is that it was built around baby steps. Robotics companies may already be talking about “general purpose humanoids,” but their systems are scaling up one task at a time. In most cases, this means moving the payload from point A to B. However, to truly take advantage of the form factor, more generalized intelligence is required.
Apparently, the app store model offers the clearest path forward. After all, developer access is a big part of expanding Spot's feature set. But Player said Boston Dynamics won't take that approach with Atlas.
“We're definitely going to target applications ourselves rather than building a platform,” he says. In our experience, the fastest way to go is to focus on the application and go solve the problem. Don't expect others to solve your problems. I think AI is an essential element here. To support the versatility of the task he needs and will be enhanced by AI technology. ”
The company recently opened up access to Spot's reinforcement learning algorithms to developers. That work will be the foundation of Atlas' growing skillset.
outside the box
To succeed, the player explains, the humanoids must act outside the box.
“I think many other robots can do that,” he says. “Humanoids need to be able to support very common tasks. You have two hands. We want to be able to detect complex, heavy geometric shapes that a simple box picker cannot detect. But you have to do it hundreds of thousands of times. I think single-tasking robots are a thing of the past. Stretching is one of the last applications where the robot just moves around a box. ”
If not a box, what will the new Atlas be responsible for on Hyundai's show floor? The answer lies in a video the company posted in February. The video showed a hydraulic version of the robot interacting with a car's struts (a Hyundai part that the player hinted at earlier).
“Our long history in dynamic mobility means we are strong and know how to cope with heavy payloads while maintaining incredible mobility,” he says. “I think being able to lift heavy, complex, huge things is a differentiator for us. The prop in the video probably weighs 25 pounds. Picking up wheels — part of this whole effort. As such, we'll be releasing a video later that introduces some more real-world object manipulation tasks we've been doing with Atlas. I'm sure we know how to do that part, and others can do it. I haven't seen it done yet.”