Boston Dynamics launches new version of humanoid robot Atlas, powered by pure electricity

We have witnessed the birth of a new generation of humanoid robot Atlas.

As soon as the video of the new robot came out, we immediately understood why Boston Dynamics retired the old version of Atlas that had been developed for more than ten years - the humanoid robot. What it should now have is flexibility beyond humans. . The new robot integrates the most advanced machine learning technology and can autonomously learn to improve its own actions and reactions. All this shows that robotics technology is advancing rapidly, and future robots will be more flexible and intelligent.

On the floor of the laboratory, the Atlas robot lay calmly, looking impressive. But suddenly the joints were reversed and he stood up, and the clever rotation of his legs effectively accomplished something that humans could not accomplish. This amazing transformation allows robots to do things that humans cannot do.

Atlas stands still, with a mirror-like head. Then, the head rotates 180 degrees left and right, followed by a spin of the body. It stands still for a moment, and we take our first clear look at its head - a circular lamp surrounded by an original screen. Atlas departs with a rotated head and walks out of the picture. Its body turns once again with a 180-degree spin.

According to reports, Boston Dynamics released a new robot today. Its motivation is to retire the hydraulic version of Atlas yesterday as a warm-up for today’s new robot. Boston Dynamics announced today’s announcement that the Atlas is officially going electric.

Although we acknowledge the name of Atlas, it seems difficult to see the inheritance in appearance - the top-heavy torso, bowed legs and plate armor of the previous generation have all disappeared. There are no exposed cables on the slim new mechanical skeleton. Coming to the motor era, Boston Dynamics chose a friendlier, gentler design similar to Figure 01 and Tesla Optimus.

Boston Dynamics' robot product line remains intact: including the robot dog Spot (Spot Mini), the wheeled robot Stretch (Handle) and the humanoid robot Atlas. Now, they are back together.

Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said: "When we are really ready for mass production and delivery, we may reconsider the naming of the product. But I think maintaining the brand for now is Worth it." This sentence emphasizes the company's brand value.

This means that the new Atlas, a humanoid robot, is still in the early stages of development. The current timeline given by Boston Dynamics is that the electric version of Atlas will begin testing at the Hyundai Motor Factory in South Korea early next year and will be fully produced a few years later. In the process, the company will continue to optimize the performance of Atlas to achieve wider applications.

180-degree flip action

The most attractive thing in the 40-second trailer is the robot Actions. These actions remind us that building humanoid robots doesn’t require making them as human-like as possible. If you can create machines according to your own ideas, why not build machines that can do things that we cannot do?

"We built a custom set of high-power and very flexible actuators for most joints, giving the robot a huge range of motion. This incorporates the strength of an elite athlete into the structure of the robot,” said Playter.

It is worth noting that Boston Dynamics emphasized that the robot’s movements will be practical and useful in industrial environments.

For example, the cool reverse crab leg trick demonstrated by the robot. Most current industrial robots require manual intervention when a malfunction occurs. If the robot falls and can stand up again on its own, then the manual intervention for malfunction will be less. On the other hand, the robot can simply dust itself off and get back to work with this action, which will lead to a huge increase in productivity.

Humanoid robots cannot be completely like humans

We can find that the new Atlas has an end effector The choice to use three fingers also represents the company's decision not to rely entirely on human design as a guiding force.

Playter explains: “When a robot uses actuators to interact with the world, reliability and robustness are very important. Therefore, we designed the new Atlas with fewer than five fingers. , in an attempt to control their complexity."

The new Atlas relies on three fingers to grasp and adapt to various object shapes, and has rich onboard sensing capabilities.

Interestingly, the head of the new Atlas looks like a round vanity mirror. Playter said: "This is one of the design elements that we are very worried about, after all, other humanoid robots are designed to have a humanoid shape. We want it to be different, this shape is to express some friendliness and openness."

# "To succeed, humanoid robots must transcend human boundaries," Playter said.

The next step for humanoid robots

Currently, some robotics companies may already be discussing "universal humanoid robots", but their systems are Only one task can be extended. However, Playter says Boston Dynamics won’t be taking this approach with the Atlas.

"We will definitely develop an application ourselves rather than build a platform. Our experience is that the way to grow quickly is to focus on the application and solve the problem," Playter said.

Boston Dynamics recently opened Spot’s reinforcement learning algorithm to developers. This work will provide the foundation for Atlas’s growing skill set.

In February of this year, Boston Dynamics released a video in which a hydraulic version of the robot can be seen interacting with a car pillar.

Playter said: “We have a long history in dynamic mobility, which means we are strong and we know how to accommodate larger Heavy payload while still maintaining tremendous maneuverability. I think that's a differentiator for us, being able to pick up something heavy, complex, huge. That car strut in the video probably weighs 25 pounds. ”

Boston Dynamics stated that it will release more videos in the future to show more objects operated by Atlas in the real world.