Robotics company Boston Dynamics announced this month that it has retired its humanoid robot, known as Atlas. The 6-foot, 2,330-pound machine was considered a quantum leap in robotics and gained fame for its parkour stunts and awkward dance moves.
Debuting in 2013, Atlas was the product of a partnership with the Defense Department. It relied on hydraulic power, using pressurized fluid to generate movement, and could perform tasks that can be challenging for humans, like lifting heavy boxes.
As the older Atlas lives out its golden years, Boston Dynamics has introduced its successor a smaller version, with the same name, that runs on electric power.
Marketplaces Lily Jamali spoke with Brian Heater, hardware editor at TechCrunch, for a look back at the original Atlas and his take on how companies, and households, might make use of humanoids.
The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Brian Heater: Its big and hulking, its very top heavy. Its hydraulic powered, as all of the early Boston Dynamics robots are, which means, among other things, that its extremely loud. Youre in a room with it, its, like, almost deafening. You hear the gases passing as its moving.
Lily Jamali: Well, what was the response to it when it first came out in 2013?
Heater: The response isnt dissimilar from what it is now. And people were incredibly and rightfully impressed by the robot because for a lot of people it felt like a quantum leap over the technology that was out there. There was no bipedal robot that was capable of doing what it could do and it was very versatile. And youve got to be very versatile because it was a research robot. And you had all these teams, [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] and Carnegie Mellon and all these very smart researchers using them for these [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] challenges. It was leagues ahead of everybody else. And in a lot of ways, it feels like just about everyone else is continuing to still play catch-up with that technology.
Jamali: Well, so theres this new Atlas now, which is different. Its all electric. Its very fluid, the way that this thing moves, its almost terrifying. Ive seen it described as a sleek, swiveling nightmare that almost seems to defy physics. Whats a sentence you would use to describe what its like, this new one?
Heater: So the new one is considerably slimmer than the older version. Its much quieter, the movements are incredibly fluid. Because of the compact size, its really capable of doing a lot more in a far more confined environment. And I think because of that, its going to be much more capable of working alongside people. Thats the biggest concern with a lot of these robots. [They] traditionally had been very big and very heavy and therefore have been very prone to [injuring] people. This one is much smaller and capable of working alongside them. And its something as simple as a robot that looks like a human and perhaps has a face, its easier for us to understand its intentions.
Jamali: So what do we know about why Boston Dynamics is updating the robot?
Heater: Yeah. The simple answer is that the old robot just wasnt built for those things, it was built for research purposes. The technology is still extremely impressive, but in a lot of ways its a decade out of date. Its too large, its too loud, it probably needs to be tethered for the battery to operate. I believe its a lithium-ion battery, so its the same battery that you have on your phone or your electric car, so it could just go in and charge. And just the fact that its smaller, again, is a very key piece here in terms of actually being able to operate in the workplace and operate alongside people.
Jamali: Theres obviously plenty of companies in this space working on bipedal meaning walks on two feet humanoid robots. So theres Tesla, Agility Robotics, Figure, they all have robots in the works as well. Can you give me a brief temperature check on the industry?
Heater: So theres a lot of interest and theres a lot of money changing hands right now. Investors are incredibly interested in this space. People [who own] factories and warehouses are incredibly interested in deploying these systems. And everybodys promising this idea of generalized intelligence. Most people I talked to tell me that generalized intelligence is probably like five, maybe 10, years off, so were talking about a much longer timeline than I think a lot of people are anticipating right now. Ive been in this industry for a long time, and I think were in the middle of this hype wave right now. Theres going to be a lot of excitement and its going to cool down a bit. And thats going to be the period of time when these things are actually deployed and the testing happens.
Jamali: Wait a minute. Did you say hype in tech? Im sorry, I cant, I cant.
Heater: Its fun. Its fun, right? Its nice to have one of the categories that I cover being superhyped after watching, you know, like, crypto and AI. Obviously, theres a lot of overlap between the two. The hype is exciting. Its great that the world is, like, sitting up and seeing this stuff and seeing rightfully how incredibly impressive it is. But I used to say that my kind of loose definition of a robot was a really complex and impressive machine used to perform menial and boring tasks. And thats kind of what this is. Youre gonna be really blown away by the technology the first time you see it, and then if these things work out as planned, then theyre going to be just another kind of boring thing hanging around the factory. And that means that everythings working accordingly.
Jamali: Well, I think the thing were all wondering is, you know, not in the factory, Im not so interested in that. When do I get to see it at my house? When are we going to get a real-life Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons or C-3PO? Does this new Atlas put us on that track?
Heater: Yes and no. You know, people often ask me when theyre gonna have a robot in their house, and my cheeky but very serious question back to them is, Do you have a Roomba or robot vacuum? And if you do, youve got a robot in your home. Those have been around for, I think the first Roomba came out 20-plus years ago, and we havent really seen a follow-up. Its a really difficult space to operate in for a number of reasons. One [is] very unstructured environments. Even if you keep your house pretty clean, you move things around, sometimes youll throw something on the ground. Houses arent really very uniform from one to the other. And then the other one is, as I mentioned earlier, is price, like the most advanced Roomba right now is something in the neighborhood of, like, $1,500. Like even that is like way more expensive than most people want to pay in the home. So the likeliest scenario is were not going to be seeing these robots in the home. But in the meantime, were going to see a lot of really cool and interesting technology and probably robots in the home that are in some ways a product of the research that went into these systems.
When Boston Dynamics announced Atlas would be retiring, the company published a blooper reel of the bots failed stunts through the years, including falls down stairs, an attempt to board an elevator and a particularly nasty tumble from a balance beam, which ends with Atlas clutching its knees in the fetal position. Id probably do the same in that scenario.
The robotics company also posted a video of its new electric bot, the so-called swiveling nightmare. Its hard to describe the Terminator-like ways the robot contorts its body. You should see it for yourself.
Continued here:
Atlas, forefather of humanoid robots, gives way to next generation - Marketplace
- Brief: NVIDIA's venture arm invests in autonomous weeding startup Carbon Robotics - AgFunderNews - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- 7 Robotics Stocks to Bet On for Reliable AI-Powered Returns - InvestorPlace - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- NSF and USDA join forces to boost innovation in agricultural robotics - Future Farming - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Meet The Swiss Start-Up Taking On The Tech Giants In Robotics And AI - Forbes - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- LimX Dynamics' W1 robot can stand, walk and roll on its hind 'legs' - Interesting Engineering - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Lear Corporation's acquisition showcases the industry's use of robotics and AI for efficiency and innovation - CBT Automotive News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- OMRON and NEURA Robotics Partner to Unveil New Cognitive Robot at Automate 2024 - Automation.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Community briefs: Ravenswood robotics at world championship, Bike to the Library Day - The Almanac Online - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- JCHS Robotics shimes at VEX World Competition | Community News - The Tomahawk - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Carbon Robotics to Help Revolutionize Farming with AI, Using Investment from NVentures - Business Wire - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Nvidia's DrEureka outperforms humans in training robotics systems - VentureBeat - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Humanoid Robots: The Next-Generation Robotic Workforce - Tech Briefs - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- PHOTOS Motiva helping fund Port Arthur ISD robotics and engineering - Port Arthur News - The Port Arthur News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Kiwanis Club of Miami helps fund McMillan MS robotics team trip - Miami's Community Newspapers - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- The Interplay Between Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing | RoboticsTomorrow - Robotics Tomorrow - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Doosan Robotics releases its longest reach cobots with PRIME SERIES - Robot Report - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- KION North America and Fox Robotics Announce Non-Exclusive Strategic Partnership - Automation.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Ag tech startup Carbon Robotics lands Nvidia investment - The Business Journals - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Mars Robotics offers chance to drive Mars rover on Saturday - Butler Eagle - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Comparative analysis of robot-assisted language learning systems and human tutors in English conversation lessons - EurekAlert - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Valencia College to more than double students training in semiconductors, robotics and optics - The Business Journals - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- DeepMind is experimenting with a nearly indestructible robot hand - New Scientist - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Five Things to Consider Before Adopting Robotics for Warehouse Automation - Automation.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Nvidia and Alphabet's Intrinsic aim to revolutionize next-gen robotics - VentureBeat - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- NVIDIA and Alphabet's Intrinsic Put Next-Gen Robotics Within Grasp - Automation.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- STEM robotics team celebrates 10 years and remembers hero who saved lives - Denver 7 Colorado News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Zero-shot learning helps Intrinsic pave the future for robotics - FierceElectronics - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- EN robotics team demonstrates real-world learning | News Sun | kpcnews.com - KPCnews.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Future Innovators Challenged to Design Nuclear Fission and Fusion Decommissioning Robots - Automation.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Meet Pepper and Bernard: The robots shaping AI research at SDSU - Daily Aztec - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Gene Haas Foundation Partner Hosts FIRST Robotics District Competitions - Kettering University - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- NASA Showcases Innovations at the 2024 FIRST Robotics World Championships - NASA - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Robots are invading the San Carlos Branch Library - San Diego Community Newspaper Group - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Wyoming-Based Company Makes High-Tech Robots To Go Where Humans Don't Want To - Cowboy State Daily - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Anzu Robotics launches U.S.-based clone of DJI Mavic 3 - Robot Report - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute begins developing drones to fight wildfires - CBS Pittsburgh - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- 3 Robotics Stocks That Could Be Multibaggers in the Making: Spring Edition - MSN - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Hopkinton teams advance to Robotics World Championships - Hopkinton Independent - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- "Big Cat Robotics" team from Wellsville returns from VRC World Championship - THE WELLSVILLE SUN - THE WELLSVILLE SUN - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- PropStream-Sponsored Robotics Team Places in Competition - RisMedia.com - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Bellefontaine Robotics Team Travels to World Championship Peak of Ohio - peakofohio.com - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- ASL Aviation Holdings Inks Deal with Reliable Robotics for 30 Aircraft Autonomy Systems - Business Wire - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Global Nano Robotics Market Projected to Surge to US$ 19.86 Billion by 2032: Healthcare Trends Catalyzing Nano ... - GlobeNewswire - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- 'Afghan Dreamers' | Film about Afghan girls robotics team to be screened on May 15 - Piedmont Exedra - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- 3 Robotics Stocks That Could Be Multibaggers in the Making: Spring Edition - InvestorPlace - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- The Rise of the Navy Robots - Signal Magazine - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Keeps Talking About the Future of Robotics With Optimus, but This Phenomenal Growth Stock Has Already ... - The Motley Fool - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Robosen Robotics Teams Up with Hasbro to Debut the Worlds First Auto-Converting Decepticon Megatron! - aNb Media - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- John P. Stevens Robotics Team Wins Excellence in Technology at Innovators Awards - TAPinto.net - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Nala Robotics and Re-Up partner to develop AI-powered robotic chef - Robotics and Automation News - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- LCSD1 to Host Final Robotics Competition of the School Year Tomorrow - The Cheyenne Post - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- GMV showcases its robotic inspection capabilities Robotics & Automation News - Robotics and Automation News - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Trine's armored robot finishes 4th in national combat - Trine University - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Female robotics founders discuss their journeys in the industry - Robot Report - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Hanwha Robotics, B-Robotics join hands on restaurant automation project - Aju Press - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Dishchii'bikoh Community School Robotics Team Heads to VEX World Championship - White Mountain Independent - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- ETH unveils space-hopping robot for asteroid exploration - Robotics and Automation News - May 5th, 2024 [May 5th, 2024]
- Nickelytics and Starship release robots at UCLA and Utah universities - Robotics and Automation News - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Next-Level Robotics: Enhancing Accuracy with Advanced Multisensory Interfaces - AZoRobotics - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Death of Lake Orion teen on robotics trip determined to be suicide, Houston police say - Detroit News - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Niqo Robotics Raises $9 Million In Funding Round Led By Brida Innovation Ventures: Report - Outlook India - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Mission to 'Holy Grail of Shipwrecks' Will Employ Robotics - USNI News - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Kiwibot acquires Auto Mobility Solutions Robotics & Automation News - Robotics and Automation News - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Untethered soft actuators for soft standalone robotics - Nature.com - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Robotics in the restaurant industry are here to stay: Carlos Gazitua - Fox Business - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- It's time for UK business to embrace robotics - Design Products & Applications - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Meet the `One Percenters' - The Top Ranked Robotics Group from Franklin - Franklin Observer - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- BlueBotics releases new version of its server fleet management software - Robotics and Automation News - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- U.S. manufacturers invested heavily in robotics in 2023, finds IFR - Robot Report - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- This is a unique time: ARK Invests chief futurist tackles tech innovation from AI to robotics - CNBC - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- U.S. Companies Invest Heavily in Robots - IFR Preliminary Results EMSNow - EMSNow - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- MiR launches new autonomous mobile forklift-type robot - Robotics and Automation News - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Rutland Area Robotics' IBOTS compete in FIRST World Championships finals for first time - Rutland Herald - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Micropsi Industries introduces new AI-vision software Robotics & Automation News - Robotics and Automation News - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Robots on a Roll: The Future of Farming Is Here Now - Growing Produce - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Grand Force, Grand Forks' only FIRST Robotics team, returns from world championship with good memories - Grand Forks Herald - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Reston Robotics Team Wins National Competition At Tech Conference - Patch - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- CapSen Robotics Introduces CapSen PiC 2.0 Bin-Picking Software - Supply and Demand Chain Executive - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Gecko Robotics and Al Masaood Energy Partner to Help ADNOC Gas Revolutionize Asset Operations and ... - Business Wire - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]
- Vention Launches New Cloud-Robotic and AI Capabilities to Accelerate the Design and Deployment of Robot Cells - InvestorsObserver - May 1st, 2024 [May 1st, 2024]