Chinese humanoids are starting to move with extraordinary grace and agility, but Boston Dynamics is the OG in this field, and fresh video of its swivel-jointed Atlas robot running, cartwheeling and breakdancing shows it's still at the bleeding edge.
Before we get going, let's acknowledge the elephant in the room here: companies like Tesla, Figure, Sanctuary, Agility and many others couldn't care less if their robots can do backflips or cartwheels, or how smooth and human-like their movements are. These companies are focused on putting robots to work as quickly as possible, so they're much more interested in how well they can pick things up, do something with them and put them where they belong.
This is nowhere near as much fun to watch, but it's these kinds of boring, practical use cases that actually threaten to radically change the world as we know it – not feats of athleticism.
On the other hand, watching these incredible AI-driven machines emerge from their wobbly toddler phase into smooth, confident navigators of the human world... It's mind-blowing stuff. And as compelling as it is to watch humans master movement through dance and gymnastics, it's incredible to see how quickly these robots are picking things up.
Chinese company Unitree has been doing some incredible work lately with its short, lightweight G1 humanoid. You may remember this little fella from its remarkable US$16,000 starting price tag, or from recent footage in which it danced alongside humans, or from its predecessor, the H1, which was the first humanoid in its class to perform a backflip using electric motors instead of hydraulics.
Here's the latest, though: the G1 is now capable of doing side flips:
It's also one of the first humanoids we've seen that walks with a bit of swagger instead of looking like it's soiled itself. And as shown in the video below, it can also jog thanks to a recent "agile upgrade."
It's impressive stuff, but lest we forget who's been at the forefront of humanoid research for more than a decade, Boston Dynamics has just released new footage of its stunning Atlas robot taking natural-looking motion to yet another level. Check it out:
Now let's get this out of the way: that's not crawling, buddy. But look at that walk! A little stiff-armed, maybe, but it really does look like it's walking rather than taking a bunch of steps.
Look at the way it initiates a run, leaning forward to launch and pulling its torso back to decelerate. The sheer sure-footedness on display here is something the Boston team must be very proud of.
The rolls and tumbles are starting to look less forced, too, and it's very cool to see how Atlas uses its freely swiveling hips to turn a handstand into a roundoff, and stand up with its head on backwards. This, of course, is one of the most fascinating things about Atlas; it's got 360-degree swiveling capability at the hips, waist, arm and neck, so it doesn't have to turn around all at once.
The breakdancing move and the cartwheel are the icing on the cake here, and they are indeed pretty crazy to watch. But it's the confidence with which the AI is learning to drive these bodies in the world that fascinates me.
As humans learn to walk, run and move in the world, we start anticipating little elements of balance, planning ahead on the fly in a dynamic and changing situation. That's what we're watching the AIs learn to master here.
The current explosion in humanoid robotics is still at a very early stage. But watching Atlas and its contemporaries do with the physical world what GPT and other language models are doing with the world of information – this is sci-fi come to life. Atlas is already moving much more smoothly than Kryten.
These things will be confined to factories for the most part as they begin entering the workforce en masse, but it's looking clearer than ever that humans and androids will be interacting regularly in daily life sooner than most of us ever imagined.
Source: Boston Dynamics
