AI & Humanoids

Shock video shows Atlas robot training for automotive work

Shock video shows Atlas robot training for automotive work
Atlas is by far the most advanced humanoid robot ever built, capable of explosive athleticism and remarkable agility
Atlas is by far the most advanced humanoid robot ever built, capable of explosive athleticism and remarkable agility
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Atlas is by far the most advanced humanoid robot ever built, capable of explosive athleticism and remarkable agility
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Atlas is by far the most advanced humanoid robot ever built, capable of explosive athleticism and remarkable agility

It's a shock video because Atlas is unboxing and racking shocks – sorry about that. But it's also a shock because Atlas has always been a humanoid robotics research platform, not a commercial product – and this new video has us wondering.

The work of building cars is perfect for robotic automation – large volumes, heavy parts, high potential for human injury, high precision and reliability requirements – and indeed, there are already a ton of job-specific robots involved in the manufacturing and assembly lines.

But there are also still a lot of jobs that look much more random and disorganized – and that's where humanoid robots seek to step in. Obviously, that'll be one of the early applications for Tesla's Optimus robot, and we've seen recently that Figure is pursuing a similar path with BMW.

We didn't expect to see Atlas rolling up its sleeves on this kind of work, and yet here we are.

We've seen Atlas flirting with developing its worksite chops before as a building-site dogsbody, throwing toolbags around and the like, but Boston Dynamics has otherwise left the real-world work situations to its more commercially focused non-humanoids: Spot the robot dog, and the bizarre rolling, balancing Stretch robot.

But the kind of work it's doing in the video above – which we expect it's doing autonomously, although we can't yet confirm – fits in very nicely with the "pick things up, move them around" early commercial use case that companies like Figure believe will lead to multi-billion dollar revenue streams.

Ever since Korean auto giant Hyundai bought Boston Dynamics in 2020, we've wondered whether Atlas might be headed in a more commercial direction. It's clearly the most advanced humanoid robot ever built as things stand. Its electrically powered, hydraulically-actuated joints give it the unrivaled explosive power that makes it such a gymnastic athlete, and as well as handling a broad range of chaotic and shifting terrains, it's also developed a certain sort of grace to its movement that makes Optimus and the other newcomers look like they're walking around with full diapers.

Inside the Lab: Taking Atlas From Sim to Scaffold

This new video certainly adds fuel to that fire. But for all the things Atlas is, there's one that it certainly isn't. It's not designed for streamlined mass manufacturing as a commercial product. It's an extraordinary testbed and has led the world for more than a decade, but if Boston is really going to get serious about putting humanoids to work at scale, we'd expect to see another design altogether – and probably one that's not nearly as athletic.

Source: Boston Dynamics

7 comments
7 comments
Ric
Robot Olympics!
foreignthinker
"...as always been a humanoid robotics research platform, not a commercial product..." This would be news to Boston Dynamics investors. Robots have always been a commercial endeavor; it was only a question of when do they become commercially viable compared to a human.
Daishi
@foreignthinker Boston Dynamics does have commercial products but Atlas is indeed intended an R&D platform and not a commercial one. It says this much on the Atlas page from the Boston Dynamics website. When Atlas does a Youtube video they have a team of engineers iterating on tests, fixing broken parts, and even machining new custom parts on the fly during filming. It's closer to a Hollywood film budget with an on-site animatronics team and less like something that could financially replace human workers. If they build a version of this for factory work they would likely make drastic changes to the design. Cartwheels and flips are not a common design requirement in factory robots.
Smokey_Bear
Daishi - correct.
But that said, I do believe (behind closed doors) BD is working on an electric (no hydraulics) humanoid robot. The writing is on the wall, and dozens of companies are working on them, and BD is currently viewed favorably (which is important to attract top talent).
I think sometime this year, they will unveil that they too, have a commercially viable humanoid robot in development. The days of this JUST being R&D are coming to a close, a few years ago, they had virtually no competition, and could spend their time doing choreographed backflips, but not anymore. Hence this video, showing how they are also working on a robot that can do every day jobs.
windykites
Not many workers do a back flip in their jobs. You could say the designers are 'showing off' their capabilities. The main thing is the cost of the robots.
It's funny: Cars built by robots and driven by robots.
foreignthinker
Respectfully, Daishi, whether it is called Atlas or Bender, BD's goal is to iterate into commercial and military applications. The days of investors being impressed by robotic arms stacking items are long gone, and the Terminator-esque videos of BD dogs and mules performing police and military functions was a terrible PR strategy guaranteed to result in public anti-robot sentiment. Atlas performing Cirque du Soleil feats places a softer face on BD's R&D, but as Smokey_Bear pointed out, competitor demonstrations of autonomous robots in practical applications have forced BD's hand to pull back the curtain to reassure investors that the platform is driving commercial applications.
YourAmazonOrder
If it can get me my hamburger, hold the attitude, at a reasonable price, I’m in. If it can deliver MY packages to MY door, not three flights up at someone else’s door, I’m in. If it can deliver parts to my factory, without stopping to text or chat up their friends or take breaks all the time and do so without damaging, losing, throwing away the parts it is delivering, I’m in.

The humans we have to do those jobs today make this alternative worth the effort.