Robot shows off gym skills
Arobot called Atlas has shown off its gymnastics skills in a new video. Atlas is made by a robotics company from Massachusetts in the US called
Boston Dynamics, which calls Atlas “the world’s most dynamic humanoid robot”. Humanoid means it looks like a human being.
Atlas walks on two legs, stands 1.5 metres tall and weighs 80 kilograms. When the robot was first shown to the public in 2013, it could barely walk. Over the past six years, it has been developed to balance on one leg, run in the snow and even complete an obstacle course, but its latest achievement might be its most impressive yet.
In a 38-second video released by Boston Dynamics on 24 September, Atlas performs a handstand, ducks into a forward roll and finishes off with some jumps and twists, all without losing balance or falling over. It even raises both arms at the end to celebrate its success. Boston Dynamics says that the agile robot performed the routine perfectly like this about 80% of the time – a success rate of four times out of five (the robot’s paintwork bears the scuff marks of the times it didn’t quite manage it).
Making a robot this flexible isn’t easy. The scientists at Boston Dynamics created a set of rules, called an algorithm, for Atlas’s built-in computers to follow. The algorithm breaks down each individual task, like a roll or a jump, into a series of motions. Tracking technology follows how the movements are progressing against a perfect example, allowing the robot to adjust its position, move smoothly from one part of the routine to the next, and stop itself from falling over. The plan is that one day Atlas will be able to respond to emergencies and help with rescue efforts by heading into disaster zones and other environments that are too dangerous for human beings.
As well as showing off Atlas’s latest tricks,
Boston Dynamics announced that its robotic dog, Spot, will go on sale. Spot can carry weights of up to 14 kilograms and work in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 45°C. You can watch the Atlas robot showing off some of its gymnastic skills at tinyurl.com/TWJrobot