The electric Atlas humanoid robot made "weird" movements, which frightened Musk!
Edited: Huang Sheng
Boston Dynamics Atlas has officially entered the era of electric robots!
Recently, Boston Dynamics announced that its all-electric Atlas humanoid robot, which has been developed for many years, is about to be launched into the commercial market, marking a major breakthrough in the field of humanoid robots. The new Atlas robot will replace the previous hydraulically driven version and revolutionize industrial applications, logistics and more with its exceptional flexibility and power.
The humanoid robot Atlas is fully electrified, and its 180-degree weird movements frighten Musk
It is reported that Atlas was originally designed as a search and rescue robot to perform some more dangerous tasks. Boston Dynamics claims that the latest Atlas is designed for real-world applications and that the Atlas is the most dynamic humanoid robot in the world.
A video released Wednesday shows that the new Atlas robot is designed to be very different from previous versions, with a lighter mechanical skeleton and smoother movements, such as being able to stand on its own from the ground and its head to rotate 180 degrees, making its flexibility truly unmatched.
And the electric Atlas robot is more technological than its predecessor, with a lighter and more concise appearance, and the head is designed as a functional round screen without facial features.
After the new video was released, more than one million views were already seen in just a dozen hours. At the beginning of the video, Atlas is calmly lying on the ground, looking like he should be facing the sky on his back.
Next, a jaw-dropping scene happened:
His legs folded back at an incredible angle, and then he landed on his feet as if performing acrobatics, pushing his whole body up.
When he was fully up, he was supposed to have his back to us, but then his head rotated 180 degrees in place like an owl, and his entire torso turned with him.
Standing up, he walked up to us and proudly showed off its head, a circular screen decorated with ring lights.
Then, Atlas calmly rotates his head and torso 180 degrees again, and then leaves, leaving us with only a dashing back, deep in merit and fame.
After watching the video, everyone exclaimed: Horror movie, this is a horror movie, right? Even Musk came to join in the fun.
CEO of Boston Dynamics: The electric Atlas has a range of motion beyond what a human can do
Robert Pleit, CEO of Boston Dynamics, has served as vice president of engineering since 1994 and was promoted to CEO in 2019. Under his leadership, the company successfully transitioned from the R&D phase to launch products such as Spot, Stretch, and the highly anticipated Atlas. In an interview, Pratt delved into the origins, vision, and future direction of Atlas.
Why did it take so long to launch the Atlas?Pratt explained that the company wanted to ensure that it could manufacture humanoid products that could handle a wide variety of tasks, including handling heavy objects with complex geometries in industry. To this end, Boston Dynamics has done a lot of preliminary work to gain an in-depth understanding of real-world application scenarios to ensure the effective application of robots in industry.
Atlas is designed to be a multi-purpose robot. According to Platt, there are very few single repetitive tasks that will require these complex robots, so Atlas needs to focus on one class of use cases and really make them useful to the end customer. The lesson learned from Spot and Stretch is that the key is to truly understand the value of the bot to the customer and incorporate it into the development cycle.
Pratt also mentioned that the new Atlas will use an electric motor instead of a traditional hydraulic drive. The electric Atlas has designed a newer, very compact set of actuators that make it stronger than humans, even elite athletes, on most joints, and with a range of motion beyond anyone can do. This technological change allows the electric Atlas to surpass the hydraulic version in terms of power and responsiveness.
The head design of the Atlas is also quite distinctive. The old Atlas didn't have a section head, while the new Atlas head could indicate intent and had integrated lights to convey information to the user. Pratt said they deliberately avoided making Atlas's head too human-like to reduce the sense of threat, instead adopting a friendly design to convey the robot's intentions.
Boston Dynamics' experience in commercializing Spot has also played an important role in the commercialization of Atlas. Pratt points out that it takes more than just some interesting technology to make a product work, there must be a real use case, and real productivity around that use case. Cost is also an important consideration, and building and selling a product at a reasonable cost is key to business success.
Looking ahead, Boston Dynamics plans to conduct technical proof-of-the-art testing of the new Atlas at Hyundai Motor Group's (HMG) plant, which could begin as early as next year. HMG is very excited about this venture, they want to change the way manufacturing is done, and they see Atlas as an important part of that.
Pratt said he believes what other robotics technicians are most excited about about the new Atlas will be its power and agility, and the fact that these features are integrated into a relatively small and lightweight design. He believes that Boston Dynamics has just raised the bar in the industry, which is ultimately beneficial to the industry as a whole. Other companies will catch up with Boston Dynamics as quickly as they can, moving the industry forward.
With the launch of the all-electric Atlas, Boston Dynamics has once again proven its leadership in humanoid robotics. The commercialization of Atlas will not only bring new opportunities for industrial automation, but also open up new paths for the future development of robotics. We look forward to seeing how Atlas performs in action and how it will transform the way we work and live."
National Business Daily