We all laughed at ATLAS back in August when all the Boston Dynamics robot could do was fall down, and a few of us probably considered Softbank’s purchase of Boston Dynamics from Google to be a Seward’s Folly situation.
Well, laughter may give way to awe (and fear) now that ATLAS is some kind of robot gymnast supersoldier. A new video from Boston Dynamics shows the robot box-jumping, performing Olympic diver-level twists and turns in the air, and even executing a perfect backflip. Seeing something without a flexible spine land so gracefully is sobering.
Say what you will about the promise (and threat) of robots being overhyped, but the fact that Boston Dynamics went from that pogo-stick horse monstrosity to a parkour robot in less than 5 years is impressive. Scroll down to watch ATLAS show off its skills.
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