Robots are doing backflips

Thunderian

Superstar
Joined
Mar 13, 2017
Messages
7,515
Crazy.

Boston Dynamics' Atlas Robot Does Backflips Now and It's Full-Tilt Insane
wired.com/story/atlas-robot-does-backflips-now/

Atlas, the hulking humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics, now does backflips. I’ll repeat that. It’s a hulking humanoid that does backflips.

Check out the video below, because it shows a hulking humanoid doing a backflip. And that’s after it leaps from platform to platform, as if such behavior were becoming of a bipedal robot.

To be clear: Humanoids aren’t supposed to be able to do this. It's extremely difficult to make a bipedal robot that can move effectively, much less kick off a tumbling routine. The beauty of four-legged robots is that they balance easily, both at rest and as they’re moving, but bipeds like Atlas have to balance a bulky upper body on just two legs. Accordingly, you could argue that roboticists can better spend their time on non-human forms that are easier to master.

But there’s a case to be made for Atlas and the other bipeds like Cassie (which walks more like a bird than a human). We live in a world built for humans, so there may be situations where you want to deploy a robot that works like a human. If you have to explore a contaminated nuclear facility, for instance, you’ll want something that can climb stairs and ladders, and turn valves. So a humanoid may be the way to go.

If anything gets there, it’ll be Atlas. Over the years, it’s grown not only more backflippy but lighter and more dextrous and less prone to fall on its face. Even if it does tumble, it can now get back up on its own. So it’s not hard to see a future when Atlas does indeed tread where fleshy humans dare not. Especially now that Boston Dynamics is part of the Japanese megacorporation SoftBank, which may have some cash to spend.

While Atlas doing backflips is full-tilt insane, humanoids still struggle. Manipulation, for one, poses a big obstacle, because good luck replicating the human hand. And battery life is a nightmare, what with all the balancing. But who knows, maybe one day humanoids will flip into our lives, or at the very least at the Olympics.

 

TruthSucker

Established
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
415
Ok, so now the third thread about it. Don't know what was first, anyway.

I was shocked when this thing did the 180, and than came the backflip.
The mechanic is nearly finished, the mind is just a matter of time. A few years, maybe 20 or less.
iRobot 1.0 is waiting.

What really freaks me out is how fast the evolution is going on, really scary.
 

~JC~

Veteran
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
922
Crazy.

Boston Dynamics' Atlas Robot Does Backflips Now and It's Full-Tilt Insane
wired.com/story/atlas-robot-does-backflips-now/

Atlas, the hulking humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics, now does backflips. I’ll repeat that. It’s a hulking humanoid that does backflips.

Check out the video below, because it shows a hulking humanoid doing a backflip. And that’s after it leaps from platform to platform, as if such behavior were becoming of a bipedal robot.

To be clear: Humanoids aren’t supposed to be able to do this. It's extremely difficult to make a bipedal robot that can move effectively, much less kick off a tumbling routine. The beauty of four-legged robots is that they balance easily, both at rest and as they’re moving, but bipeds like Atlas have to balance a bulky upper body on just two legs. Accordingly, you could argue that roboticists can better spend their time on non-human forms that are easier to master.

But there’s a case to be made for Atlas and the other bipeds like Cassie (which walks more like a bird than a human). We live in a world built for humans, so there may be situations where you want to deploy a robot that works like a human. If you have to explore a contaminated nuclear facility, for instance, you’ll want something that can climb stairs and ladders, and turn valves. So a humanoid may be the way to go.

If anything gets there, it’ll be Atlas. Over the years, it’s grown not only more backflippy but lighter and more dextrous and less prone to fall on its face. Even if it does tumble, it can now get back up on its own. So it’s not hard to see a future when Atlas does indeed tread where fleshy humans dare not. Especially now that Boston Dynamics is part of the Japanese megacorporation SoftBank, which may have some cash to spend.

While Atlas doing backflips is full-tilt insane, humanoids still struggle. Manipulation, for one, poses a big obstacle, because good luck replicating the human hand. And battery life is a nightmare, what with all the balancing. But who knows, maybe one day humanoids will flip into our lives, or at the very least at the Olympics.

Fkng scary.....
 

Vixy

Star
Joined
Mar 16, 2017
Messages
3,907
We are so incredibly behind. The elite have been cloning humans for decades and we're about to invent a clumsy robot that can do backflips. LOL!
 

~JC~

Veteran
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
922
We are so incredibly behind. The elite have been cloning humans for decades and we're about to invent a clumsy robot that can do backflips. LOL!
Because cloning should have been obvious to everyone by this point? There are people on this site who don’t believe cloning is happening. LOL They’re good. :cool:
 

Vixy

Star
Joined
Mar 16, 2017
Messages
3,907
Well yes. We should be way further along in both science and most things but since the elite controls our education we are about 30-40 years behind them.
 
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