Once once more, Boston Dynamics has just released a demonstration video of its Atlas humanoid robot which, this time, completes an obstacle course. And once once more, we are captivated by the fluidity and precision of his acrobatic movements. The robot jumps with both feet, crosses a barrier by leaning on its hand, runs on an oblique floor and stairs, etc. And brilliantly ends the exercise with two back jumps. Fascinating!
But what’s almost more interesting is the second video that Boston Dynamics released concurrently. It shows behind the scenes of the production of the premiere: the programming of the sequence, the numerous tests carried out, the failures encountered, the adjustments and repairs that had to be made, etc. Because, as the manufacturer points out, these videos are above all robotic challenges. Indeed, Atlas is not a commercial product, but a research project. And the goal is to push its capabilities ever further and to advance science and engineering.
One of the hot spots was precisely the crossing of the barrier, a relatively simple gesture for a human, but difficult for Atlas. “The robot doesn’t have a spine or shoulder blades, so it doesn’t have the same range of motion as you and me. The robot also has a heavy torso and relatively weak arm joints. We therefore had to extend our tools to find solutions adapted to these constraints, which is why this leap was an interesting challenge.”explains Scott Kuindersma, leader of the Atlas team, in a blog post.
