Hello, electric Atlas! Boston Dynamics robot comes back to life, 180-degree weird moves scare Musk

Boston Dynamics Atlas has officially entered the era of electric robots!

Yesterday, the hydraulic Atlas just "tearfully" retired from the stage of history. Today, Boston Dynamics announced that the electric Atlas is on the job.

It seems that Boston Dynamics is determined to compete with Tesla in the field of commercial humanoid robots.

After the new video was released, more than one million people had watched it in just ten hours.

The old people leave and new roles appear. This is a historical necessity.

There is no doubt that this year is the explosive year of humanoid robots.

Netizens commented: The progress of robots will make this year’s opening ceremony look like a human one

The action and freedom are far beyond those of humans, but is this really not a horror movie?

At the beginning of the video, Atlas was lying calmly on the ground, seemingly on his back.

Next, a jaw-dropping scene happened——

His double The legs folded back at an incredible angle, and then they landed on both feet like performing acrobatics, pushing up the entire body.

When he stood up completely, his back should be facing us, but then, his head spun in place like an owl. It turned 180 degrees, and the entire torso also turned around.

After standing up, he walked towards us and proudly displayed his head - a circular screen decorated with ring lights.

It’s too tough, friends, this is too tough. As he approached step by step, the editor had only one thought in his heart:

Then, Atlas calmly rotated his head and torso 180 degrees again, and then left, leaving us with only a chic The back view hides merit and fame.

Such a short video of less than half a minute has already made many viewers’ hearts explode!

Everyone exclaimed: Horror movie, is this a horror movie?

Musk came to join in the fun

There seems to be a similar scene in "Terminator" ……

##Boston Dynamics Atlas, entering a new era of electric power

In fact, Boston Dynamics replaced hydraulics with electrics. Many people had guessed this move in advance. It was as natural as replacing a carriage with a car.

The retirement of Hydraulic Atlas does not mean the end of Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot program – the new Atlas is back and better than before.

This is also the first time in history that Boston Dynamics has begun to define the Atlas humanoid robot as a "product."

Although this is the first time that Boston Dynamics has built a fully electric humanoid robot from scratch, it has already performed amazingly once it came out.

The brand new pure electric Atlas is driven by batteries and electric actuators, no more messy hydraulic systems. As we saw above, its performance exceeds that of humans in terms of strength and flexibility.

A friendlier appearance

Obviously, Atlas has changed and become unrecognizable to us.

The hydraulic version of Atlas has a top-heavy frame, bent legs, and an awkward design covered with plate armor.

The new Atlas has a slimmer body, a more flexible mechanical skeleton, and no exposed cables.

This can be regarded as a compromise by Boston Dynamics to public concerns. After all, the designs of the original Atlas, Figure 01 and Tesla Optimus Prime are really not friendly to the public. .

No wonder the public is worried all the time that robots will break out in uprising and wipe out human beings.

New joints are 180 degrees

In the trailer, the most eye-catching thing is undoubtedly Atlas’ smooth and silky movements.

This also makes us realize: To build a humanoid robot, does it have to look like a real person?

Some investors once said that billions of years of evolution have failed to turn humans into perfect machines. Since we want to create machines that resemble ourselves, why not design machines that can do things that humans can’t?

So Boston Dynamics designed a set of custom high-power actuators at Atlas’ joints.

This design is extremely flexible and greatly "liberates" Atlas.

To use a vivid metaphor, it is equivalent to encapsulating the power of a top athlete in a compact body, thus giving Atlas a huge range of activities.

The inverted leg action that frightened most of the audience is not just for good looks, it also reflects its practicality in industrial environments.

Most industrial robots require manual intervention when they malfunction. If a robot can reset itself and return to work, the efficiency will be greatly improved.

Atlas's quick turn is equally significant.

When robots work for us, they need to shuttle back and forth between various shelves and conveyor belts. If repeated hundreds or thousands of times every day, every second saved is worth thousands of dollars.

In narrow spaces, the turning radius is significantly reduced, and it is also more suitable for existing workflow and space.

In general, all designs are for robots to become better workers for humans.

A three-fingered creature with a "makeup mirror" head

Different from the traditional design, the electric Atlas inherits the three-fingered version of the hydraulic version design instead of the four fingers commonly seen on the market.

Build a robot that can perform a wide range of tasks and, most importantly, ensure the reliability and durability of the actuators in contact with the outside world.

This also explains why Boston Dynamics designed Atlas to have fewer than five fingers.

According to reports, they are still constantly exploring and improving this design to adapt to flexible grips of various shapes, and are equipped with an advanced sensing system to accurately sense contact objects.

Another eye-catching point is the large and round head design of the electric Atlas, which looks like a "makeup mirror".

And these are also different elements specially created by the team behind it, which are unique designs that are different from human images.

The CEO also revealed in the interview that the inspiration for this design was a small desk lamp from Pixar Animation Studio.

"We hope it looks friendly and open. It can not only be used as a display screen, but its shape also conveys friendly intentions, which is very critical for future human-computer interaction."

Question human beings, become human beings, transcend human beings

In short, everyone agrees that compared to themselves The imaginary robot prototype, the electric version of Atlas is really cool!

The most important thing is that it has omnidirectional joints and 360-degree hearing and vision, breaking the principle that it must be designed completely according to the appearance of the "human species".

As Jim Fan, the man behind NVIDIA’s AGI moon landing project GR00T, said:

We’re so obsessed with “human-level” robotics that we forget it’s just an artificial ceiling. Why don't we create a new species beyond humans from the beginning?

Commercial humanoid robots have changed in ten years

Yesterday’s hydraulic version of Atlas Retirement has convinced many people that Boston Dynamics is determined to take the road of commercialization.

"Do they want to copy Optimus Prime?"

Although many people think that Boston Dynamics is light years ahead of Tesla's technology, but it's not surprising that this happened because heuristics are so expensive.

But it is undeniable that Tesla has indeed been more successful in commercialization.

Of course, some people think that comparing Atlas with Tesla is like comparing Ferrari with Ford Model T. The only thing they have in common is that they are both cars.

In 2021, after Boston Dynamics was acquired by Hyundai Motors, it has significantly accelerated its commercialization pace.

Today, Agility, Figure, 1X and Apptronik have all made a big splash in the field of humanoid robots. Therefore, Boston Dynamics is also seriously considering entering the humanoid robot commercial market.

In fact, in terms of current humanoid robot technology, Boston Dynamics is in a leading position.

The hydraulic system also exited the stage of history at the right time.

The fall caused by the injection of hydraulic oil during Atlas's retirement performance yesterday made many people complain that their knees hurt

After 15 years of hard work, I am determined to create an "all-around ”Robot

IEEE SPECTRUM immediately started an in-depth conversation with Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics.

Robert Playter has been Boston Dynamics’ vice president of engineering since 1994, when the company was still primarily engaged in modeling and simulation and had not yet pivoted to robotics. .

In 2019, Playter became CEO and helped the company successfully transition from R&D to commercialization, launching Spot robot dog, Stretch, and the new Atlas.

The following are the main points of the interview:

Q: What is the current situation? Why did it take so long?

Robert Playter: The all-electric Atlas is the latest achievement of a team that has been committed to the development of humanoid robots for nearly 15 years.

First of all, we believe that it is possible to build a humanoid robot that can handle a wide range of tasks. It is capable of two-handed manipulation/carrying of heavy and complex-shaped objects in manufacturing environments, tasks that are far more complex than our previous robot models.

Another reason is that the electric Atlas has been developed in parallel with the traditional Atlas robot. Previously released videos have demonstrated the feasibility of these technologies. Next, we will design a new generation of robots that will perform far better than any previous machine.

In the future, we plan to put it on the market as a product, mainly used in industry, logistics and other fields.

Q: For the robot dog Spot, Boston Dynamics did not preset application scenarios, but directly developed the product and used it Bring it to market and let users explore its suitability. So, is Atlas' development strategy different?

Playter: Spot is essentially a technology looking for application scenarios. It took us a long time to identify it. It is in industrial inspection market positioning.

The challenges we experienced this time also made us decide to clarify the target application scenarios before mass production.

You can see the difference in Stretch, which was launched for a clear target market.

Of course, Atlas is positioned similarly to Stretch, but its function will not be limited to a single task, but to achieve a wider range of applications.

Q: Is Atlas’s vision to become a “universal humanoid robot”?

Playter: It must be a "multifunctional" robot. The reason for this is that currently few robots can extend their ability to perform a single repetitive task to other more complex tasks.

Q: What will change if you view the new version of Atlas as a product rather than a research platform?

Playter: The team’s research over the past 10-15 years is crucial to developing the first practical humanoid robot.

Such as dynamic balance and mobility capabilities are all to ensure that the robot can pick up objects while moving.

Now, we have mastered these technologies that are critical to performing real work.

However, in terms of versatility, it still needs to be strengthened. For example, let the robot pick out the one it needs from thousands of different parts.

Currently, this broad applicability has not been proven. But we believe that AI will be one of the key tools to solve this problem.

Finally, there is a lot of product prototyping and iteration required before we can begin mass production and deliver these robots to customers.

#Q: For a long time, "hydraulic" was considered the best way to achieve powerful dynamic movement in Atlas. Why has this changed now?

Playter: We first experimented with the release of Spot.

We faced the same problem many years ago and developed a powerful yet lightweight electric motor with the responsiveness and power to meet the demand.

Subsequently, we designed a new series of "compact actuators" for electric Atlas, integrating the power of "professional athletes" into small equipment. As a result, the joints of the new robot surpass humans in strength and range of motion.

Moreover, through comparison, we also found that the electric Atlas is stronger than the hydraulic Atlas.

Q: The video showing the range of motion makes people feel a little uncomfortable. Why show the new version of Atlas in this way?

Playter: These actuators with a high range of motion will give the robot a series of unique actions, thereby greatly improving its work efficiency.

Imagine how convenient it would be if a robot could turn around directly instead of having to take several steps to turn its entire body.

This flexibility provides endless possibilities for designing new features, and we have begun to enjoy this innovation and decided to share it with the world.

Q: There is a view that robots need to move in a familiar and predictable way so that people working around them are uncomfortable. You will feel uncomfortable. What do you think for this?

Playter: Indeed, but this does not mean that we can only limit robots to imitate human actions.

In contrast, if a robot is more powerful or more flexible, it can accomplish tasks that humans are unable or unwilling to do.

For example, the joints of the first generation Stretch cannot rotate 180 degrees. As a result, it moves very slowly when turning to pick up and place boxes.

Subsequently, we added a joint that can rotate, which makes Stretch's movements faster and more efficient.

In the end, everyone gradually got used to this new action mode.

Q: Why is the head of the electric Atlas robot designed like this?

Playter: The old version of the Atlas robot did not have a head. The new version of the head is not only a tool for the robot to express its intentions, but also integrates lights that can communicate with the user.

In the initial design, we tried a more human-like shape. But this design always gives people a sense of threat, even a bit like a dystopian science fiction work.

Therefore, we deliberately chose a round head design in order to make it look less human. We also hope to convey a friendly atmosphere through this design.

By the way, this design also draws on the well-known small table lamp from Pixar Animation Studio.

Q: How has the accumulation of experience over the years helped Atlas become a product?

プレイヤー: いくつかの興味深いテクノロジだけでは、製品を成功させるのに十分ではありません。実用的なアプリケーション シナリオを用意し、このシナリオに基づいて実際の生産性を提供する必要があります。

最初は誰もが試しに 1 台を購入するかもしれませんが、同じ顧客に複数のロボットを販売できる場合にのみ正式にビジネスが開始されます。これは、適切な信頼性、サービス、システムの統合がなければ達成できません。

数年前に私たちが Spot を製品として市場に投入し始めたとき、それはまさに会社の完全な変革でした。

これを実現するには、製造、サービス、ロボットの品質と信頼性の評価、継続的改善のためのシステムとツールの確立など、まったく新しい領域を習得する必要があります。同時に、適正なコストで生産され、適正な価格で販売され、最終的には利益が得られることも必要です。

この移行が完了するには 2 ～ 3 年かかるため、プロトタイプが 1 つしかないスタートアップ企業はおそらくまだ移行を開始していません。

したがって、私たちは今、技術的なブレークスルーを実証することに熱心ではなく、実現可能な製品パスが決定するまでは簡単にその意図を示すつもりはありません。それが成功の鍵になると思います。

Q: 将来の計画は何ですか?

プレイヤー: Atlas の新しいバージョンでは、旧バージョンで実証されている制御テクノロジーをさらに紹介する予定です。 。

このロボットの新バージョンは、早ければ来年にも技術検証のために現代自動車の工場に入ることができると予想されています。

Q: Atlas の新しいバージョンで最も興味のあることは何ですか?

プレーヤー: 軽量、小型、柔軟性に優れながらも、強力な機能を備えています。これを見た後は、誰もが「わあ、こんなこともできるんだ！」と叫ぶでしょう。

長い間、他の企業は比較のためのベンチマークとして当社を使用してきましたが、今ではこの標準が採用されています。またまた昇格しました。それが最終的に業界を前進させることになると信じています。

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