As we approach the second half of the 2020s, you may think to yourself, “Gee, there’s a lot less robots than I thought there would be by now.” For children of the 80s and 90s, this is especially glaring given all the films, books, tv shows, and video games that assured us our world would be filled with advanced humanoid robots by now. The closest we’ve become to that promised reality was in the form of Atlas, the acrobatic robot from Boston Dynamics.
It’s been roughly a decade since Atlas appeared on the scene, and the little rapscallion is retiring alongside a video showing its high points and lows.
Atlas came to “life” in 2013 as part of a joint venture between Boston Dynamics and the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, otherwise known as DARPA. The intent was to create a bipedal robot that could walk, jump, and climb through areas in the way that a human could, with the added ability to be able to move, lift, and carry objects with its arms. Much to the credit of those involved, Atlas was able to successfully accomplish those tasks through a variety of laboratory tests and in some outdoors environments.
With success comes its sibling, failure. You really can’t have one without the other and Boston Dynamics knows that full well. That’s why they put together a little video that shows some of the goofier and we imagine, costlier, gaffes that Atlas has had along the way. Just like a child stumble and falls as it learns how to walk, Atlas went through some similar growing pains. What would you honestly expect though with a machine like this? The range and flexibility of motion it displayed was absolutely phenomenal, especially given how nothing like his had been accomplished before.
Alas, Atlas as we know it is retiring. So what next? Well, the farewell video specifically states that the hydraulic Atlas robot is going to “kick back and relax.” A quick look at the official Boston Dynamics website shows Atlas is still around. but is now a fully electric robot. Yup, there’s semantics at play here considering that hydraulic power and electric power are two very different things. Plus, the new model of Atlas looking considerably different than the old one.
Today is not the day to stand in awe of the new Atlas; there’s plenty of time for that in the future. Now is the time to look back and give our due respect to everything that went into this marvelous feat of engineering and robotics. Atlas had to run, walk, stumble, and fall for its successors to have a chance at doing it even better. So here’s to you OG Atlas and to everyone who brought you into this world. Many of us can only imagine what will happen next, but you all at Boston Dynamics will be the ones to make imagination into reality.
