Google-owned Boston Dynamics has released footage of its Atlas humanoid robot successfully traversing a forest.
The 6ft 2in tall, 330lb robot has been designed to negotiate rough terrain, walking bipedally and leaving the upper limbs free to lift, carry, and manipulate the environment. Atlas includes 28 hydraulically-actuated degrees of freedom, two hands, arms, legs, feet and a torso. An articulated sensor head includes stereo cameras and a laser range finder.
“We’re interested in getting this robot out into the world,” said Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert at the the Fab Lab Conference and Symposium. “Out in the world is just a totally different challenge than in the lab.
“You can’t predict what it’s going to be like.”
“All kinds of stuff happens out there, and we’re making pretty good progress on making it so it has mobility that’s sort of within shooting range of yours.
“I’m not saying it can do everything you can do, but you can imagine if we keep pushing we’ll get there.”
Atlas is powered from an off-board, electric power supply via a flexible tether, however a version without this is planned.
