Robotics company Boston Dynamics has shared a new video of its latest generation humanoid robot Atlas doing forward flips, cartwheels and army crawls, UNN reports citing Futurism.
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In a particularly viral moment, the lanky robot performs a flashy breakdancing move known as a "coffee grinder", effortlessly spinning one of its legs below its torso like a nimble street performer.
It's an impressive show that demonstrates Atlas's remarkable dexterity — and how far humanoid robotics has come.
But Boston Dynamics is no longer operating "in a vacuum" as the competition is really starting to heat up when it comes to nimble bipedal robots. One example is the Chinese robotics company Unitree, which recently showed off its G1 robot doing some crude kung fu tricks in a video last month. Earlier this week, Unitree followed up with a video of the G1 doing a standing side flip.
The latest stunt involving Atlas was the result of a collaboration between Boston Dynamics and the Institute for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI), which, as the name suggests, seeks to solve robotics problems with machine learning.
The breakdancing skills were the result of a "motion capture suit-designed learning policy," according to a Boston Dynamics tweet. In other words, a human breakdancer appears to have taught Atlas.
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The robotics company's collaboration with RAI also allowed its Spot dog robot to learn to run three times faster. A video released by the institute last month shows Spot accelerating as it runs down a track.
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The news comes just under a year after Boston Dynamics announced the latest version of its bipedal robot Atlas. The now fully electric version (the previous one was hydraulic and electric) was designed from the ground up for real-world applications, according to the company's website, and boasts a stronger and wider range of motion than previous generations.
However, it is not yet known whether Atlas will ever go into mass production. As the Boston Globe reported in December, the company laid off five percent of its workforce, and CEO Robert Player acknowledged that the company is "burning through money at a rate that exceeds our commercial progress to date."
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