Boston Dynamics’ new humanoid moves like no robot you’ve ever seen

The humanoid robotics market is starting to heat up, and the company that's been doing this the longest isn't going to sit by and watch. Boston Dynamics has a new humanoid robot that the company says represents a path to commercialization. It's the company's next-generation, all-electric "Atlas" robot.

While new Atlas and old Atlas share a name, they couldn't be more different when it comes to construction. The old Atlas—a research platform and viral sensation that could handle nearly any terrain, do backflips, and pick up heavy objects—was powered by a heavy, complicated hydraulics system. The new Atlas is all-electric and looks like it's a fraction of the size and weight of the hydraulic version. It also looks like a product, with covers around all the major components and consumer-friendly design touches like a giant status light in the head and a light-up power button that looks like it was ripped right from the Spot assembly line.

Hydraulic Atlas is being retired to make way for the all-electric version. The company posted one last goodbye video for the hydraulic model on its YouTube page, showing the history of the project. Atlas has done a lot of neat tricks over the years, but getting there has required a lot of learning—part of that is taking some absolutely gnarly slams, which are highlighted in the video. The video seemed to go out of its way to show just how cumbersome hydraulics can be. At one point, it looks like Atlas' foot completely breaks off, and hydraulic fluid gushes all over the floor. Other times, the robot just springs a leak, and a fine mist of high-pressure fluid sprays everywhere as the robot goes limp. The fluid has a red tinge to it, so with a little imagination, it can look pretty gory!

Look at any clear picture of old Atlas, and you will see a constantly wobbling halo of thick, black hydraulic lines hanging all over the robot. Two lines come out of the backpack and form big hoops around the shoulders, running down the arms to the hands. Two more hoses come out of the bottom of the backpack around the robot's hips and run down either leg.

The new Atlas removes that complicated and messy hydraulic system. We only get a 30-second look at the new robot, but it shows off some impressive capabilities. It seems like a basic thing, but have you ever seen a humanoid robot stand up? Atlas can do it, and probably in the creepiest way possible. The body is lying face down, and the legs swing up into the air, backward, and get placed down to the left and right side of the robot's butt in a crazy contortionist's pretzel position. Both feet get placed flat on the floor, and the robot completes the deepest squat you've ever seen, with the hips rotating something like 270 degrees.

From there, the robot's body is facing away from the camera (we're not worrying about the head just yet), and then it does the wildest robot turn-around you've ever seen. Just below the hip joint, there is another 360 joint in the thigh with no human analog, allowing each leg to longitudinally spin around. So, without moving the hips or robot body at all, the right leg does a 180 spin in place and goes from "knees and toes pointing away from the camera" to "knees and toes pointing at the camera," and then the left leg does the same. Then the whole torso does a 180 and suddenly the robot is facing a different direction. It's a zero-radius turnaround, but even that doesn't seem like an adequate description.

Besides it being creepy to see anything move like this, there's a point to the madness. This kind of movement would be impossible with hydraulic lines hanging all over the place. Every movement of the old Atlas needed to be made with the limitations of the hydraulic line spaghetti in mind. Move a limb too far, and you will rip a line off and spray fluid everywhere. Just like a human, every joint had a "home" position that you needed to return to, so that everything untangled.

There's no need for any range-of-motion limits with electric joints. While the knees of the robot look normal, it looks like the head, torso, hips, shoulders, and thigh spinners all look like limitless 360-degree joints. With things like slip rings that can pass electrical wires to a rotating object, all these joints can probably just spin forever and have no home position. Boston Dynamics is calling the new Atlas the "world’s most dynamic humanoid robot."

There are a few other things we can glimpse from the video. The hands seem to be the same thing we saw in the last Atlas video. They don't look like much in the video since, when closed, they form nondescript blocks, but these look just like the three sets of spindly fingers that were shown off in February. The fingers started the whole idea of "why should anything have a human-like motion limitation?" and also have near-360-degree joints that can bend backward. Atlas won't be doing small item manipulation anytime soon, but these claw hands make it suited for the labor of lifting heavier objects.

Atlas has a head now! That's new. The old model just had a solid torso with no articulation at all. New Atlas has a weird sideways bucket head with a bunch of cameras on the front. In an interview with IEEE Spectrum, Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter admits the design is inspired by the Pixar Lamp character. The front and back of the robot both have blinding ring-shaped lights that presumably indicate status. By our count, there are six cameras on the front, first a horizontal line of four cameras, then a giant fish-eye lens, then one more small camera. That last camera is next to two more mysterious square sensors, probably related to lidar or time of flight or something like that. Spot the robot dog has eight forward-facing cameras, so Boston Dynamics is going light here.

Do you want to buy a robot?

A hydraulic robot was never going to be commercially viable, but with electric motors and a much smaller form factor, Boston Dynamics says it's on the path to a commercial product. The blog post starts right off by referencing the company's other commercial robots, saying, "Our customers have seen success with Spot and Stretch, and they are eager to tackle the next challenge with Atlas. Given our track record of successful commercialization, we are confident in our plan to not just create an impressive R&D project, but to deliver a valuable solution." The post also talks about integration with Boston Dynamics robotic fleet management software and the ability to learn about a facility and navigate it.

The first partner customer will be Boston Dynamics' new-ish parent company, Hyundai. The post says, "Hyundai team is building the next generation of automotive manufacturing capabilities, and it will serve as a perfect testing ground for new Atlas applications." The post continues, "Similar to our Stretch rollout, we will be partnering with a small group of innovative customers, beginning with Hyundai, to test and iterate Atlas applications over the next few years. This is the first look at a real product, but it certainly isn’t the last."

The move to commercialization apparently won't mean any downgrades in terms of capabilities. Boston Dynamics promises the new Atlas is stronger than the old model, and, if it wasn't obvious already, a "broader range of motion." Besides lifting heavy objects, the company says it will explore "several new gripper variations to meet a diverse set of expected manipulation needs in customer environments." If Boston Dynamics lags behind in anything, it's work on precision robotic hands. Those big meat hooks from the last Atlas video won't be doing fine manipulation anytime soon. For now, it looks like the 25-pound inventory work from that last video is the robot's closest career path.

We should see more of what the new Atlas can do soon. One line of the official blog post says that "in the months and years ahead, we’re excited to show what the world’s most dynamic humanoid robot can really do—in the lab, in the factory, and in our lives."

Boston Dynamics was also careful to position an ominous hockey stick in the background of the video and all the promotional shots. It's all glamorous photo shoots now, but like all Boston Dynamics robots, where you get hit with stuff, kicked, and end up slamming into an obstacle course, this robot will be in for a rough life.