Inside the Lab: Taking Atlas From Sim to Scaffold

How does Atlas recognize and interact with objects? How do we develop new Atlas behaviors? Why is manipulation important for the future of robotics?

00:00: Introduction
01:57: Perception and Manipulation
05:11: Electrical Doctors
06:29: Developing in Simulation
07:13: "Sick Trick"
08:24: What's Next?

#BostonDynamics #robotics

[p.t.anderson]

I appreciate that the scrapes and dents in Atlas's bodywork have been left intact. It gives it a kind of honesty that comes from hard work and effort. Thanks...
EDIT: To everyone who thinks this is simple cost cutting. I doubt it. I'm sure they have the money to have a spare set of bodywork to throw on after most of the testing is done and they know the public is about to see the latest moves. I usually avoid speculation but my guess would be that they were too busy just trying to make it work and they didn't really think about the aesthetics. Glad they didn't, makes it so much more relatable.

[foxsnce]

The work you are doing is both terrifying and mind-blowingly awesome.

[Kralasaurusx]

I LOVE how this includes the "failures" along the way, rather than just a hyper-edited selection of only the most "successful" clips, because this shows the progress on a much deeper level, and that the Atlas system is truly learning to see and interact with the world - not just hermetically choreographed sequences that look good on camera but don't work in the real world. Nice work.

[sky]

I've been an enthusiast of walking robots since the original walking Honda robots debuted in the 80's. It's amazing seeing how far we've come in that time. Just WOW!

[Lyc]

the guy at 5:11 is my inspiration for getting into electronics. being an electrical doctor for robots. since i was small and saw geordi la forge do maintenance on data.
i'm so happy repairing "normal" electronics and imagining in the bigger picture i'm part of the infancy of atlas and his successors futures.
you guys are an inspiration and always make me go "what a time to be alive" with every video

[BUZZKLL]

7:05 Don't know if anyone thought this but it's mindblowing to me that this is the first time I've felt compassion for a robot. It obviously doesn't feel any pain and so wasn't reaching to its side because of this but something about that action after falling and the way it was dragged off with limp legs looked so unbelievably human. This is going to be a strange world to live in one day.

[dustincurtis]

The scuffed armour is badass, the tensioning of the legs under load on landing the multi axis flip is superb.

[swordmonkey]

The fact that you're programing Atlas to anticipate into the future is amazing. Watching Atlas calculating on how it's going to pick up the bag as it's still moving towards it made my jaw drop. Great work!

[deildegast]

Love the "Dr. Zoidberg" at 6:45, it looks like your company has the environment to not only design state of the art robots but also to goof around a bit and have fun :)

[BrianIrwin]

I love the demo videos and they are easy to share, but seeing some more behind the scenes stuff here is just great.

[philiporme]

The minute movements Atlas makes are just absolutely incredible. Incredibly human like.

[Clint_Moto]

That flip is insane. It is amazing that you come so far with Atlas! I cant wait for its Future.

[Skott]

If I was a software developer this is the kind of thing I would love to be a part of. I am truly amazed what Boston Dynamics has accomplished with robotics.

[groovetorped]

You guys being able to make Atlas understand what it "sees" and what to do with it is truly mind boggling.

[cogoid]

The "sick trick" is amazing, but it was also nice to see the human faces behind this awesome technology!

Only relatively recently Boston Dynamics started to make these little documentary style presentations, to better explain what is it that they are doing. I think they are great, and really help to create a more positive image of the company.

[richardmattingly]

Astonishing how this makes one wonder how incredible our own bodies are since we are unconscious about how intricate just picking up an object is for us. Decades ago Disney amongst others found out that fluid motion in it mechanical characters weren't about stopping but returning to a fixed point when moving. They called it compliance, by having an armature slow then use its inertia to return to the point desire not just halt allowed a motion few though possible in an animated device.

[dlerious]

Following these robots for so many years I still get excited at all the improvements and capabilities your team is accomplishing! What will the future of atlas be....I can't wait to see!

[kennyvanvliet]

I'm curious, are you all going to advance Atlas' feet? A few times I saw him lose balance and fall, and saw many times that he would simply jump to turn around. What about if he were to be carrying an object with a non-stable center of mass, such as a bucket of liquid or small particulates? We generally use our toes to exert a balancing force when picking up objects, carrying, throwing them. I'd just be interested to know the current thoughts on this, and where you are in the iterative process.

[karelpgbr]

I love that you guys kept the scratches, dings and dents on Atlas' body! Shows the process!

[inmemoryofin]

There's one moment in this that always catches my attention. The way the duffel bag lands, slides and spins perfectly so that it lands in front of the person is so perfect. I keep wondering if that was programmed into the sequence or if it happened by chance?