Original Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2016/02/24/alphabet-unleashes-new-humanoid-robot/
The Boston Dynamics unit of Alphabet Inc.GOOGL +0.50% released a video showing a new version of its humanoid robot Atlas walking out of its offices, trudging through a snow-covered forest — and withstanding abuse from its developers.
The new Atlas is smaller than its predecessor and not tethered to a power cord, suggesting the device is progressing in its journey from the lab to the commercial market.
The video released Tuesday shows researchers knocking boxes out of the robot’s “hands” and knocking it over. But Atlas perseveres, repeatedly picking up the boxes and climbing to its feet.
The new Atlas is about 5-foot-9-inches tall, weighs 180 pounds and runs on batteries, the company said in a caption posted with the video. Earlier versions were roughly 6-feet tall, 330 pounds, and tethered to a power source.
The new version uses sensors in its legs and body to balance and lasers and optical sensors in its head to navigate and avoid obstacles, the company said.
The new robot resembles a version of Atlas that Boston Dynamics developed for academic teams to use last year in a challenge hosted by the Pentagon’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa. A Darpa video said that Atlas was effectively a new robot compared with the previous version, save for the lower legs.
Boston Dynamics withdrew from the Darpa challenge last year to focus on building commercial robots. Alphabet’s Google bought the firm in 2013. Boston Dynamics, founded in 1992, had previously developed several robots for the military.
Here’s a video of the older robot:
