Boston Dynamics robot can now run on two legs after learning how to jump

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With their advanced sensors, hiding from robots has never been an option, but running from their often plodding frames has been, until now. Atlas can now run after you.

Three years ago former Google robotics outfit Boston Dynamics demonstrated its Terminator-like humanoid Atlas robot running through a forest tethered to a machine. Now that same hauntingly human robot can now run across and navigate uneven terrain unaided, bounding over the trickiest of obstacles … such as a log.

The new video shows Atlas running in what can only be described as a showy jog, striding with purpose and hinting that at any stage it might break into a lightning-quick sprint.

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Boston Dynamics has released new videos showing two of its creations in action. Jumping humanoid “Atlas” and dog-like “SpotMini” star in the clips which, depending on your worldview, will either be stunning or haunting.

The first demonstration, uploaded to YouTube on Thursday, shows the yellow robot dog autonomously navigating a route through an office and lab facility. It approaches a set of wooden stairs and, without missing a beat, clambers up one side and down the other.

“Before the test, the robot is manually driven through the space, so it can build a map of the space using visual data from cameras mounted on the front, back and sides of the robot,” Boston Dynamics explained on its YouTube channel. “During the autonomous run, SpotMini uses data from the cameras to localize itself in the map and to detect and avoid obstacles. Once the operator presses 'GO' at the beginning of the video, the robot is on its own.”

In the second video, titled “Getting some air, Atlas?" the advanced humanoid robot is seen mechanically running across a garden. It too demonstrates obstacle awareness by jumping over a wooden log and landing on its metal feet at the other side. Give Atlas a human head and a hip holster, and it’s only a few steps removed from being a real-life Robocop.

Boston Dynamics’ creations also include the two-wheeled “Handle” designed for rough-terrain, “LS3,” a hulking beast funded by DARPA and the U.S. Marine Corps to help Marines carry heavy loads and “SandFlea,” which looks like a small RC car but is able to leap 10 meters into the air. Earlier this year, the company hit the headlines after its SpotMini was recorded in a tussle with a human, set up to showcase how it could “adjust to disturbances.”

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