"behind the scenes" look at how Boston Dynamics taught Atlas some new tricks Dave Touretzky 01 Feb 2023 00:35 EST

A few weeks ago Boston Dynamics released their latest video showing
their Atlas humanoid robot "assisting" at a mock construction site and
doing some impressive gymnastics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e1_QhJ1EhQ

They also released a companion video explaining how this video was
developed, with some outtakes of the robot falling over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPVC4IyRTG8

Although the robot's actions were highly scripted and carefully
practiced, the fact that it can perform these actions at all represents
a significant advance in robotics.  This Arts Technica article
contains a good discussion of the work:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/boston-dynamics-atlas-robot-grows-a-set-of-hands-attempts-construction-work/

-- Dave