Atlas robot walks through the forest

The Atlas, a humanoid robot of Boston Dynamics, has begun field testing in a forest. In the video you can see Atlas moving quite fast, its ability to balance well when striding on many different terrains.

Atlas robots are tested in real environments

Marc Raibert - Boston Dynamics founder and currently bought by Google has shared about the Atlas project and the video at the Fab Lab conference, which took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the DRC competition organized by DARPA, many teams used Atlas platform to participate with their customized software. However, Raibert said that the "genuine " software of Boston Dynamics possesses more improvements. "We are still developing human-like robots inspired by Atlas versions. We study how humans and animals move to simulate and even improve this action," he said. Our interest is balanced and flexible, helping robots perform tasks like animals and humans still do, move quickly but not fall. "

Raibert said Atlas' forest tests went smoothly: "We are excited to bring robots to the real world, everything is completely different and you cannot predict what will happen."

Boston Dynamics used dumbbells and even boxing gloves to test Atlas's ability. They attached boxing gloves to a long stick and tried to push Atlas down to test its active balance system .

Atlas was built by Boston Dynamics with a height of 1.8 m and weighs nearly 150 kg. They equipped it with 28 hydraulic movement and stereoscopic observation systems. This is also one of the most advanced robots ever created by humans. On the back of the Atlas is a 3.7 kW Li-ion battery block that allows it to operate for about 1 hour with various tasks including walking, standing, using tools and other moving patterns.

The group of researchers at the Florida Institute of Human Intelligence and Machinery (IHMC) used Atlas many times and they even programmed it to be able to balance with one foot on three bricks like A scene from Karate Kid movie.

Seven other Atlas robots have been taken to a contest called Robo Olymics and they are designed to operate in areas with natural disasters. Particularly in DARPA's DRC, Atlas robot operators will be using a completely new version, fully powered by batteries, without wires. On this version, Atlas has added a variable pressure pump for the operator to allow the robot to operate at medium pressure settings to save energy, which can then push the pressure to the highest when The robot needs more force to perform heavy tasks.

Besides, Google has also developed a system of robotized personality. This system can allow machines to load and install personality like an application and own a different personality for each user they serve.