Entire Boston Dynamics Robot Line-Up Dances in the New Year
upstart writes in with an IRC submission:
Entire Boston Dynamics robot line-up dances in the new year:
Boston Dynamics is sending off 2020 with its most impressive robot video to date - showing off its entire range dancing to the classic song "Do You Love Me?"[1]. The fun video offers the first glimpse at two Atlas robots working together while also highlighting just how quickly this technology is developing.
Back in 2018 Boston Dynamics released a cute video of its dog-like Spot robot dancing to "Uptown Funk"[2]. The playful video was a fun little demonstration of Spot's broad range of movements, exciting at the time but very simplistic looking back from the vantage of today. Now the company has stepped things up delivering a long choreographed dance video featuring not only Spot, but two Atlas robots and a special appearance from Handle, a wheeled model.
Released as a kind of New Year's gift from the company, the video is the first look at two Atlas humanoid robots working together. Atlas, still technically a prototype robot, has demonstrated a stunningly rapid evolution over the past decade from barely being able to walk in 2013[3, to being allowed to roam tetherless in 2015[4], completing a spectacular parkour routine[5] just three years later, and finally getting acrobatic last year[6].
[1] Do You Love Me?
[2] UpTown Spot
[3] With you, Spot can
[4] ATLAS Gets an Upgrade
[5] Boston Dynamics' Atlas Robot Can Do Parkour
[6] More Parkour Atlas
Also at c|net.
On the one hand, it is amazing to see the technological progress and what this portends for future capabilies. On the other hand, imagine a dystopian future where a dozen of these self-contained robots are on patrol and decide you are a target-of-interest.
What would you do? What could you do?
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