Boston Dynamics robots learn to run, climb stairs and move autonomously

May 11, 2018

Pretty much the Atlas robot had made quite a splash when it was shown in a video doing a "backflip" in the air. In the past, there have also been several funny incidents with Atlas, which made many people believe that robotics has a long way to go before it manages to come up with something remarkable in the form of a robot with capabilities that could help humans.

In addition to Atlas, we also saw a four-legged robot, SpotMini, which had the in the form of a dog, which walked and did various other "tricks".

The Atlas as we said above has had its unfortunate moments as there are videos (some of which were released by the company itself) that show it having some crashes.

But Boston Dynamics didn't give up and a few hours ago released new videos on its YouTube channel, showing its two robots walking, jumping over obstacles, climbing stairs and navigating autonomously.

As we'll see in the videos, their movements are more natural, so to speak, and combined with the new features, we have the corresponding effect.

In the clips we don't notice anything we don't know. In the first video we see the anthropomorphic robot Atlas, running in an outdoor space, avoiding obstacles such as a thick wood, where after stopping before it, it jumps over it.

In the next video of the SpotMini, it is shown running through an office space, showing us its ability to climb up and down stairs without any problem. Boston Dynamics said that during the learning process, there was someone turning the robot, which due to its advanced systems was at the same time recording the route and memorizing it, creating a map. In the video, the fact that it avoids obstacles has to do with the cameras built into it.

Two words

Boston Dynamics has made significant progress in the development of the two robots. Undoubtedly, we are talking about two machines with advanced capabilities. However, there are several points that need to be improved. For example, Atlas could be faster in its movements, not stopping in front of obstacles, developing more speed and various other things.

On the other hand, the SpotMini could have had a bit more natural legs, although it's already at an excellent level. The integration of maps could be a very good feature since it could possibly eliminate the need to learn the routes.