Eleven years after starting development, Boston Dynamics overturned the project of the anthropomorphic robot Atlas. On its YouTube channel, the company posted a touching video with funny and memorable moments from Atlas’s life, Stating that the hydraulic robot is time to retire and rest.
Boston Dynamics created Atlas in 2013 as part of the U.S. Department of Defence Advanced Research Projects Office competition (DARPA). The first version of Atlas, 1.9 m tall and weighing almost 150 kg, was attached to an external power supply and able to walk, hold objects, and restore balance.
“At the time of its debut, Atlas was one of the most advanced humanoid robots,” noted DARPA. “It was a physical shell for the software, brains and nerves developed by the Boston Dynamics teams.”
In the next 11 years, Boston Dynamics improved the Atlas design, and the robot learned to run, jump, bend obstacles, and dance. The Atlas of the latest model, with a height of 1.5 m and a weight of 85 kg, operates from the battery and is powered by hydraulic shafts with 20 degrees of freedom. It is equipped with RGB cameras and depth sensors, and the calculations necessary to perceive and evaluate control are performed on three onboard computers.
Despite the introduction of new features, Boston Dynamics never commercialized Atlas, unlike the Spot robot and the Stretch storage robot, which was probably one of the reasons for the project’s closure. Nevertheless, the farewell video ends with a promise to meet again. It is possible that the company will use Atlas in future projects.
