Boston Dynamics Humanoid Robot Gaining New CapabilitiesBoston Dynamics Humanoid Robot Gaining New Capabilities

Boston Dynamics has partnered with the Robotics & AI Institute (formerly The AI Institute) to advance humanoid robots through reinforcement learning and produce new capabilities for the electric Atlas humanoid robot.

The partnership plans to establish a “shared reinforcement learning training pipeline” for Atlas to “build dynamic and generalizable mobile manipulation behavior.”

This isn’t the first time Boston Dynamics and the Robotics & AI Institute partnered. They previously collaborated on developing Spot’s Reinforcement Learning Researcher Kit released last year to train the robot dog and types of movement. 

The new collaboration aims to build on that with a new focus on humanoid robots. 

“We are living in an extremely exciting time for humanoid robot development,” said Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics. “But for humanoids to be useful, they must be flexible enough to work in many different kinds of environments and perform tasks in a wide variety of applications. 

“Our collaboration with the RAI Institute brings together two of the world’s leading robotics organizations to help accelerate core capabilities needed to make robots like Atlas a valuable tool in people’s lives.”

The project has several objectives, including developing sim-to-real for mobility, improving whole body loco-manipulation and exploring full-body contact strategies.

Related:Boston Dynamics, Toyota Research Institute Team on Humanoid Robots

RAI’s aim is to develop technology that “enables future generations of intelligent machines,” according to RAI Institute executive director Marc Raibert. 

“Working on Atlas with Boston Dynamics enables us to make advances in reinforcement learning on arguably the most sophisticated humanoid robot available. This work will play a crucial role in advancing the capabilities of humanoids not only by expanding its skill set, but also streamlining the process to achieve new skills.”

Boston Dynamics and the Robotics & AI Institute plan to release periodic updates on their work, including demonstrations with Atlas.