Humanoid Robot Goes Full Autonomy; Boston Dynamics Video

Boston Dynamics has released a new video of its Atlas humanoid robot to highlight it does not need a human to make it work. 

The video shows Atlas moving between containers and a mobile sequencing dolly, all autonomously. It uses machine learning to detect and localize its environment with no prescribed or teleoperated movements. 

“There are no prescribed or teleoperated movements; all motions are generated autonomously online,” Boston Dynamics said in a statement. “The robot is able to detect and react to changes in the environment (e.g., moving fixtures) and action failures (e.g., failure to insert the cover, tripping, environment collisions [1:24]) using a combination of vision, force, and proprioceptive sensors.”

The video also highlights how Atlas uses a machine learning (ML) vision model to detect and localize its tasks. Atlas also employs a specific grasping strategy and continually assesses the condition of the objects it manipulates to complete the task.

The video release comes as questions grow about how autonomous some humanoid robots really are.

Two weeks ago, humanoid robots served drinks and partied with guests at Tesla’s We Robot event. Reports from the event suggest the humanoids were remotely controlled by human operators throughout the event and were not completely autonomous. Tesla has not commented on the reports. 

Related:Humanoid Robots Serve Drinks, Party With Guests at Tesla We Robot Event