Robots Are Getting Pretty Damn Good At Doing Every-Day Human Stuff

In less than five months we’ve gone from sweating robots playing badminton, tackle chin-ups and even perform spine-curling crunches to bots going out for a jog and some fresh air.

BostonDynamics (BD) recently uploaded a video on Youtube showing their latest breakthrough, Atlas, a jogging bipedal humanoid robot that can effortlessly cross different types of terrain. Atlas not only can jog, it can jump too. In fact, the clip shows the 4 foot 9 robot clearing a log with the help of a little squat. This is the same robot that can backflip, too. The video proves the rapid progression of robotics and artificial intelligence technologies-and more importantly, how more human these bots are becoming in their behavior.

In a second video, BD shows off its SpotMini (SM) robot walking along a pre-defined path through an office and lab facility. All the bot had to go on was depth data collected from the sensors on its front, back, and sides cameras from a previous tour. What makes the clip really interesting is how SM uses its perception of the surroundings. Watch how during the run it uses the data collected to localize itself and dynamically respond to obstacles in the space. The detection system is obviously different than that of humans, but the way the bot conveys that basic information is the same. Needles to say, robots are becoming more capable and perhaps are starting to feel a little too close for comfort.