Atlas | Partners in Parkour

I can say I'm much impressed. At the same time I haven't watched Boston Dynamics videos for last couple of years. When I checked latest Atlas demo from 2021 it look like sci-fi to me: [VIDEO]

We said the same thing about movement in robots -- and today we have: [VIDEO] Just ridiculous how far things have come, it seems fake it's so far along.

This is the video with the blog post: [VIDEO] To me, I like to see when they stutter or slightly-fail, since that to indicates the dynamics and real-time part of the thing, that it is not a 100% scripted thing (although the blog post mentions the engineers fine-tuning the celebratory arm-pump, to what extent is that scripted then?)

What's that dripping from the right robot's right thigh near the end? [VIDEO] Also are the layers of foam over the landing surfaces they backflip onto needed for dampening?

> i cant stop thinking about the tesla bot. was he he outright lying? Elon is jealous of Boston Dynamics. Boston Dynamics released an impressive video this week [1], which took the spotlight away from Tesla. [1] [VIDEO]

Reusable rockets weren't practical either. But someone was maverick enough to attempt it anyways. [1] You provide valuable information but I just hate how you succumb to easy thinking, an appeal to tradition [2]: "well it hadn't been done then so it can't possibly be done now." It's a form of anachronistic gatekeeping. It doesn't belong in the age we currently reside in. We have totally different computational abilities today, powerful beyond reason. Our hardware is smaller and better performing. We can perform digital simulations billions of times before we even execute one physical experiment. I've seen the same attitude with age-old mathematics problems and it makes even less sense in that domain. The ability to perform computational experiments that our predecessors couldn't, changes the viability of almost every unsolved problem. Boston Dynamics would have never created Atlas or Spot if they clung to common tropes about robots. And now, due to battery technology, the once tethered robots are dexterously mobile. [2] [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] [VIDEO]

The robot I am most personally impressed with is Agility Robotics Digit. It is a real human like form factor (small human not huge!). If I recall correctly it is an energy efficient walking system too. [LINK] This long continuous shot of walking from 2019 is nice too. They have improved their software a lot but the hardware was already in good shape. [LINK] Meanwhile Boston Dynamics is doing quite well. [VIDEO] Best path to success is Tesla buys Agility Robotics, revs the design for Digit to integrate the Tesla AI system, and spins up a manufacturing line. They could focus immediately on the high level AI problem rather than worrying about design. Could slap their AI system on digit while mechanical teams rev the new design so they get moving quickly. Disclosure: I do not work for any of these companies or any related company. I am making a farming robot (see my profile).

I agree with the neighbor comment, 2015 was a long time ago. See the state of the art today: Agility Robotics Digit: [LINK] Boston Dynamics Atlas: [VIDEO] Neither of those robots use a static walk. That is obvious enough in the above Boston Dynamics video, but Agility Robotics also just released a little video explaining their (very robust) dynamic walking system: [LINK] It seems clear the basic hardware to do humanoid walking is technologically achievable today. Personally I would think Tesla would be better suited by copying or buying Agility Robotics as Digit is a smaller robot and it looks cheaper than Atlas too. Better for working in a warehouse alongside people as shown in the top video link in this post, and they seem a smaller company than BD and so cheaper to buy. Musk is very happy to buy firms that produce tech his companies need. As far as the software problem, it is a big one to be sure. I don't think they have all the pieces to the puzzle, but I do think Tesla's Dojo AI system has promise for training a machine like a humanoid. Their system is designed to ingest experience and produce neural nets which can navigate in the real world. They may be willing to take a bet, despite the clear risks, on using this system for humanoids. If they buy Agility Robotics, rev the design to add their AI system (which is extremely powerful AI hardware with their own custom processor), they could be in production on prototypes within a year. This all has the disclaimer that succe