Standing tall: The robot copes well when it is prodded.
Boston Dynamics' latest demonstration video features a new iteration of its humanoid robot Atlas coping with a number of destabilising forces – including a hockey stick and a pole.
The free-roaming robot is shown testing its balance by walking across a snowy woodland, before ably picking up boxes and placing them on shelves.
It's not only shorter, lighter, and packed with a lot more sensors than the previous iteration of the Atlas, but Google-owned Boston Dynamics have also done away with the tethering system that kept the bipedal mechanoid strictly warehouse-bound.
And it copes well when a Boston Dynamics staffer tests its reactions to unexpected interference, using a hockey stick to prod it and the box its carrying, before upending it with a length of cardboard tubing.
Atlas takes a moment to gather its senses before getting back on its feet – and walking out the door.
Maybe the next version of the Atlas will be doing frontflips and cartwheels too.
Watch: Atlas, The Next Generation. — AFP Relaxnews
