Atlas Walking Robot – The Latest Robot by Boston Dynamics
Technological innovations have made the robotics world soar to great heights. Companies across the world today are designing modern and highly capable robots that have the ability to perform numerous tech-savvy tasks. From the manufacturing industry to the auto industry, robots are gradually taking over the shop floor, enabling companies to improve their operational efficiencies and in turn augment their business outcomes.
Atlas – A Humanoid Robot
Robotics Company Boston Dynamics has recently launched a bipedal humanoid robot called Atlas. Atlas Walking Robot is a 6-foot Agile Anthropomorphic Robot and has been designed to carry out various search and rescue tasks. Crafted to look like a human, Atlas Walking Robot has created quite a stir in the robotics industry, and is said to be part of a new emerging species called “Robo Sapiens”. Atlas Walking Robot is a highly mobile robot that is designed to negotiate the roughest of outdoor terrains. Atlas can walk on its two lower limbs, leaving the upper limbs free to lift and carry. In extremely challenging terrains, Atlas Walking Robot is strong and coordinated enough to walk and climb using hands and feet and make its way through choked spaces. Atlas Walking Robot possesses articulated, sensate hands that makes it capable to use tools designed for human use.
Boston Dynamics – The Brain behind Atlas
Boston Dynamics, headquartered in Massachusetts, United States is an engineering and robotics Design Company and a popular name in the robotics world. Boston Dynamics is best known for the development of the quadruped robot BigDog that was specially made for the US military with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Boston Dynamics is run and operated by Marc Raibert, who is also the company’s President and Project Manager. Marc is an MIT alumni and spun Boston Dynamics off from MIT in 1992. In 2013, the company was acquired by Google X and today is a wholly owned subsidiary of Google Inc. With an extraordinary technical team of engineers and scientists, Boston Dynamics combines advanced analytical thinking with realistic innovations.
Tough and Smart Robot
Atlas Walking Robot is extremely stable and powerful, and has the ability to carry large weights and withstand pushes. The latest video of Atlas Walking Robot shows it walking on a snowy terrain, lifting boxes weighing 10 pounds and opening doors. The video also demonstrates Atlas Walking Robot’s strong and tough structure; when pushed and hurled by a human, the Robot seamlessly manages to stand up back on its two feet and carry on with its task.
Incorporates Modern Elements
- Atlas Walking Robot is made from 28 hydraulically-actuated degrees of freedom and weighs around 81 kg.
- The robot possesses two hands, arms, legs, feet and a torso.
- Atlas Walking Robot has an articulated sensor head that houses stereo cameras and a laser range finder.
- There are sensors in its body and legs too, that help Atlas Walking Robot navigate and avoid obstacles.
- Making Atlas Walking Robot appear like a human paved the need for a sophisticated control system that uses real-time sensor data with extremely powerful motor control.
- Atlas Walking Robot is driven from an off-board, electric power supply via a flexible tether.
- A computer is connected to the tether that allows the robot to take in commands from a human operator.
Cool and Fun with Atlas Walking Robot
Boston Dynamics has been known to develop robots that fulfil specific tasks and operations. Using highly modern technological innovations, they have been able to create robots that are not only strong and sturdy but also cool and fun. Atlas Walking Robot is the latest feather in their cap that is sure to wow the world with its human-like features and its amazing functionality.
Nisarg is the Business Development Manager at Nimblechapps, a top mobile game development company and has been with the organisation since its inception in 2014. He likes to update his knowledge on changing trends in technology and marketing and pens his thoughts regarding the same on various blogs and LinkedIn.