Can Boston Dynamics Robots Beat Me In A Fight?


In a large warehouse-style room, two humanoid robots enter an obstacle course. Their barrel-shaped bodies filled with processors and batteries make it look like they’re hitting the gym a lot but neglecting leg day. They run and jump, stumbling through blocks and angled steps, not unlike those in the elimination round of the obstacle course “American Ninja Warrior”. One runs along a beam and then vaults over it. For the final, they position themselves at opposite corners of a table and make two synchronized comebacks. Their feet are firmly on the ground, they celebrate: one shrugs, the other raises his arms in triumph. Neither of them obviously broke a sweat.

This is a parkour showcase that showcases the capabilities of robotics company Boston Dynamics’ Atlas model. Like a gymnastics routine, the movement sequence here is completely programmed and choreographed by a team of engineers. The smoothness of the movements makes the robots look like digital animations straight out of a movie: a simulation of human movement that we watch, modeled and designed on computers. Instead of just CGI cartoon characters tricking our brains by moving at 24 frames per second, these robots roll in physical reality.

Atlas was built as a humanoid, a machine that can perform a variety of tasks in a variety of environments. (Is it the position of our species as an adaptive apex hunter, or is it just our narcissism that makes the shape so prominent?) The software contains templates of physical actions that only the model can perform; The robot must calculate how much force it will apply to each of its 28 hydraulic joints to make a given jump. Watching it work fascinates me. It’s true that a robot’s hips rotate unnaturally as they try to keep their feet below the center of gravity on this beam, but otherwise the routine feels superhuman. I could personally do the first jumps between the angled platforms, but I couldn’t make a comeback left behind for fear of humankind landing on my neck.

As you watch the video, you can imagine what it would be like to face the physical abilities of robots in person. Each one is only a few inches shorter than me, but they weigh about a third more. They can run at a decent clip, slightly slower than 5.6 mph. As a runner, I know I can easily beat it, at least for current battery life. But I wonder if I can beat him. In the minute it took to watch the video, my brain was already starting to wonder from admiring the cool robot: Could this thing hunt me for sport?

owned by Boston Dynamics He’s uploaded videos like this one for over a decade, cataloging the progress of his creations as they got more realistic and more disturbing. One of its models is a robotic dog named Spot, who is an android’s best friend, has four legs and a “neck” topped with a camera “head” sometimes.

Although the company claims its creations are research projects, Spot sells it and has leased one to the NYPD. radiation amounts. But its appearance accompanies police officers during arrest in public housing provoked enough public outcry that his trial was prematurely terminated. People found the robodog both wasteful and terrifying, especially since it was in the hands of the institution most likely to use force against them. It certainly didn’t help that Robodog was quite similar to the terrifying killer machines in one episode of the show. “Black Mirror” called “Metalhead” — possibly because series creator Charlie Brooker, who wrote the episode, was inspired by previous Boston Dynamics videos.

We can ask Atlas the same question: For what? The video just shows us what it can do to do. For now, the robots don’t want anything; They expect a reason for existence other than not to fall. The company says the goal is to create robots that can perform mundane tasks on any terrain, but there is no such task in the video; we only see agility achievements, not the routine functions that these robots will tend backwards. Enter the branches of sinister speculation through this gap.

You can imagine what it would be like to face the physical abilities of robots in person.

There is supplementary video consistent with the original – which feels as if it was designed to allay fears that its counterpart may have provoked. Behind the scenes video where the engineers explain the project. The focus is shifting from adept robots to the reassuring human humans who build them. There are also Bloopers. We see a robot falling on the last rung of a row; another face plant balances and slides on nothing. There’s a shot where one robot does a final backflip while another lands on the head, bends his akimbo limbs, and then moves into a fetal position. We see robots repairing their hardware. An engineer reconnects the cables. A robot hangs in midair while leaking fluid. Another is lying face down with his arms around his head, like a technician tending to his outstretched leg. As it is reanimated after surgery, it stretches its limbs as if waking from a restful sleep.

It’s comforting to see the fallibility of robots – they still need us! — but remarkably, it just makes them seem more human. As I rewatch the original parkour video, I see a third robot standing motionless in the background, performing a kind of yoga pose. Does he take a break? Dropped in between due to poor performance? Has the robot been ostracized by its colleagues?

Of course, these robots were not trained in such a social context; their AI only serves to keep them upright while moving from point to point. Still, it’s impossible to avoid the thought that they might one day somehow go rogue. We don’t know what profession they can enter or how high they can climb the career ladder. It is conceivable that a robot like Atlas would one day wield weapons or have strength, stamina and aim beyond any human. This is not an unusual issue of concern: Elon Musk, who claims Tesla is working on his own humanoid robot, said it should be designed in such a way that most people “can escape from it and most likely defeat it.”

An earlier video from Boston Dynamics, released late last year, shows off some of the company’s projects She dances to Contours’ “Do You Love Me”. Cute clips are more of a marketing gimmick and a way to combine fun with a mobility proficiency test. This fun gets us used to robots, distracting us from what they can one day do. Watching it activates our human emotions. This could one day allow these robots, which don’t have the same problem, to flourish right under our noses.



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