We've all freaked out over the course of the last few years at the creations of Boston Dynamics. The Google-owned company is responsible for the most advanced robots humankind has built so far, which is probably why its name is often spoken in the same sentence as Skynet.
Let's face it: before Boston Dynamics, the best robot you could think of was Honda's ASIMO - the child-sized humanoid that is now looking like a child's toy compared to what BD was able to create. It started out with four-legged machines, and when these got to be creepy enough, Boston Dynamics went on to design a biped robot that can make a very good T-800 impersonation.
Right now, Boston Dynamics has a host of specialized robots, each built with a specific task in mind. The first one ever created by the company was BigDog. It acted as a starting platform for other types of robots such as AlphaDog - a similarly shaped four-legged robotic dog that can carry up to 400 pounds (roughly 180 kilograms) for up to 20 miles through very rugged terrain.
If that's your off-roader, Boston Dynamics has also built a sports car, and it's named "Cheetah." As the name suggests, it is the fastest robot with legs. It's also a bit faster than Usain Bolt, having been clocked at 28.3 mph (45.5 km/h).
Another variation of the BigDog is Spot, a newer version that has tremendous control over rugged terrain - so much so in fact, that the Boston Dynamics CEO, Marc Raibert, even jokes about testing Spot as a platform for home deliveries. Or was he joking? Let's hope so, or soon enough the robots will know where all of us live.
We'll just skip the Spot version with an arm instead of a head for obvious reasons and go right ahead to Atlas, the first humanoid robot. We've met him before earlier this year when Boston Dynamics released a video showing it getting bullied by a few technicians armed with hockey sticks. We get to see a short glimpse of that here as well, but for the full gore look for our original post.
Asked about the abuse they subject their robots to, Marc Raibert says it's OK, describing the process as being "proud parents that show off what their kids can do." Thanks, Marc, I shall certainly remember to use a hockey stick next time my kids refuse to sing a song when somebody's visiting.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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