Boston Dynamics, the advanced robotics company known for displaying its machines engaged in mildly terrifying dance routines, is back at it again for the holidays. This year, the company released a brief video clip that shows its four-legged “Spot” robot tiptoeing across an icy, winter-themed warehouse floor with Christmas music softly playing in the background. The scene then cuts to its new, more slender Atlas humanoid robot draped in a Santa Claus outfit, white beard and all. A low-humming mechanical sound can be heard moments before Atlas suddenly hurls itself into the sky for a backflip. It sticks the landing perfectly. Happy Holidays y’all.
This video marks one of the first notable examples of the newer Atlas model engaged in the kind of acrobatics its older cousin, now referred to as “Hydraulic Atas” was known for. The older model, which weighed around 200 pounds, stunned viewers over the years as it pulled off backflips, performed parkour moves, and chucked heavy objects over its head like an Olympian. That model was officially retired earlier this year and replaced with a much smaller, all electric version geared more toward commercial applications like warehouse work. The company recently released a video of the new and improved Atlas autonomously grabbing and moving engine covers between supply containers in a mock manufacturing center. And because it’s Boston Dynamics, they later repeated the same trial only with Atas nestled in a hot dog costume.
Content retrieved from: https://www.popsci.com/technology/santa-robot-backflip/.
