by This week, Boston Dynamics and the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) revealed a significant advancement in robotics and AI research.
In a collaborative film, their humanoid robot Atlas is seen performing sorting and packaging chores by utilizing whole-body motions like walking, squatting, and lifting.
The box is moved away from Atlas by someone brandishing a hockey stick around 45 seconds into the video. Atlas leaps into action right away, snatching up the box and bringing it closer so he can keep removing items from inside. The individual then uses the hockey stick to shut one of the box’s lids. Without missing a beat, Atlas opens the lid once more and gets to work.
According to a news release, Atlas uses a Large Behavior Model (LBM) to govern all of the robot’s movements, in contrast to earlier humanoid robots that usually separated arm manipulation from walking and balancing.
The accomplishment is the result of TRI and Boston Dynamics’ collaborative research relationship, which was revealed in October 2024. The team is working on a humanoid assistant that may be used for a variety of tasks.
Boston Dynamics’ vice president of robotics research, Scott Kuindersma, underlined the importance of this work.
In the press release, he stated, “This work gives a glimpse into how we’re thinking about building general-purpose robots that will transform how we live and work.”
Annie Jonas writes for Boston.com as a community writer. She used to work as a freelancer at the Financial Times and as a local editor at Patch.
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