No, it鈥檚 not the trailer for a new Will Smith movie.聽 that surfaced earlier this month showing a humanoid robot hiking through the woods with an eight-person entourage in tow is completely鈥攊f a bit unnervingly鈥攔eal.
Even robots, it seems, can benefit from hitting the trail. But the 5-foot-9-inch, 180-pound Atlas robot, developed by Waltham, Massachusetts鈥揵ased , wasn鈥檛 just enjoying the fresh air.聽鈥淲e鈥檙e interested in getting this robot out into the world,鈥 said Marc Raibert, co-founder of Boston Dynamics, in . 鈥淥ut in the world is just a totally different challenge than in the lab. You can鈥檛 predict what it鈥檚 going to be like.鈥
Atlas is well suited to the outdoors, using laser-powered LIDAR technology in its head to assess and navigate terrain and sensors and hydraulics in its legs and body for balance. In that has received聽nearly 18 million YouTube views since February, Atlas traverses a snow-covered forest, occasionally slipping but regaining its footing with ease.
Who might want a robot with the skill set of the average day聽hiker? The military, for one. Boston Dynamics, which Google acquired in 2013, has nabbed millions of dollars in government contracts in recent years, peaking at from the Department of Defense in 2012. In addition to Atlas, the military has funded other Boston Dynamics robots, including BigDog, a four-legged, load-carrying creature built for rough terrain that doubles as robot-man鈥檚 equally disturbing best friend.
Maybe we鈥檝e seen too many sci-fi films, but after watching Atlas march down the trail, imagining聽it as the robot soldier of the future is not a huge leap.聽鈥淲e鈥檙e making pretty good progress on making it so it has mobility that鈥檚 sort of within shooting range of yours,鈥 Raibert said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not saying it can do everything you can do, but you can imagine if we keep pushing, we鈥檒l get there.鈥