What is Boston Dynamics?
It's either a pioneering robotics company
helping to lead in a technological revolution
or a sign of the coming robot apocalypse!
Over the last decade,
Boston Dynamics has built some of the most impressive robots in the world
that can run, jump and even dance
better than some of us humans.
This is the Evolution of Boston Dynamics Robots!
Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992.
The company started off by creating realistic 3D computer simulations
for aircraft launch operations for the Navy.
But not long after,
they started making physical robots.
The first robot Boston Dynamics created
was the BigDog in 2005.
The robot was designed to be able to carry heavy gear for soldiers,
in terrains too rough for vehicles.
Instead of wheels, it had four legs,
allowing it to move across surfaces
that would defeat wheels.
BigDog was 3 feet long and stood 2.5 feet tall,
making it about the size of a small mule.
Despite appearing absurdly awkward
in early videos posted by Boston Dynamics' YouTube channel,
the robot was surprisingly proficient at keeping its legs under itself.
Even when it was kicked by its tester,
the BigDog did not fall.
Let’s just hope the robot will not take revenge on humans for this kick…
BigDog was able to carry 340 pounds
and climb at a 35 degree incline.
It was constantly tested by the military to make sure it could be used in combat.
In 2010, BigDog was improved,
it could run at 5 miles per hour and handle different terrains.
Nonetheless, the Robot still appeared very awkward,
and I couldn’t stop laughing at a comment on their YouTube video
Throughout the years,
Boston Dynamics kept testing
and improving BigDog.
Multiple iterations were made including,
LittleDog,
which just looks like a legged WiFi router…
BigDog Olé,
which hopefully one day can replace the tortured bulls in Spain…
The Christmas versions of BigDog
are putting reindeer out of their jobs.
Plot twist, the woman is a robot too…
AlphaDog,
which could carry 400 pounds of payload on 20-mile missions in rough terrain…
And in 2012, the latest generation
known as the Legged Squad Support System
or LS3 was developed.
It was a significant upgrade compared to BigDog
and could operate in hot,
cold,
wet,
and dirty environments.
It could also run faster at 7 miles per hour
and was roughly 10 times quieter.
Despite improving BigDog and investing millions at the end of 2015,
the BigDog project was discontinued.
The reason was that the robot was too noisy for use in combat,
which I can easily understand for the first iteration
since it sounded like a swarm of bees.
But even the latest generation the LS3 wasn’t quiet enough for military use.
Fun Fact
In 2013, BigDog received an arm.
It showed the world how Robots could take over the world
by throwing bricks at humans.
In 2009,
Boston Dynamics started working on a human-like robot
named PETMAN.
The robot could walk at 3.2 miles per hour.
PETMAN has “hydraulic actuators,” which act as muscles.
In total, PETMAN has 30 hydraulic actuators.
In 2011, PETMAN received a significant upgrade
and could, besides walking,
also do squats and push-ups.
It’s already doing better than my gym attempts!
PETMAN, which stands for Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin,
was developed for the U.S. Army
who planned to use the robot to test chemical suits
and additional protective gear used by troops.
It had to be capable of moving just like a real soldier,
with walking,
running,
bending,
reaching, and crawling.
But to make it even more human-like,
it also changes the skin temperature and sweats.
Sand Flea is another robot developed for the U.S. Army
and it has no trouble jumping over a two-story building.
The piston is powered by CO2
and can make 30 jumps in a row
before running out of power.
Sand Flea was designed as handy surveillance on places
that would otherwise be inaccessible or
too dangerous for humans.
The tricky part of the process was keeping Sand Flea
oriented as steadily as possible during the jump
since it was also intended to record videos while in midair.
The navigational system is so specific,
that soldiers can even direct the Sand Flea
to jump two stories in an open window.
Fun Fact
Sand Flea was intended to be used in Afghanistan to hop over walls,
look around, and get right back home again...
Well, Afghanistan will take a pause, but
maybe it'll be used somewhere else.
Who else has got oil?
As the name implies,
Cheetah was the first attempt
to create a fast-running robot.
To boost Cheetah’s speed,
it wasn’t just a matter of increasing the energy.
It also includes a biologically-inspired
choreography of interactions
between the robot’s feet, legs, and back.
The Cheetah can reach 28.3 miles per hour!
We know Boston Dynamics had their eye on 50 miles per hour for a bit,
and the top speed of a biological cheetah, around 70 miles per hour,
may ultimately be within reach.
We're not sure when this will be.
Still, considering that Cheetah began from a top speed of 18 miles per hour
and came to 28 miles per hour in less than five months,
how long will we have to get comfortable with the possibility of being chased down
and even eaten by a robotic quadruped?
Fun Fact
Boston Dynamics' Cheetah speed record at 28.3 miles per hour was
incidentally faster than Olympic champion Usain Bolt,
who got the world record for the 100-meter dash
with a speed of 27.8 miles per hour back in 2009.
Yes, this means that
now there is indeed no escape
from a robot cheetah on a treadmill.
You've been warned.
Wildcat was a four-legged robot developed in 2011.
It can run fast on all types of terrains.
Wildcat even became the fastest quadruped robot on Earth,
running at 20 miles per hour
while maneuvering and maintaining its balance.
It could even turn while running.
If it’s going to chase you down,
at least you can hear it coming.
Next came one of the most exciting robots
ever created by Boston Dynamics named Atlas.
It is a humanoid robot
based on the PETMAN robot the company had created in 2009.
"Atlas is the culmination of over a decade
hydrolic humanoid robotic work at Boston Dynamics."
Originated in 2013, Atlas stood 6’ 2” tall and weighed 330 pounds.
The company initially made the robot for the DARPA Robotics Challenge;
a competition meant to accelerate
robotics technology development to aid response efforts
to natural and human-made disasters.
The robot has undergone significant changes since its debut.
In 2016, Atlas received a new design
with a height of about 5 feet tall.
The new version of Atlas is designed to operate both outdoors and inside buildings.
It uses sensors in its body and legs
to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles.
Sadly, Atlas was heavily bullied, and
“cyberbullying” was taken to a whole other level.
In 2017, Atlas was improved even further
so that it could jump.
But far more impressively,
it could do a backflip!
With the next generation in 2018,
Atlas could run outdoors.
Now he could finally escape from the physical abuse in the lab.
I hope he’s fine.
During the development process,
new techniques were developed,
allowing Atlas to use its whole body with
complex algorithms to calculate the speed
and coordination of its movement.
It learned to do parkour…
and could do tricks with a success rate of about 80%.
You thought that was impressive?
In 2021, the humanoid robot could finish a whole parkour.
Man, it’s crazy how fast Atlas gets developed.
You might ask yourself,
why did they teach the robot to do parkour?
"At a practical level,
it's a platform for us to do R&D on
and as an Atlas Team we're encouraged to push,
you know, that platform to its limits like;
do the most crazy, exciting, high power stuff we can do with it,
and so we're always expanding and pushing the limits of Atlas's capabilities
and then, you know, hopefully by extension
extending the capabilities of the company
as well at the same time."
So, pushing the limits on Atlas
pushed the innovation for both hardware
and software that translates to
all other robots at Boston Dynamics.
But letting Atlas do parkour wasn’t easy at all…
Atlas was capable of doing tricks before, but
what made this really challenging was that
it had to do the entire course in one run.
So, Atlas had to be able to do tricks reliably.
Fun Fact
Boston Dynamics says it will not partner
with those who wish to use the robots
as weapons.
The original Spot,
which has since become Spot Classic,
became a turning point in Boston Dynamics’ robot evolution.
It was designed for both indoor and outdoor operations.
Weighing in at around 160 pounds,
it was faster,
smaller,
and more agile than the BigDog models that came before it.
This size reduction came from using an electric
instead of a gas engine to power its hydraulics system.
The company describes Spot Classic as the machine that quote
Multiple iterations were made, including Spot Mini in 2016,
which is a smaller version weighing 55 lbs.
The name was later changed to just Spot
as it became the flagship design for the Spot Model.
The robot is all-electric and runs for about 90 minutes on a charge.
One year later, Spot received a new, more iconic yellow design.
It is one of the quietest robots the company had ever built.
Some versions also include an arm,
allowing it to do more tasks
like opening doors.
This is the most-watched video from the Boston Dynamics’ YouTube channel
and has over 140 million views!
And just like you would expect from Boston Dynamics,
Spot was also
heavily abused.
Spot was also able to do more tasks autonomously,
including navigating through the lab facility.
It uses data from the cameras to localize itself in the map
and to detect and avoid obstacles.
Spot was the first robot
the company released commercially.
In June 2020 it became available for consumers
for $74,500 dollars.
Spot has already been used in hospitals…
police and fire departments...
and construction sites.
The robot is used for a huge variety of applications.
It can autonomously collect data,
capture and monitor sites,
carry up to 14 kilograms of equipment,
explore terrains,
and it can also be used for custom tasks.
Spot's Arm can pick up, carry, and drag items.
It has a 4K camera
and a LED illuminator to inspect objects.
It can also do other tasks, like turn valves,
flip levers or open doors.
Boston Dynamics also started working with NASA.
The robot can explore new areas,
including areas on other planets
that are inaccessible to humans.
Spot can make a 3D map of the location.
It can also,
sorry for my bad pun,
Spot things that might be interesting and
take pictures of them to send to the operator.
Spot Arm can also take samples.
Maybe one day we’ll see Spot exploring Mars.
Honestly I think Boston Dynamics and SpaceX should work together.
Spot robots might be able to help to colonize Mars.
Fun Fact
Boston Dynamics has changed ownership multiple times.
In 2013, the company was acquired by Alphabet Inc,
which is the parent company of Google.
In 2017, the company was sold to Japan’s SoftBank Group.
And In 2020,
Hyundai Motor Group acquired an 80% stake
in the company for approximately
$880 million dollars.
In 2021, they also decided to buy the other 20%,
paying in total $1.1 billion dollars to acquire Boston Dynamics.
To celebrate the new ownership,
they launched a video with a group of Spot robots dancing.
In 2017, Handle was introduced,
which the company has declared as quote
The wheeled robot stands 6.5 feet tall
and can reach a top speed of 9 miles per hour.
Handle is designed for logistics
and can handle tasks like picking up boxes
and placing them somewhere else.
In 2021, two more commercially available robots were introduced
for warehouse operations.
The first is Pick
and uses machine learning algorithms
to depalletize fast and accurately.
The second is Stretch.
Stretch is a versatile mobile robot
that can unload trucks and build pallets.
These robots can work autonomously.
Meanwhile, warehouse workers watching this are getting stressed.
It is unbelievable
how far Boston Dynamics
has come with its robots.
With the noisy and clumsy
BigDog developed in 2005,
all the way to the latest iterations of Atlas
and Spot in 2021 that can even dance together.
I really hope you enjoyed this incredible journey
and subscribe if you’re watching this video
before robots have taken over the world.