In the words of Jeff Goldblum’s Jurassic Park character Ian Malcolm, “Your scientists were so preoccupied in whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
If Malcolm could see how quickly Atlas, the robot designed by Boston Dynamics was developing, he’d most likely share the same sentiment.
Meet Atlas:
On the first watch it’s an impressive technological advancement. On the fourth watch, once the future implications of a robot that can run and hop over obstacles sets in, it’s terrifying. On the tenth watch it’s clear that robots will render human athletes obsolete one day.
While Atlas is still just gaining the basic fundamentals that are required to participate in sport, it’s worth noting that it has a few other acrobatic talents as well. Just last year Boston Dynamics shared a video showing Atlas mastering box jumps and back flips.
Yes, backflips. It’s only a matter of time until Atlas dominates the gymnastics field as well. So let’s take some time to appreciate this advanced robot that is capable of running, lunging and back-flipping before the robots seize control of not just sport but also our world.
