Boston Dynamics' new Atlas picks and packages a large number of automotive parts.

🌟 Just months after its debut, Boston Dynamics' next-generation Atlas electric robot is already hard at work. In a video released Wednesday, the company showed how Atlas autonomously picked up and placed individual parts between a series of storage bins.

🤖 “Atlas uses a machine learning (ML) vision model to detect and localize environmental items and individual containers,” the company explained in a YouTube video. “The robot employs a specialized grasping policy and continuously assesses the state of the manipulated objects to perform the task.”

🎯 “There are no prescribed or teleoperated movements; all movements are generated autonomously online,” Boston Dynamics said, highlighting its advances compared to Tesla's recent Optimus bartender debacle, where Tesla's robot was controlled by a human operator while preparing drinks for event attendees.

💡 Atlas, on the other hand, “is able to detect and react to changes in the environment (e.g., moving elements) and action failures (such as failure to insert the cover, tripping, environmental collisions) using a combination of vision, force, and proprioceptive sensors.”

🤖 The electric Atlas made its debut in April, marking the retirement of the older, hydraulically powered HD Atlas. The new Atlas is said to surpass human performance in terms of strength and flexibility, something you can see in the video above as the robot moves nimbly between containers. 🚀

Although it is not entirely clear whether any of the abilities Atlas displays in that video are the result of the recent collaboration between Boston Dynamics and the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), which aims to “accelerate the development of general-purpose humanoid robots.” 🤝

Atlas isn't the only humanoid robot being put to work, especially in factories. In February 2024, Figure Robotics signed a deal with BMW to begin testing its humanoid robot models, the 01 and 02, at the automaker's sprawling assembly plant in Spartanburg. 🚗 The robots are tasked with moving bins of panels and parts around the plant's body department.

On the other hand, agility robotics has had its Digit robot carry boxes of Spanx products around GXO Logistics warehouses for almost a year. 📦 In addition, Agility Robotics has associated with Amazon to use its robots in the e-commerce giant's distribution centers, automatically moving empty containers from a series of shelves to a distant conveyor belt. 📦➡️🛒

Boston Dynamics has not yet announced when Atlas will officially join the workforce as a commercial product, as its quadruped robotic arm Spot and Stretch have already done. 🕒

Fountain: Boston Dynamics (YouTube)