海角大神

Atlas is, in many ways, a creature just like you: It walks upright on two legs, it can lift things and use tools, and it enjoys the occasional stroll through the woods.

Except Atlas鈥檚 eyes are cameras and lasers, and its energy comes from a far-off electrical supply. The humanoid robot is one of Google-owned , and while it can鈥檛 do everything a human can do yet, it鈥檚 getting close.

Atlas took a giant step for robot-kind recently by going on a walk in the woods 鈥� a task only the company鈥檚 four-legged robots have been seen doing in the past.聽It may sound like a relatively simple activity, but autonomous walking is not so easy when you don鈥檛 have a human sense of balance.

鈥淥ur focus is on balance and dynamics and working a little bit the way people and animals do where you move quickly in order to keep yourself stabilized if you鈥檙e disturbed,鈥� Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert said at the Fab Lab Conference and Symposium earlier this month, where a video of Atlas stumbling through the woods was presented.

Several versions of Atlas were also a contestant in a robotics challenge hosted by the (DARPA), in which robots were programmed to complete tasks in mock disaster scenarios. A Florida team operating an Atlas robot won second place. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's team, which also worked with Atlas, placed sixth.

But a problem most of the competition鈥檚 robots faced was following a task through to its finish, without shutting down midway. Atlas was no exception to this flaw.

鈥淚鈥檓 not saying it can do everything you can do,鈥� Mr. Raibert 鈥渂ut you can imagine if we keep pushing we鈥檒l get there.鈥�

Some of Boston Dynamics鈥� other creations that have been filmed completing trial walks through nature are the and the The company鈥檚 website also is the 鈥渇astest legged robot in the [world.]鈥�