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How bullying a 180-pound robot could help improve disaster response

The newest generation of Atlas shows off some defensive skills in a video released Wednesday by Boston Dynamics. Why learning to deal with meddling humans could help rescue crews.

If robots ever seek revenge on humans, they鈥檒l likely use released by Boston Dynamics Wednesday as propaganda.聽

Boston Dynamics, a Google-owned company that began as a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has engineered a number of robot prototypes since its inception in 1992.聽

But as the video shows, the latest generation of Atlas may be the most impressive yet. At 5鈥9鈥 and 180 pounds, Boston Dynamics newest 鈥榖ot is much more human-like than its previous 6鈥, 330 pound predecessor. The robot uses stereo sensors and Lidar technology to navigate, finding and picking up ten-pound boxes even when a human bully pushes them out of its way.聽

In this case at least, all the school yard bullying is for a good cause. The US military one day hopes to deploy Atlas's decedents into disaster situations where human rescue teams may have difficulty finding access, like the 2001 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. For that to become a reality, rescue robots will need some human-like skills.

In the video released on Tuesday, Atlas shows of some human-like聽balance and stability. After a human shoves it with a hockey stick, Atlas regains its balance by running backwards and then re-attempting to pick up the box. Atlas is also able to stand-up on its own after falling face-first on the floor, thanks to a hockey stick shove to the back by its human nemesis.聽

Most notably, the newest Atlas robot is battery powered.聽

鈥淧erhaps the most important change this time round is the lack of cables and support tethers,鈥 explains Forbes contributor Brid-Aine Parnell. 鈥淭his frees Atlas up for all kinds of uses, including search and rescue operations in areas humans can鈥檛 enter and .鈥澛

Boston Dynamics created the first generation of Atlas for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge in 2013. In this prize competition, engineers showcase their robot creations with the goal to 鈥渁ssist humans in responding to .鈥 During the challenge, the teams 鈥済uide the robots through a series of physical tasks representative of what might be encountered in disaster zones.鈥澛

In 2013, DARPA named Atlas one of the most advanced robots ever built. But Atlas came in because the judges wished to see better durability and power efficiency: requests that seem fulfilled in Boston Dynamics鈥 new video.

To those in the robot world, Boston Dynamics鈥 newest prototype is groundbreaking and exciting. But the everyday viewer can鈥檛 help but feel sorry for the bullied robot after watching the YouTube video.

鈥淚t definitely triggered the uncanny valley response,鈥 Ken Goldberg, robotics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, tells Wired. 鈥淚 mean, most of us probably had the same reaction when it got pushed around: We expected it to turn around and blast that guy with a laser beam.鈥澛

But Goldberg tells Wired that the physical bullying is what makes the video so impressive.聽

鈥淲hen something sudden and fairly impactful happens to the robot, we call that an impulse, and that鈥檚 very difficult for a system to respond to,鈥 explains Goldberg.聽

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