Key Takeaways
1. Hyundai has ordered 30,000 units of the next-generation Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot for its US car factories.
2. The new Atlas robot features improved agility, longer operational time, and enhanced cognitive skills, including performing backflips.
3. The Atlas robot has 56 degrees of freedom (DoF), allowing it to regain balance quickly after jumps.
4. Humanoid robots have advanced significantly in agility and functionality, driven by investments aimed at automating manual labor.
5. Tesla’s Optimus robot faces competition and challenges from existing humanoid robots like Atlas and XPeng’s models.
While Elon Musk had thought that by the end of last year, there would be thousands of robots working at Tesla’s factories, other companies making humanoid robots are moving forward quietly.
Hyundai’s Big Order
Even if you ignore the many Chinese startups in the robot industry, Hyundai has made a significant move by ordering 30,000 units of the next-generation Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot, which is set to be used in its car factories located in the US.
Advancements in Robot Technology
The improved Atlas robot features more degrees of freedom (DoF), longer operational time thanks to a self-swappable battery, and enhanced cognitive skills than ever before. It has even showcased its impressive agility during a major marketing event at CES, which didn’t go entirely as planned. Boston Dynamics has always been proud of its humanoid robots’ ability to perform backflips; the previous model could do this as far back as 2017. However, this new and much more graceful Atlas has swapped out hydraulics for electric motors and performed a backflip from a standing position.
The new generation robot was able to jump backward and land on its feet, but it did lose its balance upon landing. Its 56 DoF was useful in helping it regain its stability quickly. Speaking of being useful, the landing was so intense that one of Atlas’s hand caps flew off while it flailed its arms to keep from falling over, unlike the first Russian humanoid robot.
The Future of Humanoid Robots
Although the backflip may not serve any practical purpose in a Hyundai factory, it still represents an important milestone in agility, showing how humanoid robots have gone from being clumsy to almost human-like in just a few years, driven by massive investments aimed at replacing tedious manual labor. Tesla’s market value is heavily influenced by hopes surrounding its Optimus robot, but observing the Atlas or XPeng’s human-like robot shows that it faces significant challenges to make Optimus the leading humanoid robot.
Rohan Paul
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