Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot pulls off 360-degree spinning jump on wheels instead of feet
Summary
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot performed a 360-degree spinning jump and other demanding movements on wheels in a video released Monday. The demonstration tested the robot’s motors and whole-body control, with Atlas completing the jump on its first attempt. Engineers used sim-to-real transfer and reinforcement learning to train the movements. Boston Dynamics said the wheeled Atlas is an experimental research platform and will not be commercialized.
Key Facts
- The 2-minute, 50-second video shows Atlas moving sideways, balancing on one wheel, lifting itself off the floor and accelerating forward.
- Andy Wu, an Atlas controls engineer, said training enabled the robot to use its wheels to roll during a side dash.
- The wheels let engineers test whether the motors can sustain high torque and speed while supporting the robot during acceleration, turning and braking.
- The development team worked to narrow the gap between computer simulations and real-world hardware through sim-to-real transfer.
Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas, equipped with wheels instead of feet, performs a 360-degree spinning jump. Captured from Boston Dynamics' YouTube channel
Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas has successfully performed a challenging aerial maneuver, jumping into the air, spinning 360 degrees and landing like a figure skater — all while equipped with wheels instead of feet.
The robotics company, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, released a video Monday showing a wheeled version of Atlas performing a series of demanding movements designed to test the limits of its motors and whole-body control technology.
The 2-minute, 50-second video shows Atlas rapidly moving sideways while changing direction on its wheels, executing a full 360-degree spinning jump, balancing on one wheel with the other leg raised and lifting itself off the floor before accelerating forward.
The robot successfully completed the 360-degree spinning jump on its first attempt.
The achievement followed efforts by the development team to narrow the gap between computer simulations and real-world hardware through a process known as "sim-to-real" transfer.
Engineers also used reinforcement learning, a machine-learning technique in which robots improve their performance through repeated attempts and feedback, to train Atlas to execute complex movements.
Andy Wu, an Atlas controls engineer, said in the video that he was particularly impressed by the robot's ability to develop unexpected movement strategies during training.
“I was pleasantly surprised that training did in fact figure out how to use the wheels to roll during the side dash,” Wu said.
The decision to replace Atlas' feet with wheels was intended to create particularly demanding conditions for testing its motors and control systems.
Wheels allow engineers to examine whether the robot's motors can continuously deliver high torque and speed while supporting its weight during acceleration, turning and braking.
The experiments are designed to push the robot's hardware and whole-body control capabilities toward their limits while assessing its ability to maintain stability during complex maneuvers.
Despite the impressive demonstration, Boston Dynamics said the wheeled version of Atlas is strictly an experimental research platform.
There are no plans to commercialize the wheeled version of Atlas, according to the company.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.
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