Watch This Boston Dynamics Robot Perform Incredible Parkour

Robotics company Boston Dynamics today posted a YouTube video of its humanoid robot Atlas doing parkour. There’s a wow moment when Atlas smoothly jumps over a log and leaps up a series of 40cm steps without breaking pace. The control software behind the robot uses the entire body of the robot, including arms, legs, and torso, to process unhindered dynamic movements.

Five months ago Atlas demonstrated its jogging and jumping abilities in a demo video that has received nearly 8 million views on YouTube. While Atlas was only able to perform one type of movement at the time, the latest video demonstrates Atlas’s ability to deliver comprehensive dynamic movements which are increasingly humanoid.

Known for its advanced robotics technologies, Boston Dynamics is an American engineering and robotics design company. It was founded in 1992 as an MIT spinoff. The company worked on a series of military projects for the US Department of Defence before being acquired by Google for $500 million in 2013. In June 2017 Google decided not to pursue the unit’s long-term research, and it was sold to Japanese conglomerate SoftBank in a high-profile acquisition.

Boston Dynamics has four major types of robots: The legs and wheels robot Handle; small package delivery robot Spot Mini; dynamic humanoid robot Atlas; and its famous dog-like robot Spot.

Check out the YouTube video of Parkour Atlas below:

Author: Victor Lu | Editor: Michael Sarazen

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