The Atlas Director of Robot Behavior at Boston Dynamics talks with NEXT host John Koetsier about Atlas’s design, robot intelligence, factory integration, and why legs can suit industrial work.
The director says the new Atlas has nearly ten times less complexity than its predecessor, with fewer parts and fewer distinct components. A faster, simpler production process is intended to improve reliability and lower cost while maintaining or exceeding prior performance.
The director describes two parts of robot intelligence: physical control for balance, agility, and object handling, and reasoning for planning task steps and interpreting objects. Boston Dynamics is building on its experience with physical skills while investing in reasoning so robots can adapt when factory jobs or workflows change.
The director says robots should be able to learn new work through experience or demonstration, rather than requiring months of fresh programming and validation. Factory integration also matters: robots need to communicate with management systems, an area where Boston Dynamics draws on experience coordinating Spot fleets across customer sites.
The director compares Atlas’s legs with the wheeled base used on Stretch, noting that an omnidirectional base can require eight actuators, similar to the two legs. Legs can traverse loading dock gaps and stairs, and fit into narrow factory spaces; the director adds that reliable balance and locomotion are no longer as difficult as they once were.
Briefs summarise talks and interviews; timestamps open the video at that moment. Claims in a talk are the speaker's own.
John Koetsier of NEXT speaks with Alexandra Sukharev, a vice president at Bessemer Venture Partners, about which companies may succeed in humanoid robotics and the challenges of real world deployment.
A Boston Dynamics Prototype Operations team member explains how the company builds and improves Atlas, from precision machining through assembly and testing, alongside its engineers.
Boston Dynamics engineers discuss the design, simulation, and dexterity of Atlas’s new hands.
Boston Dynamics’ robotics team discusses Atlas’s path to industrial work at Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics Metaplant Application Center, with a host visiting the facility.
Chris Thorn, Atlas hardware team lead at Boston Dynamics, discusses the new Atlas design with industrial designers Aaron Abroff and James Kucera at Boston Dynamics.
Zack Jackowski, Atlas development lead at Boston Dynamics, and company researchers discuss training humanoid robots for factory work; Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind explores AI’s capabilities and risks; Palmer Luckey of Anduril describes autonomous weapons; and artists and engineers in Carrara debate robots in sculpture.
