We have been previously impressed by Boston Dynamics' dancing robot and its ability to do parkour.
But can the robot, named Atlas, do something a little more useful in everyday life?
Judging by a video released by the US company, which is majority-owned by Hyundai Motor Group, the answer is a resounding “yes”.
In the video, called “Atlas gets a grip”, the robot can be seen interacting with objects and carrying out tasks which would be helpful to humans.
It can pick up items, climb, jump, throw and make deliveries across what can be described as an assault course.
The video ends with a flourish as Atlas performs a backflip that most of us could only dream of doing.
It was not clear if the robot is programmed to perform these skills in a set order, being moved around by remote control or, more improbably, is an artificial intelligence moving under its own decision-making power.
The National contacted Boston Dynamics for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Either way, the new moves represent a natural progression of continuing research, said Ben Stephens, Atlas controls lead, in a blog post.
“We are layering on new capabilities,” Mr Stephens said.
“Parkour and dancing were interesting examples of pretty extreme locomotion, and now we are trying to build upon that research to also do meaningful manipulation.
“It is important to us that the robot can perform these tasks with a certain amount of human speed. People are very good at these tasks, so that has required some pretty big upgrades to the control software.”
Boston Dynamics explained that the dance Atlas performed to the song Do You Love Me was done “blind” without the perception needed for it to respond to its environment.
“Parkour forces us to understand the physical limitations of the robot, and dance forces us to think about how precise and dexterous the whole-body motion can be,” said Robin Deits, a software engineer on the Atlas controls team.
“Now, manipulation is forcing us to take that information and interpret it in terms of how we can get the hands to do something specific. What’s important about the Atlas project is that we don’t let go of any of those other things we’ve learnt.”
Among the deceptively complex tasks in the video was pushing a box off a ledge, which meant Atlas had to get its weight transfer right so as not to topple forwards off the platform.
The company is now hoping to take this technology and adapt it to real-life physical work.
“Our hope is that if we can build the foundational technology that allows us to easily create and adapt dynamic behaviours like these, we should be able to leverage it down the road to perform real, physically demanding jobs with hustle,” said Scott Kuindersma, Atlas team lead at Boston Dynamics.
“There are many pieces required to deliver a complete solution in a domain like manufacturing or construction — this video highlights a narrow slice of what we’re working on.”
Boston Dynamics unveiled in 2021 a new robot called Stretch, designed to perform one very specific warehouse job: moving boxes.
Humanoid robots are also under development by Elon Musk's Tesla.
In October, Mr Musk showed off a prototype of Tesla's Optimus robot, which waved to the crowd before a video showed it doing simple tasks such as watering plants, carrying boxes and lifting metal bars at a production station at the company's California plant.
He said Optimus would be an “extremely capable robot” that Tesla would aim to produce in the millions.
Mr Musk said he expected they would be about $20,000 each.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ahmed Raza
UAE cricket captain
Age: 31
Born: Sharjah
Role: Left-arm spinner
One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95
T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
