Much can change in 10 years. Just to make you feel old and refresh your memory on the events of 2009:
Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Sony sold 12 million floppy disks. Swine flu worried doctors. Boston Dynamics presented PETMAN, an amazing "humanoid" created to test US army uniforms.
PETMAN had the ability to walk (slowly), climb stairs and do push-ups. Everyone admired with open mouth, but in 10 years the evolution has been monstrous.
Much has changed since 2009 the same company Boston Dynamics, aside from its humanoid robots. During these 10 years it was first acquired by Google (in 2013) and then sold to Softbank in 2017. It launched into other robotic solutions. He created and started renting SpotMini. He made acquisitions in turn (he acquired Kinema Systems) and developed Handle for logistics robotics. A transformation in line with its ambitions in the market robotics.
Boston Dynamics and the evolution of the robotic species
The experience gained by Boston Dynamics in the PETMAN project has flowed into ATLAS, the new humanoid robot which now has several evolutions.
This video shows the capabilities of Boston Dynamics humanoid robots in 2009 and 2019 side by side.
On the left in the video, you can see, there is PETMAN. Today he no longer makes us gape. The robot on the right side of the video is ATLAS.
Mind-blowing differences
Atlas uses a compact mobile hydraulic system, customized motors and valves and a dynamic control system to achieve its human moves. He is about 1 meters tall, and weighs just under 50kg.
Atlas' new abilities are impressive: the robot runs, jumps and even does parkour. Check out these videos.
