The Atlas Robot Is Dead. Long Live the Atlas Robot

Old robots never die, they simply fade away. (And probably rust a bit.) This week, Boston Dynamics said adieu to HD Atlas, the human-ish robot that debuted over a decade ago. And then promptly introduced its replacement.

For years, Atlas has scared us silly with cutesy dance moves and parkour flips that we just knew would one day lead to our annihilation as a species. The robopocalypse never came, of course, and Atlas just got cuter the more it fell off boxes, bounced off tables, rolled down grass hills, and jived to Dirty Dancing tracks.

Yet before Atlas even had a chance to power down properly, yesterday’s retirement film was followed up today with a 40-second short revealing the “All New Atlas.”

Get ready for fresh night sweats: The replacement bot manages silky smooth moves you’d swear are computer-generated graphics, but they are not. While Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics has so far released precious few details of the new bot, CEO Robert Playter told Ieee Spectrum that New Atlas is “stronger at most of its joints than a person, and even an elite athlete, and will have a range of motion that exceeds anything a person can ever do.” Oh dear.

He added that Old Atlas’ antiquated hydraulics have been jettisoned in favor of electric-powered actuators. Old Atlas moved like a clunky chunky human; the latest iteration swivels and turns like a freaky crab crossed with an unfeasibly double-jointed contortionist.