Getting Scary: The Boston Dynamics Robot’s Parkour Abilities Are So Impressive They Don’t Even Look Real!

Atlas uses its whole body (legs, arms, torso) to perform a sequence of dynamic maneuvers that form a gymnastic routine. We created the maneuvers using new techniques that streamline the development process.



First, an optimization algorithm transforms high-level descriptions of each maneuver into dynamically-feasible reference motions. Then Atlas tracks the motions using a model predictive controller that smoothly blends from one maneuver to the next.