Google acquired Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robot re-enacts “The Karate kid” moves perfectly

Google bought the dynamic Boston Dynamics a year back and had been spending money on robotics ever since, though it did not spill the beans about its growing Android army so far. A video released by the Pentagon backed team shows a robot soldier re-enacting the scene in “the Karate Kid where Daniel tries to perform some assorted moves while standing on a small barrel.”

The two legged robot soldier which has been nicknamed ‘Ian’ or the ‘Atlas Robot’ is made up completely of metal, weighs 330 pounds and is 6 feet 2 inches tall. Besides that, the robot has 28 hydraulic joints and stereo vision and is being considered as one of the most advanced ever already!

The video which has been released by research partner ihmc Robotics shows that Ian can walk, jump and even drive a car. The original design for this fantastic requires a tethered source of power, but researchers are reportedly working to eliminate that handicap as well so that it will be able to walk free one day- without any constraints whatsoever.

Boston Dynamics has produced some impressive robots in the past as well, the most famous among them being the Cheetah, a four legged creature which can attain speeds as high as 28.3 miles per hour, making it faster than the Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt. When Google acquired the start up last year, it was already famous over the internet for similar YouTube videos of robots inspired by animals shown accomplishing difficult tasks.

“The project to develop the hydraulic, human shaped hero is overseen by DARPA, a wing of the U.S. Defense Department. The tool, which researchers say will someday rescue people in environments where humans can’t survive, appeared in 2013 and has been undergoing refinements since,” as reported by a leading daily.

The idea behind the robot is not to develop a robot akin to the “Terminator”. Researchers are aiming and working towards creating robots which can do more than simple tasks- they want their machines to be able to run at the speed of cheetahs without tiring, maneuver with extreme agility, and withstand unforgiving environments to perform tasks humans can’t do — or wouldn’t want to do.