A little early holiday surprise from Boston Dynamics this week, as Santa suit-wearing electric Atlas performs a backflip. The feat occurs about 13 minutes into a new video, showcasing yet another trick in the humanoid robot’s arsenal.
It’s worth noting that – unlike with humans – a robot performing a backflip isn’t necessarily more complicated than walking. That said, roboticists tend to focus on useful tasks like locomotion first. Even so, it’s impressive to see how robust Boston Dynamics’ new robot is proving to be — and that it managed to keep its Santa hat on the whole time.
The electric Atlas is following in the footsteps of its hydraulic predecessor, which debuted the skill in 2017. More recently, Unitree’s humanoid has shown of its own gymnastics abilities.