The machines are rising! Pentagon is actually developing a robot that is bound to remind of you the Terminator robots, but their creation isn’t a mean kill machine as yet. Its called ATLAS, it has two arms, two legs and 28 hydraulically actuated joints. This project falls under Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA. The department is working on robots that it can develop to provide disaster relief and humanitarian aid, they’ve brought in researchers from MIT and other major institutions as participants of their Virtual Robotics Challenge. Participants have been given access to the ATLAS robot.
ATLAS is 6 ft and 2 inces, it weighs 330 pounds. Its primary purpose is said to be joining in relief efforts particularly in those places where involvement of human beings is lethal or downright impossible. Boston Dynamics, who built the ATLAS body, say that the robot is strong and coordinated enough to climb using its hands and feet, as well as pick its way in congested spaces. The people who have been called in to work on the robot are tasked with programming it to interact in the most efficient way it can be made to. DARPA has released a video which shows ATLAS walking, avoiding obstacles, withstanding brute force applied at its torso and even climbing the stairs. The teams working on this project will have to prove that the ATLAS they have programmed is capable of efficiently working in the field.
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