In preparation for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, a team at MIT has taken receipt of an Atlas robot and filmed its unboxing for the world to see.
Coming in December is the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). In the challenge, seven teams will each take a turn to program DARPA's humanoid Alpha robot, built by Boston Dynamics as an emergency robot, to respond to a simulated disaster.
The aim is to speed up the development of robots as a means of disaster response, able to enter hazardous zones that are inhospitable to humans to remove survivors and take care of immediate issues. So far, teams have been working with a virtual representation of Atlas — but the robots have been shipping out.
The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology has taken receipt of its 188-centimetre tall, 149-kilogram Atlas, and for the people at home who can't get an Atlas of their very own, they've done the Good Guy DRC Team thing: filmed an unboxing video.
Seeing it in such a normal context removes it a little from the terror usually inspired by Boston Dynamics' military robots, we have to say. For that, you might just have to watch the video here.
Via www.geek.com