Atlas

Waltham Massachusetts is the home of Boston Dynamics, an engineering and robotics company founded in 1992 as a spin off business from research undertaken at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT is the type of place where you can almost smell the intelligence and innovation in the air as you walk around. This depth of intelligence is evident in the work undertaken at Boston Dynamics. Boston Dynamics’ mission is to imagine and create exceptional robots that enrich people’s lives. More specifically, they aim to build machines to reduce the danger, repetition and physically difficult aspects of work.

Over its existence Boston Dynamics have developed several robots which they describe as ‘laying the groundwork for their current portfolio’. The pinnacle of that current portfolio is Atlas, a non-commercially available research robot. Atlas is described as being ‘a research platform designed to push the limits of whole-body mobility’. It is a humanoid robot (its design is based on the human form and function) and reflects the mental-image most of us would have of a robot from science fiction movies over the years. Atlas actually looks like a small astronaut in a space walking suit. It is capable of some incredible feats of movement such as the ability to walk, run, navigate stairs, jump and do front flips. It also has upper limb control which allows it to grip, move and even throw objects. Atlas can combine these movement abilities to undertake more complex tasks such as navigating parkour courses and throw down some nifty wedding dance floor moves. To fully grasp the current capabilities of Atlas you should spend a few minutes of time on the internet and see it for yourself. It would be hard to argue that Boston Dynamics and Atlas are not the leading edge of humanoid robotics, but they are not the only players. In 2022 Tesla, the electric car maker, revealed a working prototype of a humanoid robot named optimus. Where Atlas is a research platform, Tesla appears to be focussed more on developing a humanoid robot for the commercial market. What is clear is that the push for developing human-like capabilities into robots, which has been part of the human imagination for decades, continues at a pace. 

The movement capabilities of humans are not the only characteristics that companies such as Boston Dynamics are focussed on. They also recognise that to make robots ‘more human-like’ perception and decision making are also critical aspects. That is why Boston Dynamics are also doubling down on possibly the most significant boom area in the technology space at present. They have set up the Boston Dynamics Ai institute with the mission to ‘solve the most important and fundamental challenges in AI and Robotics to enable future generations of intelligent machines that will help us all live better lives’.

For a company such as Boston Dynamics the implicit message in their missions is that intelligent machines with the movement capabilities of advanced robotics and the perception and decision making capabilities of cutting edge AI have the potential to transform human life for the better, reducing risk and physical workload in our lives. For others, this rapid acceleration of technology is a warning sign that the age-old threat of the ‘robocalypse’ is nigh. Whatever side of this fence you fall upon, I think we can all agree that a world filled with the advanced technologies Atlas represents will be fundamentally altered even compared to what we perceive to be the impact of advanced technologies on our lives right now. 

There is another message in the story of Atlas’ development though. Atlas is the most advanced humanoid robot in the world and, when combined with developing Ai capabilities there is little doubt that what Atlas will be able to do will be extraordinary and value adding. Yet, what these companies are spending billions of pounds and drawing on some of the smartest minds in the world to develop though, are movement capabilities that any average, healthy teenager can replicate, perception skills that anyone without an impairment could replicate and decision-making and ‘thinking’ abilities that thousands of advanced university students will graduate with each year. Indeed it is those very same advanced minds who end up working for companies such as Boston Dynamics and developing the technologies that show up in an Atlas or an Optimus. Yes, Atlas is a mind-blowing technology but it is also a representation of how mind-blowing you are as a human being that it takes so much resource intelligence and effort to develop a technology capable of doing about 10% of what a 12 year old can. Humans are possibly the most amazing technology ever created. This is demonstrated in both very positive and very negative examples of how we have been able to shape the natural world around us into civilisations and the sheer dominance we are currently wreaking on the planet and beyond. It is very possible that it’ll be us and Atlas on a rocket to mars in the very near future. We should be lording the developments in technology that reshape the world around us but in doing so we must not forget the value of our own capabilities and how they are represented in everything that shapes our world right now which is not natural. 

Atlas is an excellent mirror for us to reflect on the value of our own capabilities, more so than the explosion of online based AI platforms.  This is because because the development and optimisation of Atlas is a perfect narrative for the importance of us continuing to develop and optimse ourselves.  Boston Dynamics development of Atlas places at the forefront the importance of mobility in affecting change in the world, rather than just ‘intelligence’ artificial or otherwise. In 2022, when announcing their AI institute, Boston Dynamics said ‘Robots must become smarter, more agile and dexterous, and generally easier to use and more like people’. We are physical beings and our capabilities cannot be fully optimised unless they include optimising our physical, psychological and emotional potential. 

Modern society is evolving along a trajectory of making our worlds more simple and less physically taxing. Indeed Atlas is being designed specifically to assist in this goal. The negative downside of this trajectory towards a less active life is the effect a physically unchallenged life has upon us. Reducing the physicality of humans below a certain threshold is likely to have profound negative effects on our physical and mental health as we are designed to be active. Restricting our activity is likely to lead to multiple unforeseen negative health consequences. We are already seeing rises in physical and mental health issues related to rising physical inactivity. According to the UK Government, the UK is 20% less active in the 1960s and is on track to be 35% less active by 2030. In its extreme from this physical inactivity is associated with 1 in 6 deaths in the UK and is estimated to cost the UK £7.4 billion annually. Physical activity is thought to have positive impacts on both physical and mental health because of a diverse and complex mix of physiological responses including blunting/hormonal stress responsive systems, minimising excessive inflammation and enhancing growth factor expression and neural plasticity.

As society reduces the demand on us for active lifestyles we need to find an alternative driver. Sport and physical adventure is the most tried and tested route for providing humans with a vehicle for stretching a combination of our physical, emotional and psychological capabilities for centuries. Within the sporting and adventure world there are different approaches which can be categories into three broad groups. Those who are within in the global niche of performers capable of generating income from their prowess may earn the label “professional”. There is then a middle category who do not get paid for partaking in their activity but still seek maximal performance from their adventures. This second group we will classify as “amateur”. The third group are best classified as “recreational” and partake in their activities for fun or health benefits only with concern for performances and outcomes.

If extremely demanding physical activity has historically been an essential part of life necessary for survival from hunter gatherer times through to manual labour based work then why would an ‘amateur’ group exist who push themselves to their extremes without any capitalist benefits, or even worse, pay handsomely for the privilege? Becuase this sub culture have tapped into a valuable lesson. That, pursuing physically demanding challenges and stretching yourself doesn’t just stave off the negative health effects of inactivity, it actually allows your to grow and flourish in those same areas of physical, emotional and psychological health. The lesson they learn is that by pushing beyond your existing boundaries you can meet your own personal version of Atlas 2.0. It is this desire to move beyond historical performance levels to a new, more actualised you that makes pursuing physical optimisation a way of life for these athletes.

Unlike the labels of ‘elite’ or ‘professional’ high performance isn’t actually about external comparison. It is the process of seeking to achieve an internally optimised level of performance one can in a given domain. Think of the start line of a marathon populated only be different versions of yourself. That is why not everyone can be elite or a professional, but everyone can be high performing. 

Boston consulting continue to optimise Atlas to make it the most high performing humanoid robot in the world to aid us and keep our lives healthy. In fact, to preserve our optimal and healthy human existence we must each consider personally doing the same.