Boston Dynamics

By Xavier Reinders

Boston Dynamics SpotMini traction test

We're going into the future once again with this weeks post as we take a look at Boston Dynamics (BD) with their slogan "We Won't Stop Till We Perfect Skynet and Wipe Out Humanity," or actually "Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move."  Boston Dynamics makes robots to complete general purpose tasks much like humans.  Instead of a robot that can climb a hill or move across a frozen lake or traverse rocky terrain they make a robot that can walk, just walk, anywhere any how. Notice the "art" part of that slogan, for the people at Boston Dynamics its more than just numbers and servos and machines, its design and elegance and dog robots slipping on banana peels. Boston Dynamics is the leader in robots in the USA and probably the world as well as being one of the coolest things you could do with CSE degree.

Boston Dynamics started as a partner of American Systems Corp. working with the US Navy to create realistic computer simulations to replace training videos. After their success in this area they received a contract from DARPA, the US defense fund to advance the defensive arsenal of the country. With the DARPA funding they created a quadruped robot designed to carry military equipment across all terrains. Unfortunately for Boston Dynamics once the delivered the robot the US government raised an issue, they didn't know what to do with it. Despite being an incredible advancement in robotics it was not suited for military work, so Boston Dynamics dynamics tried again, and again and you get the idea. Each attempt was a huge step in robotics built by Boston Dynamics payed for by DARPA and sub-optimal for the US military. Eventually, Boston Dynamics had enough money to just build the robots they wanted to and solve problems posed by investors and other robotics companies rather than military obligations.

Boston Dynamics have currently produced 11 different models each with its own incredible ability. One can jump 4 feet vertically, another can run at a speed faster than Usain Bolt's top speed, some mimic human motion and work to be able to balance like we do. Boston Dynamics is actively building our future, hoping to one day boast robots that are just as varied and versatile as humans.