Boston Dynamics, the SoftBank robotics company that’s looking to mass-produce robot dogs, has posted another video of its humanoid Atlas robot performing previously unthinkable feats today (Oct. 11).
In previous videos, the robot did a backflip—now it’s leaping over obstacles and climbing up large, uneven stairs with fleet-footed ease.
But Atlas wasn’t always so graceful. In some of the first videos where Boston Dynamics’ robots could walk upright, way back in 2015, Atlas lumbered through the woods, looking like it was narrowly avoiding falling with each step, rather than moving with any kind of purpose.
As of today, Boston Dynamics still hasn’t shown a timeline for when it will sell the Atlas robot to the public—or even given any indication that it will—but if the company’s progress maintains the same level of improvement, it could be a serious contender for automating jobs with physical labor at some point in the near future.