News Digest

Robo-Karate Kid! Google develops droid that can peform iconic crane kick

Built by Google-owned Boston Dynamics, the Atlas robot has been programmed to balance on one foot and perform the first stage of the crane kick made famous by Ralph Macchio in the 1984 film Karate Kid. An alarming video shows the 188cm robot balancing on one leg on a stack of cinder blocks, while slowly raising its arms up and down. Tipping the scales at a stocky 150kg, the robot was built by Boston but is controlled using an algorithm developed by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC).

Atlas is a high mobility, humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain. Atlas can walk bipedally leaving the upper limbs free to lift, carry, and manipulate the environment.

Robot manufacturer Boston Dynamics

While the balance demonstrated by the robot is extremely impressive, not to mention terrifying, it can’t yet perform the ‘jumping’ portion of the kick. Jumping and landing is a notoriously hard trick for large robots to master. It’s not clear whether the Atlas robot can perform a Karate Kid-style leg sweep. Funding for most of Boston’s advanced robotic products comes from military sources including the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) - the U.S. military’s ‘mad scientist’ wing.

In extremely challenging terrain, Atlas is strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet, to pick its way through congested spaces.

Boston Dynamics