Boston Dynamics: Perception and Adaptability
May 28th, 2025Classical robotic systems involve machines carrying out very specific, repeatable tasks with high precision. Automobile manufacturers have been using these types of robots in their factories for several decades.
What you’re looking at below is the beginning on the end of the those manufacturing jobs that were either impossible, or too expensive, to automate.
To avoid U.S. tariffs, foreign companies have to make products in the U.S. Nobody said anything about having to use human labor in the process.
Boston Dynamics is owned by Hyundai Motor Group. Here’s what Hyundai has planned in the U.S.:
Hyundai Motor Group will automate 40% of assembly at Metaplant America in Savannah using its humanoid robot, Atlas. The move seeks to boost local output, uphold price competitiveness, and expand its North American market share.
Hyundai plans to deploy Atlas, its self-developed humanoid robot, to handle tasks like lifting parts and attaching vehicle doors. Additional specialized robots will support parts assembly, transport, line monitoring, and body inspection to boost manufacturing efficiency.
Hyundai expects to automate nearly half of its assembly processes, including stamping and welding, which will cut costs and enhance quality.
Via: Boston Dynamics:
Why are robots given human shapes? Our bodies are awkward and inflexible in many ways. And the similar look only rubs it in that we are being replaced.
I think I’d first try an octopus shape with arms of varying length, fingers at their ends varying in size per end, a computer “head” as small a possible and eyes all over. It would hang over the job from the ceiling or a rack, not stand up or sit. Arms not in use would move out of the way.
Or one arm could end in a hammer, one in a screwdriver, etc. One could be soft and more flexible, one could be hard and more forceful. One could contain rows of screws that it inserts where needed.
Or there could just be arms hanging from a tube that runs the length of the assembly table, the tube connected to a “head” at one end or the other or a bunch of tubes running into a control room.
Am I imagining something already in use in factories, this humanoid robot being just a one-off to show off?
Dear BD,
You are invited to train Atlas to operate a line Trimmer (weed whacker) on my steep hillside property. We could clear some brush as well.
Thank you,
It looks like a humanoid because it’s designed to be deployed into work environments that had been set up for actual humans.
Different tool attachments for the hands are already done. They could easily do combinations of grippers, welders, cutters, drivers, etc. The robot could pick them from a rack of tools. This has been done on CNC machines for a while.
Boston Dynamics has shown robots with various hand attachments in the past.
I think the reason Boston Dynamics keeps showing this pick and place scenario is because it’s a relatively easy type of task, which would allow them to eliminate a lot of low skilled workers.
They aren’t showing it installing wiring harnesses or dash consoles or any other complicated task. Yet. Those tasks are far too difficult, for now.
But — but — nothing is too difficult for AI. Maybe it is just secretly pacing its output so as not to overwhelm us agonizingly slow-thinking humans with too-rapid advancements. It could also be limiting the frequency at which factories would have to be restructured to accomodate its increasing capabilities.
The weed-wacker should be on independent height-adjusting wheels with a long arm to reach back among the weeds, and self-braking so it couldn’t roll back over you or me. Being able to fly and dive down among the weeds would be even better.
Or, you could get a goat.