The last time I covered the science of humanoid robots, the state of the art looked downright Orwellian — by which I mean, “four legs good, two legs bad (opens a new tab).” It was 2015. Boston Dynamics’ first “Spot” quadruped had taken YouTube by storm (opens a new tab), confidently trotting up stairs and recovering from vicious kicks. Also popular at the time: humanoids falling down. (opens a new tab) Constantly. I felt sorrier for those tottering metal lobsters than I ever did for Spot. Bipedal locomotion is hard (opens a new tab).
Cut to now. Humanoids have apparently become so advanced that Tesla is mothballing some electric car models (opens a new tab) to make way for its Optimus humanoid robot, and start-ups are preselling android butlers (opens a new tab) with a straight face. Hype aside, I was genuinely curious: Did a paradigm shift happen in the field when I wasn’t looking? Sure, “AI” happened (that is, in the post-ChatGPT sense). I certainly hadn’t overlooked that. But I had no idea what it possibly had to do with robots not falling down anymore.
For a reality check, I called Scott Kuindersma, who recently left Boston Dynamics after many years there, and Jonathan Hurst of Agility Robotics. Both scientists had been present and involved during the robot-faceplant days. Surely today’s robotic bipedal marvels can ascend a few stairs and open a door (opens a new tab) without breaking a nonexistent sweat, something they famously struggled with a decade ago. I asked each researcher: Can your flagship robot — Boston Dynamics’ Atlas (opens a new tab) or Agility’s Digit (opens a new tab), two of the most credible and pedigreed humanoids on Earth — handle any set of stairs or doorway?
“Not reliably,” Hurst said.
“I don’t think it’s totally solved,” Kuindersma said.
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