IT Home, April 17 news, the field of humanoid robots is now contending, but industry pioneer Boston Dynamics has made a surprising decision: officially announced the retirement of its hydraulically driven humanoid robot Atlas.

IT House notes that this decision seems to be at odds with the current booming field of humanoid robots. Companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a race to develop humanoid robots. However, analysts pointed out that Atlas’s retirement may not mean the end, but more like the company’s new projects to make way for the future.

C250/0000/STD In recent years, Boston Dynamics has been working to commercialize technology products. The acquisition of Hyundai Motor and the appointment of Rob Playter, the second CEO in the company’s history, further accelerated the process. Add to that the interest in humanoid robotics companies like Agility, Figure, 1X, and Apptronik, and it’s not hard to assume that Boston Dynamics is at least seriously considering getting into commercial humanoid robotics.

In fact, Boston Dynamics has been at the forefront of the industry in humanoid robot development. The Atlas robot made its debut in 2013 and has been around for 10 years. Initially, Atlas was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and featured in the DARPA Robotics Challenge.

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“Atlas was one of the most advanced humanoid robots of its time when it was introduced, but it was essentially a physical vehicle for software ‘brains’ and’ nerves, ‘” DARPA said. Gill Pratt, DARPA’s program manager at the time, compared Atlas to a baby, “a one-year-old who walks wobbly and wrestles a lot.” When we compare these robots to science fiction, keep in mind that this is where we are in our development.”

C250/0000/STD Atlas has come a long way over the past decade and continues to be featured in Boston Dynamics’ research and promotional videos. Today, however, marks the end of Atlas’s journey. Although its many breakthroughs in motion capabilities are still impressive, technologies such as hydraulic drive have become somewhat outdated in today’s robotics field.

Intriguingly, as recently as February, Boston Dynamics released a video titled “Atlas Struts” showing off Atlas’s latest capabilities, seemingly hinting that the project is on its way to commercialization. The video showcases Atlas’ cool augmented reality perception capabilities and a new grabber designed for factory floor work. Given the background of modern cars, it is not difficult to imagine that the “descendants” of Atlas will appear on the production line of automobile manufacturing in the future.