Boston Dynamics‘ Atlas humanoid robot can now perform backflips and is able to jump over blocks.
The pioneering robotics company, which was recently sold to SoftBank from Google’s parent company Alphabet, released a new video on Thursday of Atlas hopping between boxes like a parkour-pro and executing a backflip that most humans would struggle to do.
Previous videos of the Atlas, which was originally developed for use in the U.S. military, has shown the the 5-foot 9-inch robot pick objects, open doors, trip over hockey sticks and move through rough terrain.
Boston Dynamics explained the technology behind its creation in a video published in 2016.
“It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LiDAR [Light Detection And Ranging] and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects,” the company said.
But don’t worry, the robot revolution has yet to come. Atlas misses the landing of a backflip at the end of the video, smacking into a box it had jumped from.
Humanity is safe, for now.
