Atlas transforms into electric drive, pure electric + AI is accelerating the implementation of general humanoid robots

Fever.net reported (Text/Li Ningyuan) Some time ago, Boston Dynamics, a pioneer in the humanoid industry, announced the retirement of its hydraulically driven humanoid robot Atlas. Then, the next day after announcing the retirement of its hydraulic robot Atlas, it immediately launched a new pure electric humanoid robot version Atlas. This event marks the complete transformation of Boston's humanoid robot hydraulic transmission route to pure electric.

At the same time, at the end of April, Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation released the world's first pure electric drive full-size humanoid robot "Tiangong" in Beijing Economic Development Zone. With the rapid development of humanoid robots, electric has become the definite direction for the rapid landing of humanoid robots.

Boston's transformation from hydraulic to electric is the only choice for commercialization

. In the field of robotics, Boston Dynamics is undoubtedly an industry pioneer and is well-known for its breakthrough innovations in robotics technology. The most famous of them are undoubtedly its robot dogs and humanoid robots. In the field of robot dogs and humanoid robots, Boston Dynamics' Spot and Atlas have been regarded as industry benchmarks. In humanoid robots

, Boston Dynamics has always taken the hydraulic drive route. Hydraulic drive is to generate liquid through a liquid compression pump, and the high-pressure liquid works on the output mechanism to generate force. Since liquid is not easy to compress, the system will produce a very high pressure on the liquid when it works on the liquid. This pressure will generate a huge thrust when it acts on the cylinder.

There are many products that apply this technology to robots, but it can be said that only Boston Dynamics is the only one that does it. The compression pump of the robot design based on hydraulic drive can be far away from the actuator, and only one is needed. The potential energy of the liquid can be easily transmitted to multiple remote ends through the pipeline.

What are the benefits of such a robot power design? The biggest advantage is that it obtains extremely high torque output. The hydraulic pressure can output enough force without changing the actuator. In terms of extreme dynamic performance, the upper limit of the hydraulic drive to the robot is indeed higher.

At the same time, the natural medium and low speed actuator of the hydraulic drive is in line with the output speed of the humanoid robot, without the need for transmission, and can directly drive the load. This is actually in line with the direction of Boston Dynamics' initial design of humanoid robots for military use, trying to obtain higher performance as much as possible, and the cost can be ignored. Atlas can indeed complete many astonishing sports performances under the large torque output of the hydraulic drive.

However, the disadvantages of hydraulic drive are also obvious, especially as humanoid robots begin to seek commercialization driven by. The disadvantages of complex development and design of hydraulic drive and extremely high cost mean that hydraulic humanoid robots are unlikely to keep up with the pace of electric humanoid robots. Moreover, the functions that robots need to complete in the civilian direction do not require the extreme motion performance of hydraulic drive.

Transforming to electric drive has become the only choice for Boston humanoid robots to land. Except for the torque density that is not as good as hydraulic, it should be said that there is no other performance that is weaker than hydraulic drive. The new electric Atlas humanoid robot also demonstrated more dexterous and agile motion performance.

According to Boston Dynamics, they designed a set of compact actuators in the electric Atlas, and the new electric Atlas showed stronger strength than the hydraulic Atlas.

At the same time, Boston Dynamics gave their landing expectations. The electric Atlas will start pilot testing at the Hyundai Motor Factory early next year and will be fully put into production in a few years.

The future belongs to humanoid robots, and pure electric drive plus promotes the landing of general humanoid robots

Humanoid robots are vigorously promoting the landing test of humanoid robots. In addition to the pilot test of the electric Atlas at the Hyundai Motor Factory, Figure's robots and Apptronik's robots are also being tested on the production lines of BMW and Mercedes-Benz respectively.

Of course, the most popular Optimus Prime is also not idle. Musk said in Tesla's April earnings conference call that Tesla's Optimus Prime humanoid robot is expected to have the ability to complete "useful" factory tasks before the end of this year, and plans to use the robot first in its own factory before the end of this year.

Musk also updated the launch schedule of Optimus Prime. Currently, Optimus Prime has been performing factory tasks in the laboratory. If nothing unexpected happens, by the end of this year, it will be able to perform real tasks in Tesla's actual factory. According to Musk's expectations, Tesla humanoid robots may be sold to the public as early as the end of next year.

Humanoid robots can be accelerated, and AI plays a vital role in helping humanoid robots. The introduction of AI tools enables humanoid robots to operate effectively and adapt to complex real-world situations. In the past, humanoid robots still had a big gap in general task processing, but the rapid development of AI has allowed humanoid robot companies to see the technical route to achieve generalization.

Not long ago, the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center released the world's first pure electric drive full-size universal humanoid robot mother platform "Tiangong", which uses an independently developed full-size robot motion skill learning method - "predictive reinforcement imitation learning based on state memory". With a computing power of 550 trillion times per second and various high-performance blessings, it has achieved the world's first pure electric drive full-size humanoid robot running at a speed of 6 kilometers per hour.

The humanoid robot mother platform was born in the joint research and development of many leading companies and institutions in the domestic robot industry to solve common problems in the domestic humanoid robot industry. It is open to the industry for use, with the aim of promoting the overall development of the domestic humanoid robot industry.

Previously, Figure, a new robot Internet celebrity company, also reached a cooperation with OpenAI to combine OpenAI's research with Figure's in-depth understanding of robots and software to develop the next generation of AI models for humanoid robots. The cooperation aims to help accelerate the commercialization of Figure by enhancing the ability of humanoid robots to process and reason about language.

Apptronik, which cooperates with Mercedes-Benz, is also actively exploring new technologies to help humanoid robots develop more new skills and capabilities.

The humanoid robot released by Mentee Robocs is connected to AI at all operating levels, with built-in artificial intelligence, natural language processing models and software. Officials said that the mass production version of the robot is expected to be deployed in the first quarter of next year, featuring pure visual sensing, highly flexible dedicated electric motors and fully integrated AI.

Pure electric drive makes humanoid robots more efficient and flexible, and the blessing of has brought new breakthrough ideas to humanoid robots in solving the problem of universality. With the help of the two, the humanoid robot industry chain at home and abroad has begun to accelerate the implementation of humanoid robots. The prospect of universal humanoid robots being put into mass production and practical application is within reach.

Written in the end

The humanoid robot that accelerates commercialization will definitely be used in the manufacturing field at first, and then move towards daily application with continuous technical improvement and cost reduction. This concept will take time to realize, but it will not be too late. At the LIVE Silicon Valley 2024 event, the CEO predicted that "in the near future, humanoid robots, a new category of equipment, will become popular products, and their manufacturing costs will be much lower than people expect."