One day per robot: Boston Dynamics wants to build Atlas in an hour soon
A new video shows the robot maker's prototype workshop. Machining, assembly and repair sit side by side there, and ideas are meant to be implemented within a week.
Photo: Damian B Oh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · Boston Dynamics · youtube.com
Boston Dynamics has offered a look inside the workshop where its humanoid robot Atlas is made in a film just under six minutes long. According to senior technical programme manager Katie Conner, building one Atlas currently takes about a day. Next year it is meant to take around an hour, and in later years just minutes.
In the prototype department, machining, assembly, testing and repair are under one roof. The company makes precision parts such as gears itself because tight tolerances are required. Engineers discuss changes directly in the workshop; according to the video, parts are assembled the same or the next day, and an idea from Monday can be implemented by the end of the week.
The film also serves as a recruitment pitch. It does not reveal how many robots Boston Dynamics actually delivers – build time and output are two different measures. Rival Figure reported its 1,000th Figure 03 robot in July.