Rise of the robots: Boston Dynamics shows off impressive new skills

We have been previously impressed by Boston Dynamics' dancing robot and its ability to do parkour.

But can the robot, named Atlas, do something a little more useful in everyday life?

Judging by a video released by the US company, which is majority-owned by Hyundai Motor Group, the answer is a resounding “yes”.

In the video, called “Atlas gets a grip”, the robot can be seen interacting with objects and carrying out tasks which would be helpful to humans.

It can pick up items, climb, jump, throw and make deliveries across what can be described as an assault course.

The video ends with a flourish as Atlas performs a backflip that most of us could only dream of doing.

It was not clear if the robot is programmed to perform these skills in a set order, being moved around by remote control or, more improbably, is an artificial intelligence moving under its own decision-making power.

The National contacted Boston Dynamics for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Either way, the new moves represent a natural progression of continuing research, said Ben Stephens, Atlas controls lead, in a blog post.

“We are layering on new capabilities,” Mr Stephens said.

“Parkour and dancing were interesting examples of pretty extreme locomotion, and now we are trying to build upon that research to also do meaningful manipulation.

“It is important to us that the robot can perform these tasks with a certain amount of human speed. People are very good at these tasks, so that has required some pretty big upgrades to the control software.”

Boston Dynamics explained that the dance Atlas performed to the song Do You Love Me was done “blind” without the perception needed for it to respond to its environment.

“Parkour forces us to understand the physical limitations of the robot, and dance forces us to think about how precise and dexterous the whole-body motion can be,” said Robin Deits, a software engineer on the Atlas controls team.

“Now, manipulation is forcing us to take that information and interpret it in terms of how we can get the hands to do something specific. What’s important about the Atlas project is that we don’t let go of any of those other things we’ve learnt.”

Among the deceptively complex tasks in the video was pushing a box off a ledge, which meant Atlas had to get its weight transfer right so as not to topple forwards off the platform.

The company is now hoping to take this technology and adapt it to real-life physical work.

“Our hope is that if we can build the foundational technology that allows us to easily create and adapt dynamic behaviours like these, we should be able to leverage it down the road to perform real, physically demanding jobs with hustle,” said Scott Kuindersma, Atlas team lead at Boston Dynamics.

“There are many pieces required to deliver a complete solution in a domain like manufacturing or construction — this video highlights a narrow slice of what we’re working on.”

Boston Dynamics unveiled in 2021 a new robot called Stretch, designed to perform one very specific warehouse job: moving boxes.

Humanoid robots are also under development by Elon Musk's Tesla.

Tesla's AI Day 2022 livestream introduced the humanoid robot Optimus as it walks on stage in Palo Alto, California. All photos: AFP
Optimus waves to guests at Tesla's AI Day in Calfornia.
Humanoid robot Optimus was on stage as Tesla set out its plans for an AI future.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk explains how the Optimus humanoid robot project will evolve.
The event took place in Tesla's office in Palo Alto, California.
“There's still a lot of work to be done to refine Optimus and prove it,” Mr Musk told guests at the event.
Elon Musk said Optimus would be an 'extremely capable robot' that Tesla would aim to produce in the millions and perhaps cost less than $20,000 per unit.

In October, Mr Musk showed off a prototype of Tesla's Optimus robot, which waved to the crowd before a video showed it doing simple tasks such as watering plants, carrying boxes and lifting metal bars at a production station at the company's California plant.

He said Optimus would be an “extremely capable robot” that Tesla would aim to produce in the millions.

Mr Musk said he expected they would be about $20,000 each.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

Rise of the robots: Boston Dynamics shows off impressive new skills

The Atlas robot is able to jump, push, pick up items and throw them — as well as dance

The five pillars of Islam

Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021