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Left: Vivian Chu and Andrea Thomaz, the co-founders of Diligent Robotics; right: Kathleen Brandes and Ros Shinkle, the co-founders of Adagy Robotics. | Sources: Diligent Robotics, Adagy Robotics

Almost half of all startups that began in 2021 were formed by women, according to human resources cloud software company Gusto. Within the robotics industry, however, its a different story. Women make up only 34% of the STEM workforce, according to the National Girls Collaborative Project, and they hold only 16% of robotics and engineering roles.

Those numbers, however, dont tell us how many women start robotics companies. There isnt a lot of data about the number of startups that begin every year or how many robotics companies are operating, in general. Let alone about the backgrounds of the founders behind them.

To get a picture of how many women are founders of robotics companies, I combed through our 2024 February and March funding recaps. Of the 78 robotics companies that raised money during those two months, and whose founders could be identified, only 10 had a woman on their founding team, just 12.8%.

Of course, this metric doesnt tell us how many robotics companies in general have female founders, but it does give us a better idea of what that breakdown might look like. This is why I spoke to Ros Shinkle and Kathleen Brandes, the founders of Adagy Robotics, and Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu, the founders of Diligent Robotics, about their experiences within the industry.

Diligent and Adagy are in two very different places as companies. Adagy launched earlier this year, and it specializes in remote intervention services. Shinkle and Brandes are at the beginning of their journey as founders and are part of Y Combinator, a startup accelerator. Theyre currently the only employees of the company.

Adagy Robotics is currently a remote intervention service for rescuing robots, said Brandes, the companys chief technology officer (CTO).

For example, when a tractor robot fails in the field, instead of calling out to the farmer who has a lot more important things to do in his day, that tractor robot can now call out to our trained operators, she said. Theyll take over, drive the robot to safety, and allow it to resume its autonomous operations.

Today, Adagy Robotics is starting out with fully human-driven operations, said Shinkle, CEO. In the future, however, the company is interested in layering machine learning and generative AI techniques to assist human operators and allow them to do their jobs more efficiently. The company is also exploring error-prevention techniques for robots.

Were really excited about logistics and manufacturing right now, Shinkle said. In particular, I think AMRs [autonomous mobile robots] are widely used in logistics. And although theyre widely used, they still continue to face the same kinds of problems.

For example, they often rely on these sort of dense visual clues called fiducials or APR tags to help localize in a facility, she noted. If one of those is scuffed or torn or falls down, the robots can get lost. This is a great example of a situation in which we could come in and help the robots get back safely. Were also excited about manipulation and failed picking tasks as well.

Shinkle and Brandes described the early days of running a startup as challenging but fun. Every day is about putting out the most urgent fire, said Shinkle.

Ros Shinkle and Kathleen Brandes, the founders of Adagy Robotics, met at Boston Dynamics. Source: Y Combinator

On the other hand, Diligent Robotics was founded in 2017.Like many robotics companies, Diligent started in a research lab. Thomaz, the companys co-founder and CEO, was running a robotics lab that Chu, its co-founder and CTO, joined as a Ph.D. student in 2012.

The start of the company was slow, Thomaz said. She was still a professor and Chu a graduate student. Tomazs lab earned two National Science Foundation grants that gave Tomaz and Chu the opportunity to learn from around 150 people in the healthcare industry.

I dont know that we would have been able to start this company as two men, Thomaz said. Because the thing that we did, for two years at least, was go and embed ourselves in nursing teams, with a robot, and ask nurses, who are 80% women, What would you have this robot do?

Im not sure we would have been as accepted in that community as a couple of guys with their robot, she continued.

Once they had found a use case that would address the needs of the industry, Thomaz and Chu said they spent a summer pitching and looking for venture capital. In total, Thomaz said they spent a year and a half in the research stage before officially launching the company.

Last year, Diligent hit 90 robots working in the field. Its flagship robot, Moxi, aids hospital staffers by performing non-patient-facing tasks like running supplies, delivering lab samples, fetching items from a central supply, distributing personal protective equipment (PPE), and delivering medications. Moxi is now opening 100,000 doors every month across its various deployments.

As Diligent Robotics has grown, Thomaz and Chu said theyve actively tried to keep the company diverse.

Early on, we recognized that its not only important to have a diverse team, but to have a diverse team at all levels, Thomaz said. Its really good to make sure that your most junior people arent the most diverse, and then your more senior people are all one type of person.

Chu also said the team focused on making job postings well-known among all intersections of the robotics community, instead of just relying on the applications that passively came in. Shinkle echoed similar sentiments when talking about building Adagys team as it grows.

We believe that diversity is a strength, Shinkle said. Diversity of background and diversity of thought leads to stronger problem solving, so thats definitely a closely held company belief.

All four of the women I spoke to both emphasized the importance of finding mentors and a community within the industry.

One thing thats been really helpful is the amazing community, unity, and friendship that women have within the industry, Brandes said. Weve become great friends and are now starting a company together, as one example. And I think fostering that community and having that community continue to grow and expand has been a big component.

For me, it was fantastic seeing these role models that blaze through all of the stereotypes, Chu said. It really gives me the confidence to do the same.

Ive had friends that obviously didnt have that experience, and its hard hearing what theyve had to go through, she acknolwedged. Ive been very lucky to have some amazing champions throughout a lot of my career.

The founders also had advice to share with women who are considering starting a robotics company.

Reach out to as many people for advice as possible, because theres so many that have gone through the startup journey, Chu said. If you collect a wide variety of people that you can reach out to you can just continually ask questions.

My advice would be to just do it, Brandes said. Be confident that your are strong enough and successful enough to do this.

I think robotics is a great place for female leadership, Thomaz said. Historically, theres been a lot of really great trailblazers, and some people whove really defined the field like Manuela Veloso and Maya Tarik, and there are a bunch of other people that Im not naming.

But I think that in and of itself makes robotics a great place for women to lead the way in commercialization as well, she concluded. Its a big, broad systems-level problem, which I think requires a diverse solution, and so thats ripe for a really diverse team.

Editors note: The Robotics Summit & Expo this week will be hosting a Women in Robotics Breakfast and the MassRobotics Engineering Career Fair, among other networking events.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

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Female robotics founders discuss their journeys in the industry - Robot Report

SEOUL, May 03 (AJU PRESS) -Hanwha Robotics signed a memorandum of understanding with service robot firm B-Robotics to cooperate in restaurant automation solutions, the robot arm of Korea's Hanwha Group said Friday.

Under the deal, Hanwha will provide expertise in food technology, including culinary robots proficient in cooking meals and pouring wine, while B-Robotics will contribute serving robot-related technologies.

Previously, Hanwha Robotics showcased a robot sommelier capable of decanting wine, an essential step for removing unnecessary sediment. B-Robotics has already deployed over 3,100 robots across Korea. The robot developer is affiliated with Woowa Brothers, the company behind popular Korean food delivery app Bamin.

Upon integrating Hanwha's cooking robot solutions and B-Robotics' serving robots, the two companies will jointly conduct on-site testing.Hanwha is currently developing various robot chefs with the aim of revolutionizing kitchen automation.

"Drawing on the strengths of Hanwha Robotics and B-Robotics, we will achieve both quantitative and qualitative growth in food tech services," said Hanwha Robotics CEO Seo Jong-hwi.

Kim Joo-heon jhkim123@ajunews.com

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Hanwha Robotics, B-Robotics join hands on restaurant automation project - Aju Press

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Dishchii'bikoh Community School Robotics Team Heads to VEX World Championship - White Mountain Independent

As part of the SpaceHopper project, ETH Zurich students are developing a robot that can navigate very low gravity environments using a jumping-like mode of locomotion.

One day the SpaceHopper will be deployed on space missions to explore relatively small celestial bodies such as asteroids and moons.

These are thought to contain valuable mineral resources that could be of use to humankind in the future. The exploration of these bodies could also give us insights into our universes formation.

The project was launched two and a half years ago as an ETH focus project for Bachelors degree students. It is now being continued as a regular research project by five Masters degree students and one doctoral student.

One particular challenge of developing exploration robots such as these is the very low gravity prevailing on small celestial bodies in contrast to larger bodies such as Earth.

For this reason, the researchers have tested their robot in zero gravity scenarios on a European Space Agency parabolic flight.

Read more:

ETH unveils space-hopping robot for asteroid exploration - Robotics and Automation News

Nickelytics, a venture-backed B2B adtech startup, announced a new partnership with Starship Technologies, the worlds leading provider of autonomous delivery services.

This new partnership expands the companys work in robotics by launching a transformative advertising campaign on two campuses where Starship operates, the University of Utah and UCLA.

This alliance paves the way for brands and advertisers to connect directly with the student population, integrating seamlessly into their daily lives, with the goal of expanding to all 50 campuses that Starship serves.

Starship Technologies operates at 80 global locations and has completed more than 6 million deliveries.

To pilot this partnership, Nickelytics and Starship are supporting the national Love, Your Mind campaign with a six-week deployment of autonomous delivery vehicles.

Love, Your Mind was developed by Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council to create a society that is more open, accepting, and proactive when it comes to mental health.

The campaign PSAs (public service advertisements) remind everyone to nurture their relationship with their mind, and direct to LoveYourMindToday.org for free mental health resources.

More than 60 percent of college students report experiencing mental health challenges, a significant increase since 2013.

The delivery of Love, Your Mind out-of-home (OOH) advertising through Nickelytics and Starships autonomous robots will reach students directly on campus to encourage them to prioritize their mental health.

Judah Longgrear, co-founder and CEO of Nickelytics, says: Our partnership with Starship Technologies marks a thrilling advance into the future of advertising.

This collaboration, especially with campaigns like Love, Your Mind, breaks the mold of traditional marketing. Were not just delivering ads were fostering meaningful connections and enhancing the student experience, particularly with such significant messages.

Chris Neider, VP of business development at Starship Technologies, says: We are excited to partner with Nickelytics on this important endeavor.

This collaboration is about creating meaningful interactions in the daily lives of students. The Love, Your Mind campaign aligns perfectly with our mission to leverage cutting-edge technology for socially impactful initiatives.

By integrating our autonomous delivery services with Nickelytics innovative advertising approach, we are setting a new standard for how technology can support mental health awareness and education in university communities.

We believe this partnership will open up new possibilities for how brands can connect with their audiences in deeply resonant and responsible ways.

Dr William A. Smith, professor, University of Utah College of Education and Huntsman Mental Health Institute, says: As part of the University of Utah, we are proud to share the resources of our Love, Your Mind campaign with our university community.

Whether we are students, faculty, or staff, our minds deserve our love and care, and this partnership will allow us to open up more conversations about mental health on campus and beyond.

Laurie Keith, VP, emerging media and technology at the Ad Council, says: This partnership is the perfect example of how the Ad Council taps the power of advertising, media and technology to take on the most critical issues facing our country.

Through the innovative use of robotics, were supporting students mental health by reaching them where they are and sharing our message in a memorable and unmissable way.

Read more:

Nickelytics and Starship release robots at UCLA and Utah universities - Robotics and Automation News

The Colombian government announced in March that it will launch an expedition to recover priceless artifacts from what has been called the Holy Grail of shipwrecksthe Spanish treasure galleon San Jos, sunk by the Royal Navy in 1708 and discovered off Colombias Caribbean coast in 2015.

At the time of its discovery, then-Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said, This is the most valuable treasure that has been found in the history of humanity. According to current estimates, the shipwreck has a worth of some $17 billion.

The lost galleon long ago became the stuff of legend among treasure hunters, who sought the shipwrecks whereabouts for years. Its eventual discovery predictably set off a claims dispute. The U.S.-based Sea Search Armada, a wreck-diving company, asserted that it had been the first to discover the galleons location. Spain asserted its proprietary rights to the contentsafter all, the treasure lies below within a Spanish ship. Meanwhile, the indigenous Qhara Qhara nation of Bolivia pointed out the grim historical reality that, since the Spanish exploited the Qhara Qhara people and forced them to mine the precious metals of their native land, the treasure rightfully should be theirs. The United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration is currently reviewing the case.

Colombias recovery effort is being coordinated by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Knowledge; the Colombian National Navys General Maritime Directorate; and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, according to a government press release.

The release also states, For the first time in history, a model of comprehensive public management of the archaeological site and asset of cultural interest, protected by regulations and public missionality, is advanced.

The 64-gun, three-masted San Jos was serving as flagship of the Spanish treasure fleet during the War of the Spanish Succession, when the fleet had a run-in with a Royal Navy squadron in 1708. The ensuing battle, known to history as Wagers Action (after Captain, later Admiral, Charles Wager), led to the defeat of the treasure fleet and the sinking of the San Jos. The galleon went down to her resting place off Cartagena with a cargo hold stuffed with gold, silver, and emeralds. The riches had been bound for Spain to help finance the war effort in Europe.

At press time, plans were for the expedition to begin in the AprilMay time frame The salvage operation will carry a price tag of approximately $4.5 million and will deploy a robot at a depth of nearly 2,000 feet. The robot will remove artifacts and relics but will not disturb the integrity of the wreck itself.

While the general location of the site is known, the precise coordinates are being kept secretto spare one of the greatest treasure-ship discoveries in history from the depredations of plunderers.

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Mission to 'Holy Grail of Shipwrecks' Will Employ Robotics - USNI News

Kiwibot, a start-up known for its AI-powered autonomous delivery robots on US college campuses, is to acquire Auto Mobility Solutions (AMS) a Taipei-based IC Chip developer for AI mobile self-driving core technology and robot cybersecurity.

This strategic collaboration marks a significant milestone in both companies journeys towards innovation and safeguarding privacy in the robotics industry, particularly for intelligent robots sourced from China and deployed in the Western markets.

Bringing AMS under its wing, Kiwibot gains a team renowned for its technological prowess and will have the right to use over 100 licensed patents in robotics.

Furthermore, Autos strategic locations in Taipei and Shenzhen amplify Kiwibots global footprint. This geographical expansion is a testament to the companys growing influence and enhances its capacity for collaboration and innovation.

Felipe Chavez, CEO and founder of Kiwibot, says: The acquisition of Auto is a game-changer for us, bringing a wealth of technological innovation and a strong patent portfolio that will significantly enhance our cybersecurity measures for AI-powered robotics.

This move not only strengthens our position in the market but also connects the manufacturing expertise from Asia with the AI development in the West securely.

Sming Liao, CEO of Auto Mobility Solutions, says: Becoming a part of Kiwibot opens up new avenues for our technologies and patents. Together, we are poised to redefine the landscape of autonomous delivery services, ensuring greater security and efficiency.

The acquisition by Kiwibot reflects a strategic move to lead the market in delivering secure, efficient, and innovative robotic solutions, meeting the evolving needs of consumers and businesses alike.

Excerpt from:

Kiwibot acquires Auto Mobility Solutions Robotics & Automation News - Robotics and Automation News

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Untethered soft actuators for soft standalone robotics - Nature.com

Sense & Sound Robotics, a community based FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics team in Franklin, competed at the FIRST World Championship in Houston April 17-20. Only 224 out of the approximately 8,000 FTC teams worldwide compete at Worlds. Sense & Sound won 8 out of their 10 qualifying matches, finishing in 5th place. The performance drives this FTC robot into the top 1% in the world. Judges also evaluate the robots from all aspects to find the best in many prestigious categories. Sense & Sound was awarded the 2nd place Control Award for software design.

The Control Award celebrates a team that uses sensors and software to increase the robots functionality in the field. This award is given to the team that demonstrates innovative thinking to solve game challenges such as autonomous operation, improving mechanical systems with intelligent control, or using sensors to achieve better results, says the FIRST organization.

Each FIRST competition season, a different challenge is presented based on a new theme. This years challenge was STEAM-based, called CenterStage, highlighting theater arts. The robots were designed to complete a variety of tasks including moving multi-colored 6-sided pixels, which were picked up in the wings, then delivered to a mark, backstage, and backdrop, where they were placed in patterns. Other tasks included launching a paper airplane into a designated landing zone and suspending the entire robot from rigging on the playing field. The first thirty seconds of the match is an autonomous period, where the robots are programmed to complete these tasks without driver intervention, using only previously programmed code and sensors, followed by two minutes of driver control.

Adi Sharma, Lead Programmer for the team and a Senior at Franklin High School, explains the software design that led to their Control Award, saying we built our own original code library that allows us to define a variety of Java robot classes to control the drive, pixel intake, airplane launcher, and other mechanisms. Each of these classes have their own hardware and settings, which let us run complex, dynamic motions, such as driving to a specific position utilizing distance sensors and odometry to accurately localize position, while simultaneously running the pixel intake and checking sensors for the number of pixels held.

The software was also designed to control our unique pixel placement system, says Anna David, Drive Team Coach and Lead Hardware Engineer for the team, another Franklin High School Senior. We designed and 3-D printed a unique plunger that picks up the pixels from the intake and accurately places them on the backdrop. A variety of sensors detect the color and quantity of pixels the intake has picked up and indicate this to the drivers, as well as sense how far the robot is from the backdrop for intelligent-controlled movement and automatic, accurate placement, among other things. In total, we utilized 16 sensors and a camera in our design, and I think the judges were impressed with how they worked in concert to make our robot both accurate and consistent.

The team was very pleased with how well they did at Worlds. Sense & Sound is made up of 7th through 12th graders from Franklin, Medway, and Milford, and also includes Zach Beaupre, Ajay Gulati, Tanish Asu, Jaswanth Bandaru, Aakash Vootla, Anjan Lakkadi, Elliott Knowlton, and Maxx Duffy. Team members built 2-3 days per week in a lab in Franklin, MA, where they were mentored by local engineers Tom Kroon, Leigh Knowlton, and Suresh Vootla. The students are responsible for all aspects of the robot design, build, and coding, including tracking their efforts in an engineering design notebook that is submitted for judging.

As a community-based team, Sense & Sound Robotics does not receive any funding from the school or town, and the team is grateful to the sponsors who helped make their bid for a world title possible, including Cold Chain Technologies, Carpe Diem Technologies, Hologic, Kumon of Franklin, MassMEP, Kelmar Associates, Nerds to Go, Blue Hill Plumbing, Representative Jeff Roy, Medway Cultural Council, Middlesex Savings Bank, The Curry House, and Combe Incorporated, as well as various private donations.

You can learn more about Sense & Sound Robotics at http://www.senseandsoundrobotics.org. You can read more about FIRST Tech Challenge at http://www.firstinspires.org.

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Meet the `One Percenters' - The Top Ranked Robotics Group from Franklin - Franklin Observer

Robotics company Boston Dynamics announced this month that it has retired its humanoid robot, known as Atlas. The 6-foot, 2,330-pound machine was considered a quantum leap in robotics and gained fame for its parkour stunts and awkward dance moves.

Debuting in 2013, Atlas was the product of a partnership with the Defense Department. It relied on hydraulic power, using pressurized fluid to generate movement, and could perform tasks that can be challenging for humans, like lifting heavy boxes.

As the older Atlas lives out its golden years, Boston Dynamics has introduced its successor a smaller version, with the same name, that runs on electric power.

Marketplaces Lily Jamali spoke with Brian Heater, hardware editor at TechCrunch, for a look back at the original Atlas and his take on how companies, and households, might make use of humanoids.

The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Brian Heater: Its big and hulking, its very top heavy. Its hydraulic powered, as all of the early Boston Dynamics robots are, which means, among other things, that its extremely loud. Youre in a room with it, its, like, almost deafening. You hear the gases passing as its moving.

Lily Jamali: Well, what was the response to it when it first came out in 2013?

Heater: The response isnt dissimilar from what it is now. And people were incredibly and rightfully impressed by the robot because for a lot of people it felt like a quantum leap over the technology that was out there. There was no bipedal robot that was capable of doing what it could do and it was very versatile. And youve got to be very versatile because it was a research robot. And you had all these teams, [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] and Carnegie Mellon and all these very smart researchers using them for these [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] challenges. It was leagues ahead of everybody else. And in a lot of ways, it feels like just about everyone else is continuing to still play catch-up with that technology.

Jamali: Well, so theres this new Atlas now, which is different. Its all electric. Its very fluid, the way that this thing moves, its almost terrifying. Ive seen it described as a sleek, swiveling nightmare that almost seems to defy physics. Whats a sentence you would use to describe what its like, this new one?

Heater: So the new one is considerably slimmer than the older version. Its much quieter, the movements are incredibly fluid. Because of the compact size, its really capable of doing a lot more in a far more confined environment. And I think because of that, its going to be much more capable of working alongside people. Thats the biggest concern with a lot of these robots. [They] traditionally had been very big and very heavy and therefore have been very prone to [injuring] people. This one is much smaller and capable of working alongside them. And its something as simple as a robot that looks like a human and perhaps has a face, its easier for us to understand its intentions.

Jamali: So what do we know about why Boston Dynamics is updating the robot?

Heater: Yeah. The simple answer is that the old robot just wasnt built for those things, it was built for research purposes. The technology is still extremely impressive, but in a lot of ways its a decade out of date. Its too large, its too loud, it probably needs to be tethered for the battery to operate. I believe its a lithium-ion battery, so its the same battery that you have on your phone or your electric car, so it could just go in and charge. And just the fact that its smaller, again, is a very key piece here in terms of actually being able to operate in the workplace and operate alongside people.

Jamali: Theres obviously plenty of companies in this space working on bipedal meaning walks on two feet humanoid robots. So theres Tesla, Agility Robotics, Figure, they all have robots in the works as well. Can you give me a brief temperature check on the industry?

Heater: So theres a lot of interest and theres a lot of money changing hands right now. Investors are incredibly interested in this space. People [who own] factories and warehouses are incredibly interested in deploying these systems. And everybodys promising this idea of generalized intelligence. Most people I talked to tell me that generalized intelligence is probably like five, maybe 10, years off, so were talking about a much longer timeline than I think a lot of people are anticipating right now. Ive been in this industry for a long time, and I think were in the middle of this hype wave right now. Theres going to be a lot of excitement and its going to cool down a bit. And thats going to be the period of time when these things are actually deployed and the testing happens.

Jamali: Wait a minute. Did you say hype in tech? Im sorry, I cant, I cant.

Heater: Its fun. Its fun, right? Its nice to have one of the categories that I cover being superhyped after watching, you know, like, crypto and AI. Obviously, theres a lot of overlap between the two. The hype is exciting. Its great that the world is, like, sitting up and seeing this stuff and seeing rightfully how incredibly impressive it is. But I used to say that my kind of loose definition of a robot was a really complex and impressive machine used to perform menial and boring tasks. And thats kind of what this is. Youre gonna be really blown away by the technology the first time you see it, and then if these things work out as planned, then theyre going to be just another kind of boring thing hanging around the factory. And that means that everythings working accordingly.

Jamali: Well, I think the thing were all wondering is, you know, not in the factory, Im not so interested in that. When do I get to see it at my house? When are we going to get a real-life Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons or C-3PO? Does this new Atlas put us on that track?

Heater: Yes and no. You know, people often ask me when theyre gonna have a robot in their house, and my cheeky but very serious question back to them is, Do you have a Roomba or robot vacuum? And if you do, youve got a robot in your home. Those have been around for, I think the first Roomba came out 20-plus years ago, and we havent really seen a follow-up. Its a really difficult space to operate in for a number of reasons. One [is] very unstructured environments. Even if you keep your house pretty clean, you move things around, sometimes youll throw something on the ground. Houses arent really very uniform from one to the other. And then the other one is, as I mentioned earlier, is price, like the most advanced Roomba right now is something in the neighborhood of, like, $1,500. Like even that is like way more expensive than most people want to pay in the home. So the likeliest scenario is were not going to be seeing these robots in the home. But in the meantime, were going to see a lot of really cool and interesting technology and probably robots in the home that are in some ways a product of the research that went into these systems.

When Boston Dynamics announced Atlas would be retiring, the company published a blooper reel of the bots failed stunts through the years, including falls down stairs, an attempt to board an elevator and a particularly nasty tumble from a balance beam, which ends with Atlas clutching its knees in the fetal position. Id probably do the same in that scenario.

The robotics company also posted a video of its new electric bot, the so-called swiveling nightmare. Its hard to describe the Terminator-like ways the robot contorts its body. You should see it for yourself.

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Atlas, forefather of humanoid robots, gives way to next generation - Marketplace