Boston Dynamics just unveiled a fully electric, freakishly flexible humanoid robot

Boston Dynamics retired its hydraulic Atlas robot this week before unveiling its new fully electric version.

• Boston Dynamics showed off a fully electric version of its humanoid robot Atlas on Wednesday.
• On Tuesday, the robotics firm had retired its hydraulic version of Atlas.
• Boston Dynamics says it's exploring commercial uses of the new Atlas, starting with owner Hyundai.

It's out with the old and in with the new at Boston Dynamics.

The robotics company retired its hydraulic humanoid robot, Atlas, on Tuesday but then posted a video on Wednesday debuting its new, fully electric Atlas.

"In the months and years ahead, we're excited to show what the world's most dynamic humanoid robot can really do—in the lab, in the factory, and in our lives," the company said in a press release Wednesday.

"We designed the electric version of Atlas to be stronger, more dexterous, and more agile," the company said. "Atlas may resemble a human form factor, but we are equipping the robot to move in the most efficient way possible to complete a task, rather than being constrained by a human range of motion. Atlas will move in ways that exceed human capabilities."

The video shows Atlas lying on the ground, but then its legs twist around backward and prop the robot up as it stands to full height, swivels on its torso, and walks toward the camera.

Boston Dynamics says it's exploring commercial uses for the new Atlas, beginning with Hyundai, which acquired the robotics firm in 2021. Competitor Agility Robotics has a partnership that lets Amazon use its bipedal robots, called Digit, to lift and move items in some warehouses.

Boston Dynamics says the fully electric Atlas "will be stronger, with a broader range of motion than any of our previous generations."

Besides Atlas, Boston Dynamics has also unveiled four-legged doglike robots called Spot that some police departments have started using. An artist-in-residence at SpaceX has even trained some Spot robots to paint, and now they have their own art exhibit.

Atlas may have even helped inspire Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus.

Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert said on a recent episode of Lex Fridman's podcast that "it's hard not to think that seeing what Atlas is doing is a little bit of an inspiration" for the Tesla Bot.