Futurology

Title is misleading. They are retiring the Hydraulic Atlas, likely to build a mechanical or other more modern version.

Guess they couldn’t find a military application for it. They should sell it to cops, I’m sure they could figure out a way to weaponize it and use it against the population.

Now, if you’re wondering why Boston Dynamics is saying “it’s time for our hydraulic Atlas robot to kick back and relax,” rather than just “our Atlas robot,” and if you’re also wondering why the video description ends with “take a look back at everything we’ve accomplished with the Atlas platform “to date,” well, I can’t help you. Some people might attempt to draw some inferences and conclusions from that very specific and deliberate language, but I would certainly not be one of them, because I’m well known for never speculating about anything.

I wonder what the reasoning is behind this. If I were to guess, it's that their approach has been overtaken by events. All around the world, they have been superseded by a different approach. Relatively simple robot bodies that are made powerful by today's AI. Continuing with their approach might have been a classic case of sunk cost fallacy, it may be better to abandon it and join everyone else's new way of doing things.

There's a lesson here for today's tech leaders. As technological development accelerates, you can go from industry leader to has-been really fast. Though in fairness to Boston Dynamics, calling them 'has beens' isn't justified, they are still doing excellent work on their Spot & Stretch non-humanoid robots.

Some of the other humanoid robots in development around the world.

LimX Dynamics

1X's NEO

Tesla's Optimus

Agility Robotics

Xiaomi's CyberOne

Apptronik Apollo

Ubtech's Walker S

Figure's Figure 1

Fourier Intelligence's GR-1

Sanctuary's Phoenix

Unitree Robotics' H1

XPENG's PX5