Victims of future disasters could find their rescuer comes in the form of a 6-foot-2-inch tall, 330-pound humanoid robot called Atlas. Developed jointly by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Boston Dynamics, Atlas made its debut to the public July 11 at the company’s Waltham, Mass., headquarters. As part of the ongoing DARPA Robotics Challenge, seven teams are using Atlas to develop software that would enable it to perform disaster-relief operations, minimizing casualties and destruction of property in the process. When the competition concludes in December 2014, the winning team will receive $2 million. Atlas has a head, two arms, two legs and a torso, and can make a wide range of natural, human-like movements. It has an on-board computer capable of receiving sound through stereo sensors, and can use light and radar to use laser technology to calculate distances.
