GoKawiilBefore Atlas the humanoid robot strode onto the pitch to hand the ball to the referee during Norway and Brazil's World Cup match on Sunday, it hinted at its own soccer skills on the sidelines.
At the end of halftime, Atlas emerged from the players' tunnel and replicated a series of iconic goal celebrations before passing the ball. But it seems the robot was being shy, because it's actually capable of far more.
In a series of videos published to YouTube, Boston Dynamics shows how it trained the humanoid robot to perform a number of soccer tricks, including its own version of the rabona -- a complex move in which the kicking leg crosses behind the standing leg to strike the ball -- that the company calls the ghost rabona.
When I met the latest version of Atlas at CES back in January, I had no idea that by summer it would be capable of World Cup-worthy moves. But I shouldn't have underestimated it -- after all, this robot, and many like it, are designed to constantly learn new things.
These humanoid robots will first be deployed in industry before moving into service and entertainment settings, and eventually into our homes. That's still a way off, but the learning they do along the way is crucial to getting there.
In the interim, it's important for Boston Dynamics to share Atlas' skills with the world -- and not just for entertainment purposes, says the company's director of robot behavior Alberto Rodriguez.
"It's a public service to show that the technology is getting to a certain level of capability," he says.
Not only does it spark debate of how this technology will fit into society, but it also raises public awareness of how close we are to humanoid robots becoming commonplace.
Getting Atlas World Cup-ready
I'm curious about why, of all the things Atlas could learn, Boston Dynamics wanted to teach the robot soccer skills.
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