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Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas lends a hand on the construction site

2023-01-19T11:49:00-05:00

Boston Dynamics has released a new video showcasing the capabilities of their humanoid robot Atlas. The one-minute-long YouTube video is set within a mock-up construction site, with Atlas seen assisting a human construction worker on scaffolding.

Playfully titled ‘Atlas Gets a Grip,’ the video shows Atlas moving a timber plank around the mock-up site before picking up a tool bag to toss up to a construction worker on an elevated single-story scaffolding platform. As with past Boston Dynamic videos, Atlas ends the sequence in style by performing a backflip off a wooden crate.

Video via Boston Dynamics on YouTube

Entertainment value aside, the video offers an insight into the evolving capabilities of Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot and its ability to manipulate the world around it. By interacting with objects and modifying its surroundings in pursuit of a defined goal, the company seeks to demonstrate the evolving ability of robots to assist in heavy-duty human tasks, including compl...

This atlas shows how much light pollution has infiltrated night skies worldwide

2016-06-10T21:08:00-04:00

Where should you travel if you want killer views of the stars unblemished by artificial light?Certainly not the U.S. or Europe, where nearly 100 percent of the population endures some form of light pollution...Italy’s [ISTIL], NOAA, the National Park Service, and elsewhere built one of the most comprehensive atlases of global light pollution to date. They hope their work will set a benchmark for future generations struggling with day blending into night.

You can find the atlas of artifical sky brightness here.

New York City's tree species mapped

2015-04-14T13:21:00-04:00

Though New York can sometimes seem like a drab warren of chain-link fence and oily pavement, the city actually has an impressive number of trees. On the streets alone [...] there were 592,130 at last reckoning, a leafy explosion you can now peruse in this great visualization of tree species. Jill Hubley, a Brooklyn web developer whose last project involved mapping local chemical spills, made the chlorophyllous cartography with data from the 2005-2006 Street Tree Census.

A Syrian Atlas, of Ruins

2015-03-09T00:17:00-04:00

Syria’s largest city was home to more than two million people before the war. Now most of its residents have left, and the city is divided between pro-government forces and rebels

Sergio Peçanha and Jeremy White reveal satellite image analysis by Unitar-Unosat, showing vast devastation in 4 cities across Syria from the civil war that started nearly four years ago.