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Boston Dynamics And Toyota Research Institute Collaborate To Advance Humanoid Robotics Research Using AI Technology
Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute (TRI) have announced a new collaboration. This partnership brings together two leading entities in artificial intelligence and robotics. Their goal is to speed up the creation of humanoid robots by combining TRI's Large Behavior Models with Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot.
"There has never been a more exciting time for the robotics industry, and we look forward to working with TRI to accelerate the development of general-purpose humanoids," said Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics. "This partnership is an example of two companies with a strong research-and-development foundation coming together to work on many complex challenges and build useful robots that solve real-world problems."
The collaboration aims to harness recent advancements in AI and machine learning. Gill Pratt, chief scientist for Toyota and CEO of TRI, stated, "The opportunity to implement TRI’s state-of-the-art AI technology on Boston Dynamics’ hardware is game-changing for each of our organizations as we work to amplify people and improve quality of life." This partnership seeks to enhance physical intelligence through innovative technology.
Boston Dynamics has made significant strides in developing humanoid robots. Their Atlas robot showcases exceptional mobility and manipulation capabilities. Years of co-designing hardware and software have resulted in a platform that excels in both physical abilities and software interfaces for whole-body behaviors.
TRI is renowned for its rapid progress in Large Behavior Models (LBMs) for robotics. They have pioneered diffusion policy, applying generative AI to improve dexterous manipulation skills. TRI also contributes significantly to open-source robot AI models and datasets, focusing on multi-task vision-and-language-conditioned foundation models.
The joint research project will be led by Scott Kuindersma from Boston Dynamics and Russ Tedrake from TRI. The initiative will equally leverage both partners' expertise. The electric Atlas robot's physical capabilities will be combined with advanced programming for bimanual manipulation tasks.
Research Goals and Objectives
The research teams aim to deploy the Atlas robot across various tasks, gathering data on its performance. This data will help train advanced LBMs through rigorous evaluation methods. The goal is to demonstrate how large pre-trained models can quickly acquire new dexterous skills.
Additionally, the team will explore fundamental training questions related to humanoid robots. They will investigate whole-body sensing, human-robot interaction, safety assurance cases, and other aspects crucial for these new capabilities.
About Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics is known globally for creating highly mobile robots that tackle tough industrial challenges. Their robots are designed for automation in challenging environments like manufacturing facilities, power plants, construction sites, warehouses, and distribution centers.
About Toyota Research Institute
Toyota Research Institute focuses on enhancing human ability through research aimed at making life safer and more sustainable. Led by Dr. Gill Pratt, TRI develops technologies in energy, materials science, human-centered AI, interactive driving, and robotics.
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