Atlas (hydraulic)
The hydraulic Atlas was unveiled in July 2013 for the DARPA Robotics Challenge and became the best-known research humanoid of the 2010s through its parkour and backflip videos. Later versions were 150 cm tall, 89 kg and had 28 hydraulic joints. Boston Dynamics retired it in April 2024.
We have not sat down with this one. The score below is computed from the data we hold, and the facts on this page are sourced. It is not on sale, so there is nothing to recommend.
How the score is built
Capability is what the machine physically does. Value compares it with others at a similar price, not with the whole market. Buyability asks whether you can really order one. Ecosystem is the software and community around it. Proof is what it has done in the field, which is where most humanoids score badly and should.
What people buy instead.
- Status
- Retired
- Category
- research
- First revealed
- 11 July 2013
- Form
- bipedal
- Height
- 150 cm
- Weight
- 89 kg
- Payload
- 11 kg
- Degrees of freedom
- 28
- Battery
- n/a
- Runtime
- n/a
- Walking speed
- 2.5 m/s
- Actuation
- hydraulic, 28 hydraulic joints, onboard battery from 2015 (Atlas Unplugged)
- Units deployed (est.)
- not disclosed
- Teleoperation
- no
Where it stands
Retired on 16 April 2024 after 11 years as a research platform; replaced by the all-electric Atlas.
What stands out
- Unveiled 11 July 2013 for the DARPA Robotics Challenge
- Untethered battery version (Atlas Unplugged) 2015
- Backflip video November 2017, parkour 2018 to 2021
- Retired 16 April 2024
Autonomy, observed
Backflips (2017), parkour (2018 to 2021) and box handling videos; DARPA Robotics Challenge use 2013 to 2015 by several teams.
Hands, sensors, brain
- Sensors: lidar and stereo vision
- Compute: three onboard computers
Price and volume
not sold; provided to DRC teams under DARPA funding
Seven copies were supplied to DARPA Robotics Challenge teams in 2013; later versions were internal.
Milestones.
Boston Dynamics retires the hydraulic Atlas
A farewell video shows highlights and failures of the hydraulic Atlas over eleven years. The retirement closes the DARPA era of hydraulic humanoids.
Two Atlas robots run a parkour course together
Boston Dynamics shows two Atlas robots completing an obstacle course with vaults, balance beam and synchronised backflips, using perception to adapt to the course rather than pre scripted moves.
Atlas, Spot and Handle dance to Do You Love Me
A choreographed dance video with two Atlas robots reaches tens of millions of views. It is the last widely shared demonstration before Hyundai's ownership begins.
Hyundai Motor Group agrees to buy Boston Dynamics
Hyundai acquires an 80 percent stake in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank at a valuation of 1.1 billion dollars. The deal closes in June 2021 and gives Atlas an automaker as owner.
Atlas performs a gymnastics routine
Boston Dynamics shows Atlas doing a floor routine with rolls, handstands and a split leap, generated with an optimisation based behaviour library. The routine shows 80 percent success in testing according to the company.
Atlas parkour video
Atlas jumps over a log and up a series of 40 cm steps without breaking pace, using its whole body to balance. Boston Dynamics uses the videos to demonstrate perception driven dynamic locomotion.
Atlas does a backflip
Boston Dynamics posts a video in which Atlas jumps between boxes and lands a standing backflip. The clip becomes one of the most watched robot videos ever and marks the start of the parkour series.
SoftBank agrees to buy Boston Dynamics from Google
SoftBank acquires Boston Dynamics and SCHAFT from Alphabet for an undisclosed sum. The deal closes in early 2018 and keeps Atlas development funded.
Boston Dynamics shows the untethered next generation Atlas
A video shows a smaller, battery powered Atlas walking through snow, lifting boxes and getting up after being pushed over with a hockey stick. It is the first Atlas that operates without a tether.
KAIST's DRC-HUBO wins the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals
At the finals in Pomona, California, Team KAIST completes all eight tasks in 44 minutes and wins 2 million dollars, ahead of IHMC (Atlas) and Tartan Rescue. Videos of falling robots go viral and show how far humanoids still are from field use.
DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials: SCHAFT wins
Sixteen teams compete in eight disaster response tasks at Homestead, Florida. Tokyo startup SCHAFT, just acquired by Google, wins ahead of IHMC on an Atlas and Tartan Rescue's CHIMP.
Google acquires Boston Dynamics
Google buys Boston Dynamics as part of Andy Rubin's robotics push, alongside Japanese DRC team SCHAFT. Google later loses interest and sells the company to SoftBank in 2017.
Boston Dynamics unveils Atlas
The hydraulic Atlas, 188 cm and about 150 kg, is unveiled as the DARPA Robotics Challenge platform for seven software teams. It is at the time the most capable bipedal humanoid ever built.
DARPA announces the Robotics Challenge
Prompted by the Fukushima disaster, DARPA launches a competition for robots that can operate in human engineered disaster environments, with a 2 million dollar prize. It funds Atlas as a government furnished platform for software teams.
How a humanoid robot works: actuators, compute, sensors and the model
Of 182 humanoids on record, 178 say what moves the joints and 43 say what computer is inside. The further a layer sits from the metal, the less the maker tells you about it.
Humanoid races, games and fights: what the competitions proved
Our record holds 11 competition events from 1997 to 2025 and 17 machines tied to them. Six can be ordered, three at a public price, and 13 of the 17 carry a teleoperation flag of yes or partial.
Startups, automakers, universities: who builds humanoids
108 makers, nine kinds. Startups hold 37 of the 44 humanoids you can order. Automakers, universities, big tech, conglomerates and NASA hold 45 robots between them and sell none of them.
A short history of the humanoid, from Elektro to the order button
Our record holds 111 dated milestones since 1939. Sixty-eight of them are from this decade, and what changed was not the walking. It was the price tag.
Other robots by Boston Dynamics.
Atlas (electric)
The electric Atlas, revealed on 17 April 2024, replaced the hydraulic Atlas with a fully electric design whose joints rotate through 360 degrees. Boston Dynamics is developing it as a commercial factory robot with Hyundai Motor Group and using large behavior models from Toyota Research Institute and Google DeepMind. A production-intent version was unveiled at CES in January 2026.
PETMAN
PETMAN was a hydraulic, tethered humanoid built by Boston Dynamics for the US Department of Defense to test chemical protection suits by walking, crouching and sweating. Videos in 2011 and 2013 showed it walking on a treadmill and doing push-ups. Its anthropomorphic legs and balance work fed directly into the first Atlas.
Sources
- 01AtlasBoston Dynamics
- 02Atlas (robot)Wikipedia
- 03Farewell to HD AtlasBoston Dynamics (YouTube) · 2024-04-16
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