VIDEO: Boston Dynamics taught Atlas robots to parkour

Both Atlas robots have completed the complex obstacle course flawlessly yesterday. 

But why parkour?

It is explained in Boston Dynamics´s blog: a robot’s ability to complete a backflip may never prove useful in a commercial setting. But it doesn’t take a great deal of imagination or sector-specific knowledge to see why it would be helpful for Atlas to be able to perform the same range of movements and physical tasks as humans. If robots can eventually respond to their environments with the same level of dexterity as the average adult human, the range of potential applications will be practically limitless. 

See the video here: