A robotics company that Alphabet recently sold to SoftBank on Thursday posted a new video that shows one of its more widely known robots doing a backflip.
While some other robots have been shown performing backflips in the past, Boston Dynamics' two-legged Atlas robot has never been seen doing one. To emphasize the achievement, Boston Dynamics replays the move in slow motion twice in the YouTube video. A blooper is also shown at the end.
Alphabet acquired Boston Dynamics and other small robotics companies in 2013. In June 2017, Google offloaded it and robotics group Schaft to Softbank. Terms weren't disclosed. Robotics is an area that has been seen as a cost-cutting opportunity for Alphabet under CFO Ruth Porat.
Several academic research groups relied on Atlas to get through the DARPA Robotics Challenge competition in 2015.
Historically Boston Dynamics team members have been eager to see the comments people make on videos posts to YouTube. "Omg omg omg omg," one person wrote shortly after the Atlas video went online.