The remarkable evolution of Atlas, Boston Dynamics' most agile robot, continues. In a video posted today, Atlas is seen jumping over a log and leaping up steps like a parkour runner. The robot has come a long way. Two years ago, Boston Dynamics, led by Marc Raibert, unveiled a massive upgrade of the original Atlas, which had been used by multiple teams at the DARPA Robotics Challenge in 2015. In a brief description of today's video, Boston Dynamics explains that the robot is using its full body not only to balance but also to propel itself up the steps: The control software uses the whole body including legs, arms and torso, to marshal the energy and strength for jumping over the log and leaping up the steps without breaking its pace.

Just two years ago Boston Dynamics proudly showed off a new generation of its Atlas robot that could take an untethered stroll through the woods, before advancing to balancing on one leg and even landing a backflip. Its latest highlight reel, however, is one that should make this guy very, very afraid. Dubbed "Parkour," it features a bipedal battery-powered robot that not only jogs, but hops over obstacles and up an uneven obstacle course with nary a bobble. The'bot now has enough processing power to use its legs, arms and torso to balance through the movements and power up each 40cm-high step, while using computer vision to locate the next one. Sure, the advertisement is that such a robot could navigate through disasters to rescue squishy humans stuck in precarious situations, but we can certainly imagine alternative applications.

While the NFL draft is already over, the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot is angling for a free agent workout with its latest highlight video. We've already seen one backflipping, but considering the abilities necessary, it's nearly as impressive to see a robot running untethered across open terrain, and easily clearing a small obstacle. The stats on its 40 time and vertical aren't world-class yet, but a glance at older PETMAN walking demos from 2009 show how far the technology has come in just a few years. We're betting the next DARPA competition will look a little different from the last one. Richard's been tech-obsessed since first laying hands on an Atari joystick.