Video of the week: Boston Dynamics makes big leap with latest robot

The MIT spinout has garnered quite the reputation in recent years, with its boundary-pushing robots such as Big Dog and Spot tending to fascinate and terrify in equal measure. Last year’s Atlas marked something of a departure from previous designs, introducing a more humanoid concept with a stronger focus on task capabilities.

From what we’ve seen, Handle appears to be the company’s most ‘useful’ robot yet. It can self-balance while moving at high speeds and has front limbs that should eventually be able to interact with objects, perhaps in an industrial setting. Its ability to clear hurdles is also particularly impressive, as you’ll see (and hear) from the video footage.