Raibert traced his fascination with building robots to a seemingly ordinary sight: a disassembled robotic arm he encountered in 1974. That fragmented image ignited a burning ambition. Seeing the potential within those individual components drove him to challenge traditional design approaches. Instead of slow, calculated machines, he wanted his robots to capture human and animal movement’s inherent energy and dynamic unpredictability. At Boston Dynamics, Raibert was instrumental in developing some of the most iconic robots. He described a fascinating early effort involving the creation of a surgical simulator. Powered by advanced force feedback, it offered incredible levels of nuance and responsiveness. However, as the team assessed their strengths and resources, they recognized the need to pivot despite the project’s exciting technical aspects. This clarity paved the way for the breakthroughs that put Boston Dynamics on the map. Raibert offered insights into the complex decision-making behind his robotic designs. Emulating the exact forms found in nature was not always the goal. It was about achieving functional excellence within the parameters of the human world his robots would inhabit. The early hopping “pogo-bots,” though far from human in appearance, embodied Raibert’s core ethos: a movement that defied the static and predictable. Now leading the Boston Dynamics AI Institute, Raibert’s ambition is to unite the renowned physical agility of his robots with what he describes as “cognitive intelligence.” Expanding capabilities to include perception, learning, and complex decision-making are hallmarks of this new endeavor. While Boston Dynamics perfected mechanical intelligence, this move focuses on developing minds worthy of those remarkable bodies.
Full interview : Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics talks about the robotics field’s past, present, and potential future and artificial intelligence.
