Boston Dynamics Dynamically Balancing Biped Walker

This is great stuff. With batteries and capacitors constantly improving we should soon have quiet humanoid robots walking around. I find it fascinating to think where they will be first used as more then a proof of concept curiosity.

I would guess in nursing homes. It seems Japan is concentrating their humanoid robotic efforts on that. And with an ageing population but without much (or any) immigrants, I would think the economics are most likely to work in favour of humanoid care taker robots there first.

Perhaps soon after we'll have them here, I can just imagine the advertising being very similar to the "I've fallen and can't get up ads." Except now I have a robot helper to help me and call my family and even call the hospital.

This demo reminds me of the Dexter robot from Anybots. Here is a video from about a year ago: http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/feature/meet-the-human...

The more they produce, the more I can't help but feel that Boston Dynamics must be stopped at all costs.

Does anyone know how the software behind this works? Is it some kind of advanced AI? Does it "learn" how to walk?

Very cool, but I think that the heel-toe landing move is a bit exaggerated.