Boston Dynamics is known for their camera-friendly robotics projects. The creepy-cool Big Dog almost had a place in the United States Marine Corps, but its engine was too loud to be effectively deployed in the field. The dogs can keep moving even when kicked off balance, and were briefly put into service as Santa’s reindeer. Now, further indignity has been heaped upon the robot population in the name of testing.

Atlas is designed for operation both inside and outside. And, critically, it’s pretty quiet; in the video, it makes only a soft creaking sound as it walks. Atlas can pick up and stack boxes, walk on uneven terrain, and recover after losing its balance. Just like with Big Dog, Boston Dynamics demonstrated this by putting its robots through their paces. The new Atlas is a little louder than usual when it tries to stand up, but it can recover from being pushed fully prone.

The robot stands about 5’ 9”, about a head shorter than the previous version, and weighs 180 pounds. It appears to need QR codes in order to track the item it’s interacting with, such as the box, or the door it uses to escape its human captors; however, once it has its eye on something it will keep going after it even in the face of obstacles and changes in the environment. Maybe this time Boston Dynamics will roll out their robot to the military – and even if something like noise gets in the way, they’ve at least got another viral video on their hands.

Boston Dynamics is a subsidiary of Google. The original version of Atlas was produced in coordination with DARPA in 2013.