Chastity Kelly, a mechanical design engineer, answers questions about the design of Atlas’ foot, whether robots need shoes, and her path to robotics. Read the interview below and watch a conversation with Chastity on how Atlas strides through the world.

Working at Boston Dynamics

What is your role at Boston Dynamics?
I’m a mechanical design engineer who works on the feet of the Atlas robot.

What does one version of a typical day of work look like for you?
A day of work, especially early in the design cycle, looks like me working on some Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and some CAD modeling. Then maybe moving on to some prototypes, 3D printing, building stuff, root cause analysis if something fails, and then collaborating with the broader team and working with the controls team to optimize the geometry or the compliance of the foot.

Putting our best foot forward

How does this version of the foot differ from previous versions of Atlas?
The foot is one of the main points of contact between the robot and the world. One of the biggest differences is that the feet now need to support the robot while it does different activities and tasks in a working environment. The foot is symmetrical now and the ankle is located in the middle of the foot. The robot also has knees that can bend backward. Coupled with those reversible knees, the foot and ankle design allows Atlas to walk forward and backward without having to turn its legs around.

Do robots need shoes?
Yes, if you’ve ever worked on your feet all day, you’ll know how important good shoes are. And it’s the same thing with Atlas. The robot needs shoes so that it can attenuate impact. And we have two structures of the foot. We have a hard physical structure and then we have the sole structure, which is more like a shoe. And that supports Atlas and prevents it from hurting its joints or slipping on a factory floor.

How does this foot design facilitate balance in a working environment?
The overall area of the foot helps it with balance. It has this geometry on the heel and toe that support the heel-toe walking motion. The foot has a tread on it, on the outsole, like the outsole of a shoe. And this tread differs from a human shoe in that it’s multi-directional. So it can go forward and backward and provide grip in both directions. It also helps on slippery surfaces when you step into sand or liquid, kind of helps push that out of the way so that the foot maintains contact with the ground.

Getting into robotics

How can aspiring students prepare for a career in robotics?
I think that there’s this misconception that you had to have been a rock star student your whole life in order to go into robotics. And that’s really not the case. I grew up in Mississippi with no formal education, and I barely passed the GED when I was 18.

But I wanted to go to school to learn how to build things. And so I started at a community college for engineering, in the basic classes at first. I just stuck with it and took higher and higher math. And eventually, I went into engineering. I got a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a master’s in robotics, and then a PhD in mechanical. It took a long time, 15 years to get from there to there. But eventually I got there. I was playing the long game.

You don’t have to be a rock star student. Just go for it and keep going. It doesn’t matter if you had a mediocre grade in a math class, or if you studied something completely different in your undergrad. It matters that you enjoy it and that you keep learning.

What first sparked your interest in robotics?
I got interested in engineering when I was young. I didn’t know what engineering was, but I liked building and fixing things. And then when I was in my late teens I discovered engineering, so I got into that. It wasn’t until I went to grad school in Boston that I actually got exposed to robotics. That really sparked my interest, seeing all of the applications of what you can do with robots, like medical robots and warehouse robots and assistive robots.

The path to a humanoid

What interested you in working with a humanoid?
Before Boston Dynamics, I had just finished my phD at Northeastern University and was working at a fellowship in 3D printing. I had also spent a year at Toyota during undergrad, working in production engineering.

For me, I feel like a humanoid is the pinnacle of what you can do with robots. It’s the biggest challenge. And it’s like the maximum you can get to in robots, like the very cutting edge of what you can do, and also, the most useful. There’s so many things that Atlas can do. And we just keep seeing day after day, improvements in the controls and improvements in the design that allow it to do different tasks.

What’s your favorite thing about working at Boston Dynamics?
My favorite thing is how open everyone is and how willing they are to listen to new and different ideas. When I first got here I was really nervous to share ideas, but people are so receptive to it. People are willing to take criticism on designs, give you criticism on designs. The collaborative, open environment is my favorite part of working here.