A stroll through the woods is supposed to be a calming experience, but not if Boston Dynamics is involved.

The Google-owned robotics company was at a recent Fab Lab conference, where it showed off the advances it has made with its humanoid Atlas robot. Marc Raibert, Boston Dynamics founder, played a video (below) that featured Atlas navigating a wooded area, slicing through leaves and branches, and marching down a dirt path.

"Out in the world is a totally different challenge than in the lab," Raibert said during his presentation. "You can't predict what it's going to be like."

Atlas has not yet been able to freely roam outdoors since it is still tethered to a power cord, "but we're working on a version that doesn't have that," Raibert said.

When Atlas is not creeping through the forest like a Walking Dead zombie, it's working on its balance in the lab, walking swiftly over a pile of rocks that mimic the rough terrain a robot might encounter in a search-and-rescue or combat situation.

"All kinds of stuff happens out there and we're making pretty good progress on making it so that it has mobility that's sort of within shooting range of [a human's]," Raibert said. "I'm not saying it can do everything you can do, but you can imagine if we keep pushing, we'll get there."

Other robots in the Boston Dynamics lineup include BigDog, which Raibert showed slipping on ice and recovering, and LS3, which can carry a 400-pound payload 20 miles.

One of the big challenges with robotics is producing a device that can "move around in the world, manipulate things, [and] perceive what's around them," Raibert said, pointing to the agility of mountain goats as an example. "It's a pretty tall order."

Check out the whole session—which also features presentations from MIT, DARPA, Harvard, and Kiva Systems—below (Raibert comes in at the 26-minute mark).