If robots eventually plan to take control of Earth, they not only need to surpass human intelligence, they also need to move just like, if not better than we do. Otherwise, how else are they going to hunt us, right?

Boston Dynamics, which was sold by Google to Softbank back in June, continues to improve the capabilities of its Agile Anthropomorphic "Atlas" bipedal humanoid robot, to the point where it can now perform some quite advanced gymanstic moves. Those moves include a back flip and near perfect landing.

As you can see, Atlas is capable of performing jumps, mid-air 180-degree direction changes, and back flips with the takeoff and landing platforms at different heights. If you watch right to the end of the video, though, you'll see Atlas isn't perfect. The back flip can go wrong and falls happen, but they seem to be handled very well.

What I noticed from watching the video above is how human-like the body movement is. Even when the back flip goes wrong the slow-motion replay shows reaction movements very similar to what a human would do. If Boston Dynamics can slim down the frame of Atlas and fit it in typical human clothing, it won't be too much longer before it's hard to tell the difference between a human and robot body. And to add to the believability, Atlas could take the new look SpotMini robot dog out for a walk.

We also can't forget Atlas's other capabilities. It can carry an 11kg payload, has perception through the use of LiDAR and stereo vision, and when walking on rough terrain becomes too difficult or congested, it can revert to using its hands and feet to climb instead. In other words, we are all doomed.