Boston Dynamics unveiled the latest version of its humanoid Atlas robot at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. The companies claimed the robot, with glowing circles on its face, an all-electric, battery-powered body and joints that can rotate 360 degrees, is so advanced that it will soon work alongside human factory workers for parent company Hyundai.
Hyundai said it plans to mass-produce Atlas as a “production-ready humanoid robot” that will be put to work at the automaker’s car plants, starting with the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant in Savannah, Georgia. The company estimates that it will produce 30,000 robots annually from 2028.
The company also plans to deploy the first Atlas robots that year to work “on processes with proven safety and quality benefits, such as parts sequencing.” Hyundai says the Atlas will handle tasks involving “repetitive motion, heavy loads and other complex operations” by 2030. Despite widespread fears of job losses as a result of increasing automation, the automaker envisions “harmonious collaboration between humans and robots.”
Hyundai kicked off its keynote with a K-pop dance number featuring its Spot robots (which lasted almost as long as one of the robots later opened the door). The star of the show was the remotely operated Atlas prototype making its public debut. A future production model that will actually be offered to Hyundai and other customers was also shown, although static and non-functional.
The polished product version of the Atlas will be water resistant and able to withstand temperatures ranging from -4 degrees to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Its hands also feature touch sensing and will replace its batteries when they start to run low. It had less exposed wiring than the prototype and baby blue panels covering parts of its body.
Boston Dynamics began in 1992 as a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company used funding from DARPA to create robots like BigDog, but it is best known for the viral fame its robots got online. Its two main stars are Atlas, a humanoid bipedal robot that can run and do backflips, and Spot, a small quadrupedal “dog” that has been tested in a variety of scenarios from herding sheep to assisting health care workers during the pandemic.
The company began selling Spot in June 2020 for $74,500, aimed at businesses looking for an automated way to patrol and inspect warehouses. Despite viral fame, Boston Dynamics has consistently lost millions of dollars annually for several years.
Hyundai acquired Boston Dynamics in 2021 in a deal that valued the company at $1.1 billion. The automaker has long predicted that robots would become an increasingly noticeable presence in its factories over time. And with today’s demonstration, Hyundai is hoping to prove that its robot is more advanced and more capable of performing physical tasks than rivals like Tesla’s Optimus robot. Despite selling very few cars, Tesla has ridden the wave of AI hype in recent years to a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion, more than 15 times Hyundai’s value.
Hyundai says the Atlas will handle tasks involving “repetitive motion, heavy loads and other complex operations” by 2030.
Atlas’ transformation from a research platform to a commercial robot is certainly an important milestone for Boston Dynamics and its parent company. Putting the Atlas into mass production is also likely to be an extremely expensive endeavor for Hyundai. The companies haven’t disclosed how much Atlas costs to build, but Boston Dynamics sells its Spot robots for about $75,000 per unit. Estimates are that the Atlas will be hundreds of thousands of dollars more expensive.
Hyundai claims that its supply chain, access to advanced manufacturing facilities and previous work on AI-based software and software-defined vehicles give it a unique advantage that will enable it to increase its robot production while keeping costs low.
1,2Image: Hyundai
As Atlas becomes more efficient and autonomous, costs are likely to increase. Hyundai said the latest, all-electric version of the robot has 56 degrees of freedom (DOF), up from the 50 DOF reported in April 2025. The robot has fully rotating joints and “human-scale hands with tactile sensation” and is engineered to handle tasks autonomously. It can be taught “most tasks” in one day, can automatically replace its batteries for continuous use throughout the day, and can lift up to 110 pounds (50 kg). It is also water resistant and can operate in temperatures as low as -4 and up to 104 °F (20 to 40 °C).
For years, Boston Dynamics has impressed with the performance of its dexterous two-legged bots performing cartwheels, breakdances and barrel rolls. Still, the news that Hyundai is on the verge of putting Atlas to work in its factories could change the public’s perception of this seemingly friendly robot, especially if it emerges as a potential terminator of jobs. For example, Amazon expects its robots to replace more than 600,000 jobs in the US by 2033, according to recently leaked strategy documents. Hyundai has said that by 2028, its $21 billion investment in the US will create 14,000 jobs directly and more than 100,000 jobs if indirect jobs are included.
Hyundai is also announcing a partnership with Google’s DeepMind AI research lab to combine Boston Dynamics’ robotic expertise with Google’s AI Foundation Model. The automaker is also sourcing AI chips and software from Nvidia.
Of course, transitioning from an impressive demo to a working product that can justify its hefty cost will be a huge challenge for Hyundai and Boston Dynamics alike. There’s a lot of hype about humanoid robots, and not much evidence that they’re worth the complexity and effort of building them – yet.
With additional reporting by Stevie Bonifield
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