By Blessing Nweke
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated its humanoid robot Atlas for the first time Monday at the CES technology showcase in Las Vegas, signaling a new phase in the global competition to build robots that resemble and move like people.
“For the first time ever in public, please welcome Atlas to the stage,” said Zachary Jackowski, Boston Dynamics’ general manager for humanoid robots, as the life-sized machine rose smoothly from the floor of a hotel ballroom. Atlas then walked fluidly across the stage, waving to the audience and swiveling its head with an owl-like motion. An engineer remotely piloted the robot during the demonstration, though Jackowski said Atlas is designed to operate autonomously in real-world settings.
Boston Dynamics said a product version of Atlas, intended to help assemble cars, is already in production and will be deployed by 2028 at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing plant near Savannah, Georgia. Hyundai holds a controlling stake in the Massachusetts-based robotics company, which is best known for its four-legged commercial robot, Spot. Four Spot robots opened Hyundai’s CES event by dancing in sync to a K-pop song.
Hyundai also announced a new partnership with Google’s DeepMind, which will supply artificial intelligence technology to Boston Dynamics robots. The collaboration marks a return to familiar ground for Google, which owned Boston Dynamics from 2013 before selling it to SoftBank. Hyundai acquired the company in 2021.
Public demonstrations of humanoid robots remain rare, as stumbles can quickly draw criticism. Many robotics firms prefer carefully edited videos to live showcases. Atlas’ performance appeared flawless, ending with a theatrical arm swing to introduce a blue-colored, static model of its upcoming product version.
While investment in robotics is surging alongside advances in artificial intelligence, experts say widespread use of humanlike robots is still years away. “The question comes back to use cases,” said McKinsey partner Alex Panas. “The technology is coming together, but where it fits best is still being defined.”
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