Outlook Business Desk
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics presented its humanoid robot Atlas publicly for the first time at CES, marking a rare live showcase as global tech companies race to build robots designed to move and behave like humans.
Atlas lifted itself from the ground and moved steadily across the Las Vegas stage, greeting the crowd and rotating its head fluidly, showcasing strong balance, coordination and human-like motion in a tightly controlled live demo.
The robot was remotely guided by an engineer for the on-stage demo, while Boston Dynamics said Atlas is designed to operate independently in real-world settings once fully deployed and tested beyond controlled environments.
Boston Dynamics said a production-ready version of Atlas is under development and will be deployed by 2028 at Hyundai’s electric vehicle factory near Savannah, Georgia, where it is expected to support vehicle assembly operations.
Hyundai acquired Boston Dynamics from SoftBank in 2021 and now controls the Massachusetts-based robotics firm, best known for Spot, the four-legged robot that opened Hyundai’s CES showcase with a synchronised K-pop dance performance.
Hyundai also revealed a partnership with Google’s DeepMind, which will supply artificial intelligence technology for Boston Dynamics robots, marking a return to a collaboration that began during Google’s earlier ownership of the robotics company.
Humanoid robots are rarely demonstrated live, as any misstep draws intense scrutiny, unlike edited online videos, making Atlas’s smooth CES showcase stand out against earlier public incidents where robot failures quickly went viral.
Experts say humanoid robots still lack the skills to replace most human jobs, but rapid advances in software, chips and communication systems are widening their potential uses, as debate grows over their future role in workplaces.