If there’s one name you’ve heard of in the world of robotics, it’s likely to be Boston Dynamics. For years, videos of the company’s inventions have inspired intrigue, excitement and sometimes fear in viewers around the world.
At CES 2026, the company unveiled the latest version of Atlas, its general-purpose humanoid robot. The new Atlas prototype strolled onto the stage at Hyundai’s CES media event, with a jaunty and remarkably human-like walk. It twirled around before performing a dramatic reveal of a static version of the final Atlas product, which will soon go into production and take on manufacturing jobs of its own.
Over the past decade, we’ve watched as Atlas has evolved from a goofy metal robot into the sleek humanoid we see today. This marks an exciting, if unnerving, moment in its journey.
The new and improved Atlas is designed to be an industrious and powerful worker bee, capable of navigating complex environments, performing repetitive tasks, and constantly learning through AI, enabling it to adapt to new roles. Physically, it has 56 degrees of freedom, featuring fully rotational joints, along with human-scale hands capable of tactile sensing for material sequencing, assembly and machine tending.
One of the first places it will be working is a manufacturing plant in Savannah, Georgia, owned by Boston Dynamics’ parent company, Hyundai Motor Group. It’s among a range of facilities in Hyundai’s global portfolio where Atlas will be able to perform real-world tasks onsite.
«I’ve been designing, building and programming robots for my entire career, and I’ve never been more excited about what’s next than I am right now,» said Zachary Jackowski, VP and general manager of Atlas on stage at Hyundai’s press event. «We’re on the cusp of a transformational shift that will be as impactful as the smartphone.»
At the core of Hyundai’s robot strategy, which the company unveiled at the show, is what it sees as a future partnership between humans and co-working robots. Even though many people have expressed wariness at the idea of Atlas, this refreshed robot is a key part of that strategy. In a press release, the company said it expects humanoids to become the largest segment of the physical AI segment in the future.
Another key element of Hyundai’s robot strategy is partnering with other leaders in AI. On Monday at CES, the company said it would be working closely with Google DeepMind. It’s something of a full-circle moment for the company, as Google previously owned Boston Dynamics between 2013 and 2017.
This partnership will see Google’s AI models — including Gemini Robotics — integrated with Boston Dynamics. Rapid advancements in AI over the past few years are accelerating robot development, and the partnership between Google DeepMind and Boston Dynamics speaks to the growth of what some in the industry refer to as physical AI.
«We are excited to begin working with the Boston Dynamics team to explore what’s possible with their new Atlas robot as we develop new models to expand the impact of robotics, and to scale robots safely and efficiently,» said Carolina Parada, senior director of robotics at DeepMind.
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