At this year's CES 2026, humanoid robots were undoubtedly the biggest highlight. But compared to the amateur battles in the parking lot or the dancing robots on the exhibition stand, Boston Dynamics, currently a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, is clearly serious. The company officially revealed...All-electric Atlas robotThe mass production roadmap is expected to begin deployment in factories in 2028. As for wanting a robot butler like in the movie "I, Robot"? The CEO bluntly stated: it will take at least another ten years.
Saying goodbye to parkour, Atlas has started "working".
Standing approximately 1.5 meters tall and weighing 90 kilograms, Atlas was best known in the past few years for its backflips and parkour moves in YouTube videos. But now, Boston Dynamics is giving it a more practical task: moving bricks in a factory.
Hyundai Motor Group currently owns 80% of Boston Dynamics and plans to launch Atlas production at its new Robotics Metafactory Application Center (RMAC). The goal is to begin deployment at Hyundai's smart factories by 2028, with production expected to increase to 3 units by 2030.
Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter pointed out that the easily automated processes in the factory have already been automated. What remains are the tasks that are highly variable and require high-precision assembly or handling of different parts, and this is precisely Atlas's entry point.
Emphasizing "stability" and "ease of repair," specializing in older factories.
During its demonstration at CES 2026, Atlas showcased its 56 degrees of freedom, demonstrating its agility by moving parts between different storage compartments simply by rotating its torso, without requiring frequent movement. While not particularly fast, the company emphasized "stability."
• Never Tired:Humans are most efficient at 9 a.m., and then their efficiency decreases; robots, on the other hand, can maintain a constant speed throughout the day.
• Modular maintenance:Drawing on the experience of the Spot robot dog, Atlas's arms and legs are designed as easily detachable modules, which can be replaced by ordinary personnel in a few minutes after simple training, avoiding production line downtime.
• Adaptable to old factories:Many factories in Europe and America are over 35 years old, and these environments are designed for "humans." Instead of spending a lot of money to renovate factories to accommodate automated equipment, it would be better to simply place a "humanoid" robot to adapt to the existing environment.
AI-enhanced learning capabilities still have a long way to go in the home market.
Thanks to the assistance of large-scale behavioral models such as Google DeepMind, Atlas can now learn new complex tasks in just a few days. In the future, it may even be able to master welding or construction skills by changing specialized tools.
However, regarding the "home robots" that the public is most looking forward to, Robert Playter believes that, considering price sensitivity and the much higher security complexity compared to factories, the widespread adoption of home robots will likely take at least another 5 years, or around 2035, after large-scale deployment in factories (2030).
