Boston Dynamics’ robotics team discusses Atlas’s path to industrial work at Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics Metaplant Application Center, with a host visiting the facility.
Atlas is moving beyond public stunts toward learning practical tasks. The team says AI lets them teach robots instead of scripting each action, while a physical control system handles movement and balance and a reasoning system interprets instructions and context.
Robots need real-world examples to improve, and the team says Atlas must leave the lab to gather that experience. At Hyundai’s Robotics Metaplant Application Center, it practices automotive tasks and is evaluated for dependable operation before field use. The team sees automotive work as a demanding proving ground for safety and reliability.
The industrial Atlas is being developed to handle heavy loads and difficult conditions, with manufacturing, food and beverage, and semiconductor production named as potential settings. The team describes this as an early stage in the robot’s development.
Hyundai plans a US facility with annual capacity of 30,000 robots, and the companies intend to put 25,000 Atlas robots into use. The partnership has already cut costs by 60% to 80% between prototype and the initial production run, while giving suppliers clearer expectations about demand.
The team frames automation as a way to reduce work that is physically taxing, repetitive, or hazardous. It says robots have worked most effectively alongside people and argues that commercial success requires building the supporting systems around the robot, not only developing the machine.
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A Boston Dynamics Prototype Operations team member explains how the company builds and improves Atlas, from precision machining through assembly and testing, alongside its engineers.
Boston Dynamics engineers discuss the design, simulation, and dexterity of Atlas’s new hands.
The Atlas Director of Robot Behavior at Boston Dynamics talks with NEXT host John Koetsier about Atlas’s design, robot intelligence, factory integration, and why legs can suit industrial work.
Chris Thorn, Atlas hardware team lead at Boston Dynamics, discusses the new Atlas design with industrial designers Aaron Abroff and James Kucera at Boston Dynamics.
Zack Jackowski, Atlas development lead at Boston Dynamics, and company researchers discuss training humanoid robots for factory work; Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind explores AI’s capabilities and risks; Palmer Luckey of Anduril describes autonomous weapons; and artists and engineers in Carrara debate robots in sculpture.
Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics, and Atlas engineers Zach Jackowski and Scott Kuindersma discuss training and deploying AI-powered humanoid robots at Hyundai’s Georgia factory and Boston Dynamics’ Massachusetts lab.
