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   The robot never gets tired: Hyundai explains why its Boston Dynamics Atlas   
   robot is ready to take over factories, but not your home   
      
   Date:   
   Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Hyundai and Boston Dynamics revealed plans to build 30,000 humanoid robots   
   each year. Here's why they think its the future of manufacturing.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   This years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was awash with humanoid   
   robots. Brands used little dancing droids to attract crowds to stands, while   
   amateur teams of engineers conducted impromptu robot-offs in the car park.    
      
   As a result, it was easy to view these often diminutive bits of technology as   
   a novelty  until, that is, Hyundais 90kg Atlas humanoid robot stomped onto   
   stage a day before the show floor opened to the public.    
      
   Measuring around 5ft tall, with the ability to reach up to heights of around   
   7.5ft when fully extended, Atlas is the brainchild of Boston Dynamics, the   
   world-renowned robotics company that already has its Spot robotic dogs busy   
   working on everything from security details to quality control shifts .    
      
   But Atlas, which is fully capable of walking (with some swagger), waving and   
   performing the odd backflip, is an entirely different proposition and one    
   that Hyundai Motor Group, the company that now owns an 80% stake in Boston   
   Dynamics, hopes could prove a rich future revenue stream for the business.   
      
   Due to begin mass production at the firms new Robot Metaplant Application   
   Center (RMAC), Atlas will begin deployment across Hyundais various smart   
   factories in 2028, with a view to manufacture some 30,000 units by the year   
   2030.    
      
   Over the past several decades, most manufacturers have automated everything   
   that they can automate, explains Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter.    
      
   The work that is left is difficult to automate in a cost-effective way. And   
   that's because the tasks have huge variation. Whether its the parts varying   
   from car-to-car or because the tasks involve assembly and close-knit    
   tolerance and things that you can't do with the traditional robots, he adds.   
      
   Consistency is key   
      
   During various demonstrations on the Hyundai booth at the Las Vegas    
   Convention Center, which was easily one of the most popular this year, Atlas   
   could be seen moving car parts from one storage area to another  its   
   56-degrees of movement allowing it swivel its entire body to move between   
   storage bins, rather than having to walk.    
      
   Similarly, its dexterous fingers could grasp an array of objects, even down    
   to the small and delicate stuff, and move it accurately. Weather-proofing   
   ensures it can work outside and when its batteries run dry, it simply walks   
   over to a charing dock and replaces them itself.    
      
   While the speed at which Atlas could perform these tasks wasnt exactly   
   mind-blowing, chief strategy officer at Boston Dynamics, Marc Theerman,   
   explained to me that this wasnt really the point.   
      
   Humans might be super efficient at 9am in the morning, but our studies    
   suggest that this efficiency drops off throughout the day. With this sort of   
   automation, you need consistency, and the robot never gets tired, and the   
   robot runs at a consistent speed with little interventions, he explains.    
      
   In this respect, Atlas has been designed to be put to work on the sort of   
   shifts and tasks that would have unions calling for strike action. Downtime?   
   No way. The company ensured that most of Atlas parts are easily   
   interchangeable if the worst happens.    
      
   If an arm, a leg of even a hand is broken, these parts can be swapped by   
   anyone with even the slightest bit of training in a matter of minutes,   
   Theerman says. This was something we learnt from our Spot robot, our    
   customers dont want any downtime to fix robots, he adds.   
      
   While humanoid robots are currently at the very epicenter of the hype cycle,   
   there is a valid reason for choosing this form. Theerman says that he    
   predicts many Atlas units will be put to work in facilities that were never   
   designed for robots in the first place.    
      
   The average plant in Europe or the United States is probably 35 years old.    
   And so if you want to automate a plant like that, without fixed automation,   
   you need something that looks like a human, because that's what the plant was   
   designed for, he says.    
      
   A quick scan of the Boston Dynamics back catalogue reveals plenty of other   
   robots, such as its Stretch logistics bot that is solely used for warehouse   
   operations, that can be implemented for very specific tasks.    
      
   But what sets Atlas apart is the fact it can perform numerous jobs and,    
   thanks to advances in AI and, in particular, Large Behavioral Models   
   (something Googles DeepMind is helping with), the humanoid will be able to be   
   trained in a matter of days to perform complex actions.    
      
   So far, weve focussed on the physical side of AI, so Atlas can dance, run and   
   jump. But behavioral is the next frontier. We hope that in the future,   
   customers will be able to swap the humanoids hands for specific tools, so it   
   can be taught to weld, construct and much more, Theerman adds.    
      
   At this point, it is worth noting that Hyundais humanoid endeavor isnt the   
   first of its kind, nor is it the only technology in existence. In fact,    
   theres a veritable arms race to launch useful robots.   
      
    Teslas Optimus is designed for general purpose tasks, but early   
   demonstrations have revealed that it still has some way to go before being   
   genuinely useful. Similarly, companies such as Figure AI, Agility Robotics    
   and Apptronik are all making waves in the emerging industry.    
      
   In fact, Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer Zoomlion already has a team of   
   humanoid robots busy at work in its network of plants, churning out hundreds   
   of products a day.    
      
   But Boston Dynamics CEO still thinks his company has the edge, not least   
   because it has the financial and manufacturing backing of the Hyundai Motor   
   Group.    
      
   We've already got a pathway that we're cutting with our existing products to   
   commercialize. We've built our organization around supporting products in the   
   field, integration, service, repair, logistics, so all of the components   
   around that. Something that thankfully nobody else is doing yet, he says.   
          
   The question of replacing humans is neatly brushed off by those in the   
   business of robotics, seeing as the technology has the potential to replace   
   vast swathes of manual labour. Thankfully, Atlas, much like its Spot   
   counterpart, is expensive right now and many plants find it cheaper and more   
   convenient to use a human workforce.    
      
   But Boston Dynamics chief strategy officer feels that, while it could be a   
   potential issue, he has found companies with a higher robotic adoption are   
   more productive, therefore are growing faster, are more profitable, and are   
   hiring more employees.    
      
   Yes, theres going to be shift of workers, but we think that at the moment,   
   these robots will always require human monitoring. So we call this job 'robot   
   wrangler' or 'robot operator'. And that job is growing quite fast, and it's   
   fascinating, says Theerman.    
      
   And what about your robot butler? Well, the Boston Dynamics CEO thinks that    
   is some way off. In fact, he feels robots in the home is the wrong strategy,   
   citing the fact that the consumer market is very cost sensitive. He also   
   admits that safety is paramount and that the home is a complex environment.    
      
   "We think it's going to be 2028 or 2030 when we have robots deployed in   
   factories and probably five years after that before theyre really affordable   
   in the home," Playter states.   
      
   Mark your diaries. The year 2035 could be when we finally witness the rise of   
   the robots, or find out if its just another hype cycle that will gradually   
   fade into the CES archives.    
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/vehicle-tech/hybrid-electric-vehicles/the-robot-neve   
   r-gets-tired-hyundai-explains-why-its-boston-dynamics-atlas-robot-is-ready-to-   
   take-over-factories-but-not-your-home   
      
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