Hyundai, Boston Dynamics Unveil Atlas Humanoid Robot at CES

Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated its humanoid robot Atlas for the first time at the CES tech showcase, intensifying competition with Tesla and other organisations developing human-like robots. The unveiling highlights efforts to build machines that resemble and perform tasks like people.

Credit: HYUNDAI

Zachary Jackowski, Boston Dynamics’ general manager for humanoid robots, introduced Atlas to the stage in a Las Vegas hotel ballroom. The life-sized robot, featuring two arms and two legs, picked itself up from the floor.

Atlas then walked fluidly around the stage for several minutes, sometimes waving to the crowd and swiveling its head like an owl. While an engineer remotely piloted the robot for the demonstration, Atlas is designed to move autonomously in real-life applications.

Credit: HYUNDAI

A product version of Atlas is already in production and will be deployed by 2028. This robot will assist in assembling cars at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing facility near Savannah, Georgia.

The South Korean carmaker holds a controlling stake in Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics, an organisation that has developed robots for decades. Boston Dynamics is well-known for Spot, its dog-like robot.

A group of four-legged Spot robots opened Hyundai’s event by dancing in synchrony to a K-pop song. The commercial AI boom and new technical advances have channelled significant funds into robotics development.

Hyundai also announced a new partnership with Google’s DeepMind, which will supply its artificial intelligence technology to Boston Dynamics robots. Google previously purchased Boston Dynamics in 2013 before selling it to Japanese tech giant SoftBank several years later.

Hyundai acquired Boston Dynamics from SoftBank in 2021. The new partnership with Google’s DeepMind supplying artificial intelligence technology to Boston Dynamics robots marks a return to a familiar partnership for Google. Public demonstrations of humanoids are rare among leading robot makers, partly because errors can attract unwanted attention.

Robotics startups typically prefer to showcase research prototypes through social media videos, which allows them to present the machines at their best. The live Atlas demonstration, which appeared flawless, concluded with the prototype introducing a static model of the new product version.

The product version of Atlas looked slightly different and was blue in colour. Alex Panas, a partner at consultancy McKinsey, stated that the software, chipsets, and communication are "all the other pieces of the technology are coming together, and they will create new applications."

Many experts believe it will be a long time before truly human-like robots, capable of performing diverse tasks, become common in workplaces or homes. Humanoids currently lack sufficient dexterity to threaten many human jobs.

However, a debate regarding their effects on employment is likely to escalate as robots become more skilled. The Georgia plant where Hyundai plans to test Atlas was the site of a federal immigration raid last year, which led to the arrests of hundreds of workers, including more than 300 South Korean citizens.

• Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated its Atlas humanoid robot at CES.

• The product version of Atlas, designed to assemble cars, will be deployed by 2028 at a Hyundai facility in Georgia.

• Hyundai announced a partnership with Google’s DeepMind for AI technology in Boston Dynamics robots.

Source: AP NEWS