Nearly a decade after Google sold Boston Dynamics to SoftBank, the two companies reunited at CES 2026, announcing that DeepMind will enhance the Atlas humanoid with its Gemini Robotics foundation models. The announcement was attended by executives from Hyundai Motor Group, Boston Dynamics' parent company since its $880 million acquisition in December 2020. Boston Dynamics and Hyundai confirmed that Atlas is already in production and headed to the Hyundai factory in Savannah, Georgia.
The new productised Atlas stands 1.8 metres tall with a 2.2-metre reach, fully rotational joints, and can lift up to 49.8 kilograms. It features 56 degrees of freedom, a new four-fingered hand, and a standard battery life of four hours, with the ability to swap batteries autonomously. Boston Dynamics has increasingly relied on teleoperation, imitation learning, and simulation to train Atlas rather than hand-coded programming. Aaron Saunders, who spent nearly two decades at Boston Dynamics as chief technology officer, stepped down in November 2025 and joined Google DeepMind as vice president of robotics hardware engineering. Boston Dynamics and Hyundai announced the Robot Metaplant Application Centre, opening in 2026, where data collected from Hyundai factories will feed the facility, creating a controlled environment for Atlas to train on complex tasks.
Boston Dynamics already has products, like the quadruped Spot, deployed in more than 40 countries, whilst its warehouse robot Stretch has unloaded more than 20 million boxes globally since its launch in 2023. At CES, Hyundai outlined potential applications beyond automotive, including construction, energy, and facilities management. The partnership demonstrates how advanced AI models are becoming essential for humanoid robots to move beyond pre-programmed routines and adapt to diverse industrial tasks.
Sources:
1. https://www.therobotreport.com/boston-dynamics-google-reunite-on-next-gen-atlas-humanoid/
2. https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/05/boston-dynamicss-next-gen-humanoid-robot-will-have-google-deepmind-dna/
