Boston Dynamics has announced the production-ready version of its humanoid Atlas robot at CES 2026, marking a shift from prototypes to industrial deployment. The robot will first go to Hyundai for factory use and Google DeepMind for AI integration. This development highlights growing partnerships in robotics and artificial intelligence.
At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, from January 4 to 9, Boston Dynamics revealed the final enterprise version of its Atlas humanoid robot, designed for industrial tasks with a focus on consistency and reliability. The robot can operate autonomously, via teleoperation, or with a tablet interface. It boasts a reach of up to 7.5 feet, the ability to lift 110 pounds, and functions in temperatures from minus 4 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Physically, Atlas features 56 degrees of freedom, fully rotational joints, and human-scale hands with tactile sensing for tasks like material sequencing, assembly, and machine tending.
The company has been developing Atlas since 2011 as a DARPA project, evolving through prototypes and switching to an all-electric design in 2024. A demonstration that year showed the robot manipulating car parts, foreshadowing its manufacturing applications. "This is the best robot we have ever built," said Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter. "Atlas is going to revolutionize the way industry works."
Hyundai, Boston Dynamics' majority shareholder, plans to deploy Atlas in its car plants starting in 2028, beginning with parts sequencing at a facility in Savannah, Georgia, and expanding to component assembly and handling heavy loads by 2030. Hyundai views this as part of a human-robot partnership strategy, anticipating humanoids to dominate the physical AI market.
In a notable collaboration, Google DeepMind—Boston Dynamics' former owner's AI arm—will integrate its Gemini Robotics models into Atlas for enhanced navigation and object manipulation. "We are excited to begin working with the Boston Dynamics team," said Carolina Parada, senior director of robotics at DeepMind. Zachary Jackowski, VP and general manager of Atlas, added, "We're on the cusp of a transformational shift that will be as impactful as the smartphone."
This full-circle partnership, following Google's ownership of Boston Dynamics from 2013 to 2017, underscores rapid advances in physical AI for manual labor in unfamiliar environments.