Hyundai wants to buy tens of thousands of Atlas robots from Boston Dynamics
Hyundai wants to support Boston Dynamics in the further development of its humanoid Atlas robot.
(Image: Boston Dynamics)
The South Korean Hyundai Motor Group intends to purchase tens of thousands of Atlas humanoid robots from Boston Dynamics, Hyundai has announced. The robots are to be acquired over a period of several years. The two companies intend to intensify their existing partnership and also work more closely together on robot development and production.
The cooperation envisages that Hyundai will gradually integrate the humanoid Atlas robots into its automobile production. Boston Dynamics had already announced initial tests for 2025 in April 2024 after the robotics company presented the electric Atlas (also known as Atlas 2.0). Boston Dynamics thus joins the ranks of manufacturers who have managed to commercialize their humanoid robots. These include the robotics companies Agility Robotics with its humanoid Digit and Figure AI with the Figure-02 robot. Digit is used by the US logistics company GXO, while Figure 02 works at BMW's Spartanburg plant in the US.
Investment and development aid
It is unclear how much Hyundai intends to invest in Boston Dynamics and what price will be asked for each Atlas robot. Apparently, however, the 80 percent stake in the company is not to be increased any further. Rather, Hyundai seems to want to provide development aid by purchasing robots. Hyundai also wants to help with the mass construction of the robots and provide production facilities.
Videos by heise
Boston Dynamics intends to use the money provided to accelerate the development of its robot. The focus here is on embodied intelligence, the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and body control of the humanoid robot Atlas. The company repeatedly shows that Atlas already has a number of capabilities in various videos that demonstrate the robot's movement capabilities and its ability to perform simple industrial tasks independently. To achieve this, Boston Dynamics has entered into various collaborations with AI companies such as the Robotics & AI Institute (RAI Institute) and the AI chip manufacturer Nvidia.
(olb)
