Boston Dynamics and Google DeepMind announced a groundbreaking partnership at CES 2026 that will equip humanoid robots with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities, marking a new era in robotics development. The collaboration reunites the two technology giants nearly a decade after Google sold Boston Dynamics to SoftBank, and aims to create robots that can understand and interact with the physical world in unprecedented ways.
The partnership centers on integrating Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics foundation models into Boston Dynamics' robotic platforms, including the iconic humanoid Atlas and the four-legged Spot robot. Boston Dynamics executives explained that they are building the world's most capable humanoid and needed a partner to help establish new kinds of visual-language-action models for these complex machines. The collaboration represents a significant step toward creating robots that can operate autonomously in unfamiliar environments.
Google DeepMind's contribution focuses on developing robots that understand the physical world the way humans do, rather than relying on predefined, pre-loaded tasks. Carolina Parada of Google DeepMind explained that the goal is to create robots that can learn from their experience and get better over time. This approach represents a fundamental shift from traditional robotics programming toward more adaptive and intelligent systems.
At CES 2026, Boston Dynamics unveiled the production-ready version of its Atlas humanoid robot, announcing that the first units are now being manufactured and will ship to initial customers this year. Hyundai and Google DeepMind will be the first recipients of the new Atlas robots, with all units for 2026 already committed. The company indicated that additional customers will receive their robots starting in 2027.
Hyundai, which acquired Boston Dynamics in 2021, has ambitious plans for deploying Atlas in its manufacturing operations. The automotive giant intends to use the humanoid robots in its car plants by 2028 for tasks such as parts sequencing, with plans to expand responsibilities to component assembly by 2030. Over time, Atlas will take on tasks involving repetitive motions, heavy loads, and other complex operations that are challenging for human workers.
The scale of Hyundai's commitment to humanoid robotics is substantial, with the company aiming to manufacture up to 30,000 humanoid robots annually by 2028. This production capacity signals strong confidence in the commercial viability of advanced humanoid robots and suggests that industrial applications will drive the initial adoption of this technology. The partnership with Google DeepMind is expected to accelerate the development of AI capabilities necessary for such widespread deployment.
The reunion of Boston Dynamics and Google represents a recognition that the future of robotics lies at the intersection of sophisticated hardware and advanced artificial intelligence. While Boston Dynamics has long been known for creating robots with impressive physical capabilities, the addition of DeepMind's AI expertise promises to give these machines the cognitive abilities needed to work alongside humans in complex, unpredictable environments.
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