Boston Dynamics Humanoid Robot Atlas Set to Revolutionize Manufacturing at Hyundai Plant in 2025

The Boston Dynamics humanoid robot Atlas will begin operations at Hyundai’s American factory in 2025.

This fully electric robot is designed to sort automotive parts, carry heavy loads, run, crawl, and roll. It will be deployed at the Hyundai Metaplant in Georgia to assess its performance in real factory settings.

«By the end of this year, we plan to place Atlas at Hyundai’s facility in the U.S. to evaluate the robot’s capabilities in a practical context related to the tasks we aim to address in the next few years,» stated Scott Kuindersma, Senior Director of Robotics Research at Boston Dynamics.

The integration of the android coincides with advancements in artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs), which, according to Kuindersma, could significantly enhance Atlas and similar robots’ abilities.

“The challenge is figuring out how to bridge that gap so we can incorporate some of the generalization capabilities of intelligent reasoning, like those of LLMs, which are becoming part of everyday life, and apply them to physical robotic intelligence. This is a key question for researchers. If we make progress in this area over the next couple of years, it could represent a real game changer,” the expert added.

He emphasized that robots like Atlas will likely remain absent from households for a long time and will primarily be used in industrial settings due to safety concerns.

“Why should we create elite humanoid athletes? That’s a very valid question. We believe that many tasks you might want a humanoid to perform are essentially exhausting labor for humans. These are genuinely challenging, ergonomically unsuitable jobs that we’re currently asking or requiring people to do. We think robots will be much better suited to take on these roles,” Kuindersma explained.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that in April 2024, Boston Dynamics unveiled a fully electric version of the Atlas for commercial use.

In April 2025, production of Tesla’s Optimus robots faced disruptions due to export restrictions on rare earth metals imposed by Beijing amid escalating trade tensions with Washington.