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Toyota Humanoid Robot vs Tesla and China [2026]
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In Short: Hyundai Motor Company has launched its global School of Football campaign featuring Atlas, a humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics.
Hyundai Motor Company has launched its global School of Football campaign featuring Atlas, a humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics. Atlas was first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show 2026 as an enterprise-grade robot designed for industrial tasks.
Hyundai plans to train Atlas at the Robot Metaplant Application Center within Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Savannah, Georgia. The company sees humanoids as a key growth area in the global physical AI market.
The robot begins by observing fans' emotion and energy, which sparks curiosity about football. Hyundai's official announcement states that the company plans to build a U.S. Factory capable of producing up to 30,000 humanoid robots a year by 2028.
Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter told 60 Minutes, 'These robots are not so autonomous that they don’t need to be managed.' Hyundai's new plant in Georgia is expected to begin deploying Atlas from 2028.
In addition to Hyundai, other companies are also investing in humanoid robots. Meta is reportedly building a humanoid robot prototype with a Chinese startup, and GXO Logistics and Agility Robotics are expanding their partnership by deploying humanoid robots at two additional logistics facilities in the United States.
The humanoid robot market is rapidly growing, with China building nearly every humanoid robot and prices falling fast. Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human motion data to train humanoid robots, has raised a $60 million Series B round led by Sequoia.
AGIBOT, a Chinese company, has delivered its 20,000th humanoid robot to Chimelong Spaceship Park, integrating more than 300 robots into entertainment, education, visitor services, and hotel operations.
The market for humanoid robots is expanding, with companies like Hyundai, Meta, and AGIBOT investing heavily in the technology. However, finding the exact applications where humanoids deliver real-world value takes time.
Hyundai's School of Football campaign and its plans to produce up to 30,000 humanoid robots a year by 2028 reflect the company's belief in the potential of robotics to expand what is possible for the future.
Hyundai's appointment of Rohit Prasad, former Amazon AI executive, as CEO of Boston Dynamics to accelerate the commercialization of Atlas humanoid robots, underscores the company's commitment to this technology.
Background
Hyundai Motor Group has appointed Rohit Prasad, former Amazon AI executive, as CEO of Boston Dynamics to accelerate the commercialization of Atlas humanoid robots.
What's confirmed
- Hyundai Motor Company has launched its global School of Football campaign featuring Atlas, a humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics. Atlas was first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show 2026 as an enterprise-grade robot designed for industrial tasks.
- Hyundai plans to train Atlas at the Robot Metaplant Application Center within Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Savannah, Georgia. The company sees humanoids as a key growth area in the global physical AI market.
- The robot begins by observing fans' emotion and energy, which sparks curiosity about football. Hyundai's official announcement states that the company plans to build a U.S. Factory capable of producing up to 30,000 humanoid robots a year by 2028.
- Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter told 60 Minutes, 'These robots are not so autonomous that they don’t need to be managed.' Hyundai's new plant in Georgia is expected to begin deploying Atlas from 2028.
- In addition to Hyundai, other companies are also investing in humanoid robots. Meta is reportedly building a humanoid robot prototype with a Chinese startup, and GXO Logistics and Agility Robotics are expanding their partnership by deploying humanoid robots at two additional logistics facilities in the United States.
- The humanoid robot market is rapidly growing, with China building nearly every humanoid robot and prices falling fast. Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human motion data to train humanoid robots, has raised a $60 million Series B round led by Sequoia.
- AGIBOT, a Chinese company, has delivered its 20,000th humanoid robot to Chimelong Spaceship Park, integrating more than 300 robots into entertainment, education, visitor services, and hotel operations.
- The market for humanoid robots is expanding, with companies like Hyundai, Meta, and AGIBOT investing heavily in the technology. However, finding the exact applications where humanoids deliver real-world value takes time.
- Hyundai's School of Football campaign and its plans to produce up to 30,000 humanoid robots a year by 2028 reflect the company's belief in the potential of robotics to expand what is possible for the future.
- Hyundai's appointment of Rohit Prasad, former Amazon AI executive, as CEO of Boston Dynamics to accelerate the commercialization of Atlas humanoid robots, underscores the company's commitment to this technology.
What's still developing
- At GXO’s Flowery Branch facility in Georgia, Digit robots have moved more than 100,000 totes since their initial deployment.
- When the deal was first announced, it was on the heels of Hyundai floating some rather strange concept vehicles, but in the shorter term, the company is betting that walking robots might be better at building cars than being cars, and it wants to start churning them out at a rate of tens of thousands per year as it builds toward a more automated workforce, with the goal of building 30,000 annually before the end of the decade.
- Prasad, known for his role in developing Amazon's voice assistant Alexa, will spearhead Boston Dynamics' efforts to develop 'Physical AI'—intelligent robots capable of working independently in industrial settings.
- A promotional video released on Wednesday shows the robot disarming a knife-wielding intruder, smashing a car door, lifting a vehicle to free a trapped victim, and pulling a pedestrian away from an oncoming car.
- As the founder and CEO of Figure AI, Adcock shares his vision for general-purpose humanoid robots and discusses the technical and ethical challenges of bringing these machines into our daily lives.
- As part of its push into robotics, Meta has built a prototype humanoid robot that's meant to help out around people's homes, according to The Information.
- According to AgiBot, all 110 robots were standard production models rather than machines specially modified for the performance.
- Johnson told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Brief this week that today’s bipedal robots go well beyond back flips and making coffee, and that humanoid robotics has moved into real paid deployments.
- The 4-foot-tall humanoid robot that’s in front of me seems, quite honestly, a bit drunk.
- Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas (Courtesy of Yonhap) Boston Dynamics Inc., the robotics unit of Hyundai Motor Group, said on Wednesday it plans to invest $100 million to build an advanced robotics and artificial intelligence center near its Waltham, Massachusetts, headquarters as it prepa Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co.
- Tesla has been pretty quiet about its humanoid robot program over the past few months, but its own mobile app may have just let the cat out of the bag.
- You might have noticed that humanoid robots are having a bit of a moment.