Boston Dynamics announced a strategic partnership with Google DeepMind on Monday during the Hyundai press conference at CES 2026. The collaboration aims to accelerate development of the company’s next-generation humanoid robot, Atlas, by integrating DeepMind’s AI foundation models. This will enable Atlas to act more human-like around people.
Atlas serves as the first test case for the partnership, according to Carolina Parada, senior director of robotics at Google DeepMind. “We’re looking to integrate our cutting‑edge AI foundation models with Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robots, and we’ll aim to develop the world’s most advanced robot foundation model to fulfill the promise of true general‑purpose human needs,” Parada said onstage.
The announcement follows Google DeepMind’s release of Gemini Robotics models less than a year ago. These models form a large-scale multimodal generative AI system based on Gemini, designed to enable robots to perceive, reason, use tools, and interact with humans. The system was trained to generalize behavior across various robotics hardware.
Boston Dynamics, majority-owned by Hyundai Motor Group, already deploys commercial robots. The quadruped Spot operates in customer sites across more than 40 countries. The warehouse robot Stretch has unloaded more than 20 million boxes worldwide since its 2023 launch, according to Hyundai.
The partnership supports real-world scaling efforts. Boston Dynamics stated that Atlas is now in production and will ship to a Hyundai factory as part of its next-generation robotics lineup.
During the press conference, a prototype of Atlas walked onstage, demonstrating its mobility. Alberto Rodriguez, director of Atlas behavior at Boston Dynamics, noted the need for advanced capabilities beyond physical prowess. “Atlas into a product requires more than athletic performance for humanoids to really deliver on their promise. They have to be able to interact with people naturally,” Rodriguez said.
