Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics started in 1992 as a spin-off from the MIT Leg Lab. It is building the electric Atlas humanoid, which it calls an enterprise-grade robot for industrial material handling, starting in car manufacturing. Production of Atlas began at its Boston headquarters in January 2026, and every 2026 unit is committed to Hyundai's Robotics Metaplant Application Center and Google DeepMind. Its other robots are the Spot quadruped (industrial inspection and public safety) and the Stretch box-moving robot for warehouses.
3 humanoid models · 4 deployments on file · researched 2026-11-08
- Headquarters
- Waltham, United States
- Founded
- 1992
- Ownership
- Private · owned by Hyundai Motor Group
- Website
- bostondynamics.com
- Focus
- industrial, logistics, research
- Leadership
- Rohit Prasad Chief Executive Officer (effective Oct 7, 2026) ↗
Zack Jackowski Chief Product & Technology Officer ↗
Marc Raibert Founder ↗ - Last round
- acquisition (Hyundai Motor Group 80% controlling stake from SoftBank) · 2021-06 · at $1.1B valuation
- Investors
- Hyundai Motor Group, HMG Global, Hyundai Glovis, SoftBank Group
- Production
- Production of the product Atlas began at the Boston headquarters in January 2026, and all 2026 deployments are fully committed. Hyundai Motor Group plans a separate new U.S. robotics factory 'capable of producing 30,000 robots annually' (a Hyundai plan, not current Boston Dynamics capacity). ↗
1
Humanoids
Each model as the maker has shown it. Specs are maker-stated; a dash means no source states the figure.
| Model | Status | Announced | Height | Weight | DoF | Payload | Runtime | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas (product version, electric) ↗Swaps its own batteries; 50 kg instant / 30 kg sustained lift; 2.3 m reach; IP67; -20° to 40°C; works autonomously, by teleoperation or from a tablet; connects to MES/WMS through Orbit; Hyundai Mobis supplies the actuators | Pilot | 2026-01 | 190 cm | 90 kg | 56 | 50 kg | 4 h | not published |
| Atlas (electric, research/prototype version) ↗Fully electric successor to the hydraulic Atlas, unveiled when that robot was retired; shown live on stage at CES 2026 next to the product version | Prototype | 2024-04 | — | — | — | — | — | not published |
| Atlas (hydraulic) ↗First-generation research humanoid known for full-body balance and agility; retired April 2024 | Retired | 2013 | — | — | — | — | — | not published |
2
Deployments
Named customers, what the robots do there, and how far it has gone.
| Customer | What | When | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Group (Robotics Metaplant Application Center, HMGMA, near Savannah, GA) ↗ | Atlas robots are being trained on the logistics and sequencing of car parts before assembly; component assembly is planned by 2030 | 2026-09 | Pilot |
| Google DeepMind ↗ | A fleet of Atlas robots is scheduled to ship in 2026 for joint research that integrates Gemini Robotics foundation models | 2026 | Order |
| Hyundai ↗ | Atlas field testing on real-world sequencing tasks in a customer facility | — | Trial |
| Toyota Research Institute ↗ | Joint research that applies TRI's Large Behavior Models to the electric Atlas to work toward general-purpose humanoids | 2024-10 | Pilot |
3
Dated facts
Milestones, orders, factories and filings, newest first.
- 2026-10Rohit Prasad, formerly SVP and Head Scientist for Alexa and AGI at Amazon, was appointed CEO effective October 7, 2026. ↗
- 2026-09The Robotics Metaplant Application Center opened at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. It will move to a building about ten times larger in 2027. The Group plans 25,000 Atlas units at Hyundai and Kia plants over the next few years and a new U.S. plant able to produce 30,000 robots a year. ↗
- 2026-07Atlas delivered the match ball to the referee at halftime of the Brazil v Norway World Cup round-of-16 match at New York New Jersey Stadium. ↗
- 2026-07Ownership per Korea Times: HMG Global 56.4%, Executive Chair Chung Euisun 22.6%, Hyundai Glovis 11.25%, SoftBank 9.65%. SoftBank exercised a put option on its stake, and if the remaining shareholders buy it Hyundai Motor Group would have full ownership. The paper said the company is valued at around 30 trillion won. ↗
- 2026-02Robert Playter stepped down as CEO and retired after being with the company since 1994. CFO Amanda McMaster was named interim CEO. ↗
- 2026-01The product version of Atlas was unveiled at CES 2026, with production starting at the Boston headquarters immediately. All 2026 deployments are fully committed, and more customers are planned for early 2027. ↗
- 2026-01Hyundai Mobis formed a strategic collaboration to supply actuators for Atlas. ↗
- 2025-04At a Boston Dynamics town hall, Hyundai Motor Group announced it will purchase 'tens of thousands of robots in the next few years' and will deploy Atlas across its factories. ↗
- 2024-04The hydraulic Atlas was retired and a fully electric Atlas unveiled. Wikipedia says the company announced its intention to build a commercial humanoid only in 2024. ↗
- 2021-06Hyundai Motor Group completed its purchase of a controlling interest from SoftBank. The deal valued the company at US$1.1 billion, with the Group holding 80% and a SoftBank affiliate keeping 20%. ↗
- 1992Marc Raibert spun the company off from the MIT Leg Lab, and Robert Playter joined soon after. ↗
4
Not yet confirmed
Claims seen in only one non-official place. Shown so they can be checked, not as findings.
- Hyundai Motor Group bought SoftBank's remaining 9.65% for about US$325 million, giving it 100% ownership; sources give closing dates of late June and July 20, 2026 (seen only in web-search snippets from techtimes.com, cryptobriefing.com and en.sedaily.com; not fetched)
- 2025 loss of 528.4 billion won (web-search snippet only; source page not fetched)
- An IPO is unlikely before 2027, per a Hyundai executive quoted by Reuters on Sept 14, 2026 (IJR News snippet only)
- Employees: 1,000 (Wikipedia infobox, no year given)
- DHS bought four Spot robots for ICE through Radeco ($1.3M contract). About 300 employees sent a petition on Sept 8, 2026, followed by protests in Sept–Oct 2026 (Wikipedia only; concerns Spot, not Atlas)
S
Sources
Retrieved 2026-11-08.
- Atlas Humanoid Robot — Boston Dynamics
- Boston Dynamics Unveils New Atlas Robot to Revolutionize Industry — Boston Dynamics
- Boston Dynamics & Google DeepMind Form New AI Partnership to Bring Foundational Intelligence to Humanoid Robots — Boston Dynamics
- Boston Dynamics Opens Robotics Metaplant Application Center to Train Humanoid Robots for Manufacturing Tasks — Boston Dynamics
- Boston Dynamics Appoints Rohit Prasad as Chief Executive Officer — Boston Dynamics
- Introducing Electric Atlas — Boston Dynamics
- About — Boston Dynamics
- Hyundai Motor Group Completes Acquisition of Boston Dynamics from Softbank — Boston Dynamics
- Boston Dynamics & Hyundai Motor Group Expand Collaboration to Drive Mobility Manufacturing & Innovation — Boston Dynamics
- Hyundai Mobis Forms Strategic Collaboration Framework with Boston Dynamics — Boston Dynamics
- Boston Dynamics & Toyota Research Institute Announce Partnership to Advance Robotics Research — Boston Dynamics
- Atlas, the humanoid robot, delivers match ball at World Cup — Boston Dynamics
- Hyundai Motor chief to raise Boston Dynamics stake, fueling Nasdaq IPO prospect — The Korea Times
- Boston Dynamics — Wikipedia