Atlas delivers match ball at World Cup

5 min read

At halftime of the Brazil–Norway World Cup match, Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas walked pitchside, mimicked professional goal celebrations, and handed the match ball to the referee in front of 80,000 stadium spectators and a global television audience. Atlas is a fifth-generation, fully electric humanoid trained in simulation and from motion-capture data rather than explicitly programmed, and engineers adapted its training for surfaces like grass. Hyundai, which owns Boston Dynamics, has pledged major U.S. investment and a Georgia facility capable of producing 30,000 Atlas units annually by 2028, with initial factory tests focused on part sequencing.

Hyundai plans 30,000 Atlas units annually by 2028