Boston Dynamics’ future robot will have Google DeepMind DNA

Robotics company Boston Dynamics announced Monday a strategic partnership with Google’s AI research lab to accelerate development of its next-generation humanoid robot Atlas — and get it to do things around people.

The partnership, which was announced at Hyundai’s press conference at CES 2026, is focused on robotics research that will use Google DeepMind’s AI-based models. Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas will be the first to test it, according to Carolina Parada, senior director of robotics at Google DeepMind.

“We are looking to combine our AI models with the most advanced platforms with Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robots, and we will aim to create the most advanced platforms in the world to fulfill the promise of real human needs,” Parada said on stage.

The tie-up comes less than a year after Google’s AI research lab announced a new version of AI called Gemini Robotics designed to allow robots to perceive, think, use tools, and interact with people. Gemini Robotics is based on the main model of multimodal AI, Gemini. At the time, Google DeepMind said that the robotic AI model was trained to adapt to a variety of different behaviors.

Enter Boston Dynamics, and its majority owner, Hyundai Motor Group. Although the advancement of research will be a major part of this partnership, this is aimed at improving the world.

Boston Dynamics already has products, such as the quadruped Spot, in the hands of customers in more than 40 countries. Its warehouse robots have removed more than 20 million boxes worldwide since their launch in 2023, according to Hyundai. Now Boston Dynamics and Hyundai are preparing for the next generation, starting with the humanoid robot Atlas, which the company announced on Monday has already begun production and is moving to Hyundai’s factory.

A figure of Atlas walked on stage at the press conference, demonstrating its ability to move. But as Alberto Rodriguez, director of Atlas systems at Boston Dynamics, said, making “Atlas a product requires more than just a racing game for humanoids to truly live up to their promise.

Rodriguez and his colleagues at Boston Dynamics believe that recent advances in AI have created a clear path to this technology.