This week, robotics manufacturer Boston Dynamics announced a new partnership with AI lab Google DeepMind to usher in a new era of artificial intelligence for humanoid robots. Announced at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, the two teams aim to integrate Gemini Robotics AI foundation models with new Atlas robots from Boston Dynamics.
The partnership will focus on enabling humanoids to complete a variety of industrial tasks, beginning in the automotive industry. The joint research effort is expected to kick off in the coming months and become a driving force of manufacturing transformation.
"We are building the world's most capable humanoid, and we knew we needed a partner that could help us establish new kinds of visual-language-action models for these complex robots," said Alberto Rodriguez, director of robot behavior for Atlas at Boston Dynamics. "Nobody in the world is better suited than DeepMind to build reliable, scalable models that can be deployed safely and efficiently across a wide variety of tasks and industries.”
Google DeepMind has been advancing its robot AI foundation models, such as Gemini Robotics, which are built on the large-scale, multimodal Gemini model. Its models are designed to enable robots of any shape or size to perceive, reason, use tools, and interact with humans.
“We developed our Gemini Robotics models to bring AI into the physical world,” said Carolina Parada, senior director of robotics at Google DeepMind.
Hyundai Motor Group is the majority shareholder of Boston Dynamics. Hyundai discussed the new partnership with DeepMind during a public demonstration of Atlas at the CES tech showcase.
Hyundai expects Atlas to start assembling cars at its EV factory near Savannah, Georgia, by 2028.
The new Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics.Boston Dynamics
