"World Cup Stage Was a Rehearsal"... Atlas Passes Real-World Test for Factory Deployment

Boston Dynamics Reveals the Process Behind World Cup Performance
Advanced Through Retargeting, Reinforcement Learning, and Whole-Body Control Technologies
Spotlight on the Future Potential of Humanoids in Industrial Applications

Boston Dynamics, the robotics affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, has revealed that the performance of its humanoid robot "Atlas" during the halftime show at the "FIFA World Cup 2026" served as a technical validation process for deployment in actual manufacturing sites.

On July 15 (local time), Boston Dynamics unveiled the development process of Atlas's World Cup halftime performance through its official technical blog and social media channels.

Atlas passing the ball to the referee at the World Cup stadium. Hyundai Motor Group

During the halftime of the round of 16 match between Norway and Brazil at the New York New Jersey Stadium in the United States on July 5, Atlas re-enacted the goal celebrations of world-class soccer players and then delivered the match ball to the referee. This was not only Atlas's first public appearance but also the first time in World Cup history that a humanoid robot participated in a halftime event.

Boston Dynamics explained, "On a stage like the World Cup, there is nowhere to hide," adding, "Atlas had to move dynamically while reliably carrying out its tasks under any circumstances." The company further emphasized, "The ability to operate stably in a bright, noisy, and unpredictable stadium is the same capability required to perform tasks in complex and ever-changing factory settings."

Boston Dynamics found that standard Wi-Fi communication could not be relied upon in a stadium packed with tens of thousands of spectators. Therefore, the company established a dedicated communication channel and recalibrated the control systems so Atlas could function reliably even under intense sunlight and high temperatures.

Adapting to the turf was also no easy feat. While Atlas had primarily been trained on flat indoor floors, the friction and elasticity of the soccer field's grass varied, creating an environment where maintaining balance was challenging.

To overcome this, Boston Dynamics newly modeled the interaction between Atlas's feet and the turf and conducted repetitive on-site tests by renting a soccer field at a local park. The company noted that it had conducted similar proof-of-concept tests for its quadruped robot "Spot" and the military robot LS3 at the same park in the past.

Atlas training for World Cup performance. Boston Dynamics YouTube

Boston Dynamics explained that it further advanced AI learning to enable naturally human-like goal celebrations and ball-delivery movements.

The company combined "retargeting," which adapts human movements to fit the robot's body structure, "reinforcement learning," in which optimal behaviors are learned through thousands of simulations, and "whole-body control," which manages the robot's entire joints as a single system.

Atlas delivering the ball to the referee on the World Cup stage was not merely a performance. The company stated that this served as a demonstration to verify the core technologies necessary for humanoid robots to work alongside operators in manufacturing sites.

Seth Davis, Senior Program Manager at Boston Dynamics, said, "The most important thing in developing Atlas was to create a robot capable of doing nearly everything that a human can do. Only then can it provide real value to customers in industries such as manufacturing and logistics."

He added, "Atlas will also need to continuously exchange information with warehouse management systems (WMS), manufacturing execution systems (MES), and work managers, and act as one member within the factory workforce."

Hyundai Motor Group plans to begin gradually deploying the next-generation humanoid Atlas in production sites starting in 2028.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.