SoftBank has now exercised that option.

I do think this might be tied to South Korea's demographics, by 2040 the working-age population is projected to decline 25% from 2020 and keep declining almost linearly until leveling out around 17M around 2065, a 50% drop total in < 50 years. I would think HMG / Hyundai sees a huge business opportunity or this might be a national-level political priority but I don't know the specifics.

While Atlas is the best humanoid robot so far, it still isn't useful in a car factory that's fully equipped with the latest factory robots that are strong enough to juggle car engines and are bolted to the floor.

Everyone knows the killer app for humanoid robots is building the Mars colony amirte?

Sort of "join the army see the world" kind of stuff.

The reality is however, pushing a parts cart to the other side of the factory, returning and doing it again. 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, with time-off to recharge or possibly re-oil.

I sincerely hope they're not sentient and unable to communicate it. It would certainly account for the blank stare coming from behind the tinted lenses.

Chinese companies were quick to jump in and fill that unfulfilled demand. I work with robots and have never seen a Boston machine irl. Tonnes of Chinese though

The new Qwen robotics suite is impressive.

https://qwen.ai/blog?id=qwen-robotsuite

Huh?

I mean...what evidence does the management at Hyundai have that shows them that these things aren't just YouTube stars? What teams does it have in place to start the transition from not profitable?

Rest is previously reported stuff.

Related from earlier in the year:

Hyundai Introduces Its Next-Gen Atlas Robot at CES 2026 [video]

https://smackernews.com/item/46520508 HN

And old discussions when the intial buy happened:

2020: Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics

https://smackernews.com/item/25363981 HN

2021: Hyundai acquires controlling stake in Boston Dynamics for $880M

https://smackernews.com/item/27588047 HN

Atlas would need to learn new factory tasks in a day or two and reach 99.9% reliability before it could be truly useful on the floor

Progress in robotics has been impressive, but is there any evidence that we are approaching this point? How many days are needed to teach a robot a task at even 90% reliability? Given that most companies are still only showing of demos, that number looks to be way more than 2...

However, let's hope they will keep on doing cool stuff under their new owner.