Boston Dynamics’s next-gen humanoid robot will have Google DeepMind DNA

Boston Dynamics has announced a strategic partnership with Google DeepMind to accelerate the development of its next-generation humanoid robot, Atlas, aiming to make it more human-like in its interactions. This collaboration, revealed at CES 2026 during Hyundai’s press conference, will leverage Google DeepMind’s AI foundation models, specifically integrating their advanced robotics AI technology, Gemini Robotics. Gemini Robotics is built on a large-scale multimodal generative AI model designed to enable robots to perceive, reason, use tools, and interact naturally with humans, and Atlas will serve as the first test platform for these capabilities. The partnership reflects a move beyond research toward real-world application and scaling, supported by Boston Dynamics’ existing commercial successes such as the quadruped robot Spot and the warehouse robot Stretch, which has processed over 20 million boxes globally. The new Atlas prototype, already in production and headed to a Hyundai factory, demonstrated its mobility at the announcement. However, Boston Dynamics emphasizes that true productization of Atlas requires more than physical