Boston Dynamics' Atlas Draws Foreign Media Praise at World Cup

Major foreign media outlets have praised Atlas, the humanoid robot developed by Hyundai Motor Group's robotics affiliate Boston Dynamics, after it performed during halftime at a Round of 16 match of the FIFA World Cup held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, saying the performance "demonstrated that advanced robotics technology can be used in real life beyond the controlled laboratory environment."

Bloomberg reported Monday that "Hyundai Motor Group (005380) publicly demonstrated Atlas on the global stage of the World Cup, continuing its progress in robot technology ahead of deployment on factory floors."

Bloomberg noted that Atlas was successfully tested at an outdoor stadium. "It is a process of securing important engineering data for future factory deployment," Bloomberg said, stressing that "the stadium turf is an environment where various variables can arise, and Atlas is being trained to adapt to the diverse variables that occur in real environments, and such systems can be expanded to various environments in the future."

Fortune, a U.S. business magazine, assessed that Atlas' halftime performance was something that had never happened before in World Cup history. Fortune reported that "the World Cup stage is a process of verifying Atlas' ability to adapt to real environments," and that "this World Cup became an occasion to fully unveil technology centered on research and development to the general public."

Earlier, on June 5, Atlas appeared on the field during halftime of the Brazil-Norway Round of 16 match held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Atlas performed by mimicking the celebrations of soccer players such as Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, and even demonstrated picking up a soccer ball used in the match and handing it to a referee.