Atlas: The Humanoid Robot Giving Haaland a Run for His Money
Football fans were cheering on more than just the Brazil and Norway teams this weekend at the Ney York/New Jersey Stadium when Hyundai Motor Company’s robot handed the match ball to the referee for the second half.
The robot, called Atlas, marked the first-ever integration of a humanoid robot into a FIFA live match.
As the Official Robotics Partner of the FIFA World Cup, Hyundai Motor Company demonstrated the real-world capabilities of robotics to captivate and inspire fans.
Atlas on the pitch
At half-time, the robot stepped out of the player tunnel and sent the crowd wild by mimicking iconic goal celebrations of footballers like Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Matheus Cunha and Son Heung-min.
Atlas then delivered the ceremonial football to the referee to mark the start of the second half.
“As part of Hyundai’s Next Starts Now campaign, we wanted Atlas’ performance on the world’s biggest stage to demonstrate that the future isn’t something we imagine – it starts now,” says Sungwon Jee, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Hyundai Motor Company.
“At Hyundai, we are committed to developing human-centered innovation that integrates seamlessly into everyday life, and to presenting a new vision of future mobility expanded through robotics – showing that robotics can be a trusted partner in humanity's progress through diverse and creative brand experiences.”
The tech behind the bot
Atlas was developed by Boston Dynamics, and American engineering robotic design company that was set up from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992.
At the heart of its performance lies advanced retargeting technology.
This specialised software acts as a digital translator, taking the organic, highly complex movements of human football players and mapping them onto a mechanical frame.
Because a robot’s joints and weight distribution differ fundamentally from a human athlete’s, retargeting ensures that the essence and recognition of the iconic celebrations are preserved without compromising the robot's physical limitations.
Before Atlas even stepped onto the grass it had already performed those celebrations millions of times in the digital realm.
Through reinforcement learning, engineers used hyper-realistic virtual simulations to train the robot’s AI model.
In these digital environments, the system undergoes a process of trial and error, testing thousands of minute movement variations per second.
The AI is rewarded for stability and accuracy, effectively allowing Atlas to refine its choreography, anticipate physics, and iron out potential stumbles in safety long before facing a stadium full of fans.
Finally, whole-body control is the operational framework that keeps Atlas upright and moving with uncanny fluidity.
Rather than treating arms, legs and torso as isolated components, this system treats the robot as a single, unified entity.
When Atlas mimics a dynamic post-goal leap, the whole-body control system constantly calculates and coordinates every joint simultaneously.
This real-time processing balances the robot’s momentum, adapts instantly to the friction of the pitch and ensures that every motion is smooth, balanced and lifelike.
“At Boston Dynamics we have always taken inspiration from human athletic feats like gymnastics, dancing, parkour and now football to push forward the frontier of what robots can do in a way that connects with people,” says Alberto Rodriguez, Director of Robotics Behaviour at Boston Dynamics.
“Working with Hyundai Motor group and FIFA to create such a unique moment for fans was an exciting challenge for our team.
“The way we trained Atlas to perform these fun movements at the match is similar to how we teach the robot to take on real-world industrial applications.
“It’s a great way to introduce people everywhere to the incredible potential of today’s AI-enabled robots.”
