A humanoid robot that can change its batteries and that too under 3 minutes? Well, this is the recent invention of Boston Dynamics, an American company. They named it Atlas. It is specifically designed to prevent downtime during industrial operations. The current production version can automatically return its battery in under three minutes and return to work.
Source: Atlas Humanoid Robot | Boston Dynamics
The company claims a runtime of approximately four hours during typical operations and a two-hour battery life if Atlas is tasked with heavy tasks. The battery recharge is said to take around 90 minutes, during which the humanoid robot can just return to a battery station and swap its battery with a fully charged one.
Atlas specifications
The production Atlas stands approximately 1.9 meters (6.2 feet) tall and weighs around 90 kg (198 lbs). It can continuously handle payloads weighing up to 30 kg (66 lbs), while its maximum short-duration lifting capacity is 50 kg (110 lbs).
The humanoid robot is equipped with tactile sensors in its hands alongside a camera system that provides a 360-degree field of view. Boston Dynamics is positioning Atlas primarily for industrial tasks such as material handling and repetitive manufacturing operations.
Another feature designed to simplify maintenance is its replaceable limbs. According to Boston Dynamics, a limb can be replaced in the field in under five minutes.
The company also says that tasks learned by one Atlas robot can be deployed across a fleet, allowing newly developed capabilities to be distributed without individually programming each machine.
First deployments planned before wider manufacturing use
Boston Dynamics unveiled the production version of Atlas at CES 2026. The company said its initial 2026 deployments had already been allocated to Hyundai Motor Group’s Robot Metaplant Application Center and Google DeepMind.
Hyundai plans to deploy Atlas at its manufacturing operations more extensively over the next few years. The company expects the humanoid to begin performing validated manufacturing tasks at its Georgia Metaplant in 2028, starting with parts sequencing.
At the same time, Boston Dynamics is also working with Google DeepMind to integrate Gemini Robotics foundation models with Atlas. This collaboration will allow Atlas to understand and perform industrial tasks while combining the power of Google’s advanced AI models.
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