Hyundai Develops Robot That Plays Football Like a Pro

Car manufacturer Hyundai has taught a humanoid robot a range of advanced football skills. 

Just in time for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Games, the robot named Atlas was created in partnership with Boston Dynamics, an American engineering and robotics company.

Atlas has the ability to dribble, pass and shoot with human-like agility. It also has a particular feint and cross-legged kick move called the ‘Ghost Rabona’ in its arsenal.

Hyundai plans to deploy more than 25,000 Atlas humanoids across its global manufacturing network from 2028.

Learning football

There is a detailed system behind the creation of Atlas which involves balance, timing, coordination and adaptation. These four elements are challenging for a robot because it doesn’t have human capabilities, so it must be able to perceive the ball’s location, move to the correct position, maintain its balance on one leg and swing the other with the right amount of force and accuracy.

To achieve this, both Hyundai and Boston Technology used a high-fidelity optical motion capture system, the same system used in hit films and video games, to record kicks and passes of a professional football player wearing a motion capture suit. Roberto Shu, Senior Research Engineer at Boston Dynamics, also wore the suit and recorded some of his own movements to the process.

Hyundai says a hurdle occurred when trying to copy each human movement, triggering the retargeting process. Retargeting involves taking the captured motion data and customising it for Atlas’s body. Algorithms guide each of the movements to the robot’s kinematics, while making sure the essential elements and style of the action are preserved while adhering to the robot’s physical constraints.

From there, AI reinforcement learning (RL) is used. With RL, Atlas learns how to function via trial and error through a vast, cloud-based simulated environment where it can practice football movements consistently at scale. The RL system rewards actions that successfully mimic the retargeted human movement while simultaneously maintaining balance and control. Through this system, patterns are established through precise motor controls, the distribution of weight and the forces needed to swing a leg, plant a foot and stay upright.

In 24 hours, Atlas could experience the equivalent of a full year’s worth of physical trial and error.

The future of Atlas

To conclude the training, every learned behavior is integrated into Atlas's operating system. As part of the company's 'Next Stars Now FIFA World Cup 2026' initiative, the robot was showcased within the 'Hyundai School of Football' campaign.

Hyundai wants to use these tools that created Atlas for practical real-world applications. The body coordination needed to kick a football applies to capabilities that are important for tasks such as lifting and carrying objects in a warehouse, navigating a cluttered factory floor, or performing complex manipulation tasks in industrial settings. 

In January, Atlas was first introduced by Hyundai and Boston Technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, US. Hyundai said it has plans to use the robots in its factories starting in 2028 and develop a production system to manufacture 30,000 robots each year.

Zachary Jackowski, Vice President and General Manager of Atlas at Boston Dynamics, says: “The convergence of robotics and AI represents more than a technological advancement. It is a transformative innovation that will make human life safer and more enriching."