Hyundai Motor Company leveraged one of the world’s biggest sporting platforms to highlight its long-term ambitions in robotics during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The South Korean automaker brought Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas onto the pitch at halftime of the Round of 16 match between Brazil and Norway, delivering one of the tournament’s most memorable technology activations.
In front of more than 80,000 spectators at New York/New Jersey Stadium, Atlas performed a series of football moves and goal celebrations before handing the match ball to the referee. According to Hyundai, it marked the first time a humanoid robot had been integrated into a live FIFA World Cup match.
“We wanted Atlas’ performance on the world’s biggest stage to demonstrate that the future isn’t something we imagine — it starts now,” said Sungwon Jee, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Hyundai Motor Company.
The appearance also represented the public debut of the production version of Atlas following its introduction at CES 2026 earlier this year.
From football entertainment to industrial applications
Atlas’ movements were not pre-programmed. Instead, the robot was trained using motion retargeting, reinforcement learning and whole-body control technologies, allowing it to replicate goal celebrations inspired by players such as Erling Haaland and Harry Kane.
These technologies enable Atlas to learn human movements through thousands of simulations before executing them in real-world environments.
“The way we trained Atlas to perform these movements at the match is similar to how we teach the robot to take on real-world industrial applications,” said Alberto Rodriguez, Director of Robotics Behavior at Boston Dynamics.
Standing 6-foot-2 and weighing nearly 200 pounds, Atlas can lift up to 66 pounds and has been designed to operate in demanding industrial settings, including warehouses, logistics centers and manufacturing facilities.
Robotics at the center of Hyundai’s strategy
Since acquiring a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics, Hyundai has positioned robotics as a key pillar of its long-term business strategy alongside electric vehicles, software-defined mobility and autonomous technologies.
The World Cup activation forms part of Hyundai’s broader “Next Starts Now” campaign, which has followed Atlas learning football skills through the company’s five-part social content series, School of Football.
Hyundai also plans to extend the campaign through behind-the-scenes footage and the release of The Training Ground, a documentary-style production created in partnership with BBC StoryWorks.
The activation reflects a growing trend among technology companies to move advanced robotics beyond laboratories and factory floors, using global events to demonstrate how AI-powered machines can safely interact with people in public environments.
By placing Atlas at the center of one of the world’s most-watched sporting events, Hyundai is signaling that robotics is not simply an engineering capability, but a consumer-facing technology that could eventually become part of everyday life.