Hyundai Motor ranked No. 29 in Interbrand's "Best Global Brands 2026," with brand value of 25 billion USD, up 2% year-on-year, marking 17 consecutive years of growth; its ranking among automotive brands rose from sixth in 2025 to fourth.
NASA has announced the Artemis III mission plan, which in 2027 will launch an Orion spacecraft on SLS with four astronauts into low Earth orbit, where they will separately dock with test articles of Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2 and SpaceX's Starship Version 3.
Boston Dynamics describes six years of Spot robot use in public safety, including disaster-site search and rescue, hostage incident response, drug lab investigations, and post-fire structural surveys. The standard public safety kit includes Spot Cam, beyond-line-of-sight radio, an integrated robotic arm (capable of lifting 15 pounds and dragging 50-pound objects), thermal imaging, and two-way voice communication. Agencies including the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, FDNY, and Italy's Carabinieri have used Spot for CBRNE detection and suspected explosive ordnance checks, with deployment to the scene possible within minutes.
Boston Dynamics has unveiled a dexterous hand for its next-generation Atlas humanoid robot, increasing from GR2's 7 degrees of freedom to 13, using a four-finger design with a 4-DOF opposable thumb, direct drive, and only a single actuator type. The design drops the pinky finger to reduce cost and complexity, is equipped with fingertip and palm pressure tactile sensors, supports pinch grasping, three-finger grasping, and pressing tool triggers, and was optimized for high-fidelity simulation for sim-to-real transfer and reinforcement learning, with preliminary sim-to-real results on dynamic tasks already available.
Why it matters: The original article details the degrees of freedom, actuation, and simulation design tradeoffs of the next-generation Atlas dexterous hand, letting readers understand how the hand design serves reinforcement learning and real-world work.
Boston Dynamics mechanical engineer Diane Heinle discusses durability testing for the Stretch robot: she is responsible for the dynamic cable design on the Stretch arm, cycling cables millions of times in the lab at speeds and forces far beyond real-world conditions, simulating years of warehouse wear in a matter of weeks. The durability lab is known as the "Tick-Tock Room" because the cable testers swing back and forth like metronomes, and the test data is also used to refine the design and maintenance schedules, avoiding downtime at customer sites.
Boston Dynamics announced it has become an official industry partner of the DoW SkillBridge program, helping US service members transition into civilian careers before leaving the military. The program allows service members to gain industry experience during their final 180 days of service. The company is currently hiring for field application and field service roles through the program; opportunities can be found on the SkillBridge website by filtering for Boston Dynamics under Provider.
Boston Dynamics has released Spot 5.2, positioned as a middle layer connecting the various AI systems in a factory. The Orbit software has been restructured to organize data around assets, can import asset hierarchies and link them to inspections, supports connecting external data sources such as PLC sensors and security cameras, and adds an MCP layer for AI agents to autonomously schedule Spot deployments.
Why it matters: The original article details the specific changes in Spot 5.2 regarding data connectivity, inspection modalities, and predictive maintenance, allowing readers to assess whether to update their own deployments.
Mark DiLeo, lead technician on Boston Dynamics' Atlas service and repair team, shares how he repairs the bipedal humanoid robot. He reveals that the worst case was when the robot fell and its leg completely split from its torso; the research version R1 requires one to two days of downtime each time it falls, while the production version D1 was designed for manufacturing and on-site customer repair, making it easier to service, and the team can usually repair it within one to two hours, getting the robot back to performing backflips.
In July 2026, the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic equipment to the Covered List, covering ground mobile robots weighing about 4.4 pounds or more that can sense their environment and connect wirelessly, including humanoid, quadruped, and wheeled platforms; drones, connected cars, and medical devices are exempt, and the restrictions apply only to new products.
Why it matters: The original article outlines the scope, exemptions, and application deadlines of the FCC restrictions on new foreign mobile robots, helping readers judge their practical impact on procurement and supply chains.
In an interview, Boston Dynamics mechanical engineer Taylor Frey-Baker discusses the design of the electric Atlas's head and how she entered the field. She is responsible for the compute core inside the head, which houses four perception modules with stereo vision; the head's modular design allows the entire unit to be swapped out and the compute core upgraded like a game cartridge. The hydraulic Atlas did not need a head because it performed movement demonstrations, whereas the electric Atlas relies on head cameras for a wider field of view and uses lights and sound to signal its status to people nearby.
Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas handed the match ball to the referee and performed a series of soccer celebration moves during halftime of the 2026 FIFA World Cup round-of-16 match between Norway and Brazil on July 5. This was the first public appearance of the production version of Atlas and the first robot halftime performance in World Cup history. The behavior is based on reinforcement-learning whole-body control training and was tested in both the lab and real environments; it was a live demonstration rather than an on-site autonomous operational deployment. The event is related to Hyundai's "Next Starts Now" project.
Boston Dynamics demonstrated a Spot quadruped robot jumping down from a delivery vehicle, carrying two 16x12x10-inch packages along a community walkway to two different customers' porches before returning. It is currently a demonstration; initially a driver will operate it, and after routes are saved it will deliver autonomously.
Boston Dynamics' Spot robots are deployed at the Dallas International Broadcast Center and New York/New Jersey stadiums, carrying out perimeter patrols to support asset protection and risk detection for the FIFA 2026 World Cup. Spot 5.1, released this year, supports security missions: when it detects a person, it pauses, activates its AV lights, captures PTZ, panoramic, and thermal images, and triggers an alarm. The robot is positioned as an assistant to security personnel, with patrol findings ultimately reviewed by staff.
Boston Dynamics has partnered with Hyundai to train the Atlas® humanoid robot, using human demonstration references and reinforcement learning, to perform a Ghost Rabona kick it had never done before, including a feint step and a cross-legged shot.
In an interview, Boston Dynamics mechanical design engineer Chastity Kelly explains the foot design of the Atlas humanoid robot. The new-generation foot has a symmetric structure, with the ankle joint located at the middle of the foot; combined with knees that can bend backward, this allows Atlas to walk forward and backward without turning around. The sole has multi-directional treads to provide two-way grip and prevent slipping on factory floors. She also shares her own journey: starting at a community college, she spent 15 years earning a PhD in mechanical engineering and entering the robotics industry.
FieldAI describes the autonomous deployment of its Field Foundation Models (FFMs) with Boston Dynamics' quadruped robot Spot on construction sites, requiring no GPS, cloud connection, prior maps, or pre-planned routes, and able to carry out inspection, mapping, and monitoring tasks around the clock. The article states that over the past two years this has covered construction sites in Asia, Europe, and North America, cutting customers' inspection and documentation time by more than 90%, with data able to flow into BIM and digital twin systems, and several pilots having expanded into fleet-level deployments.