Hyundai didn't bring more cars to CES 2026. It brought robots instead.

Home > Business > Industry

Hyundai didn't bring more cars to CES 2026. It brought robots instead.

Published: 07 Jan. 2026, 13:47 Updated: 07 Jan. 2026, 16:55

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Robots work at Hyundai Motor's booth at the CES 2026 in Las Vegas. [SARAH CHEA]

LAS VEGAS — Imagine robots everywhere, from humanoids moving bizarrely like humans to four-legged dogs storming stairs and doors. This was the reality at Hyundai’s CES 2026 booth, which made you forget that it was an automaker first and foremost.

Hyundai's booth spanned 1,836 square meters (19,762.5 square feet) in the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall. People waited in queues for over an hour, so getting a clear view of the company's robots was basically impossible due to the throng of visitors. All were there to witness Hyundai’s future vision, unveiled the day before when it announced its expansion into robotics and outlined its robot strategy.

Atlas humanoid robot arranges parts at Hyundai Motor's booth at the CES 2026 in Las Vegas. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

The highlight, naturally, was Atlas, a humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamics, a Massachusetts-based robotics startup 90 percent owned by Hyundai Motor Group.

Featuring a 360-degree vision system and human-sized hands embedded with tactile sensors, Atlas can lift payloads up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds); reach heights of 2.3 meters (7.5 feet); operate in temperatures of minus 20 to 40 degrees Celsius (minus 4 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit); and is both water-resistant and washable. When its battery runs low, it autonomously navigates to a charging station, swaps its battery and resumes work immediately.

MobED platform robots work at Hyundai Motor's booth at the CES 2026 in Las Vegas. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai’s platform robot, Mobile Eccentric Droid, or MobED, was also busy navigating the booth, continuously adjusting its shape to the weight of whatever it was carrying in the moment.

Measuring 74 centimeters (29 inches) wide and 115 centimeters long, MobED rides on a rectangular chassis supported by four independently controlled wheels that allow it to navigate rough or obstructed terrain reliably at practical speeds.

Each wheel is powered by three motors. As a result, users can precisely steer the robot and tilt its chassis as needed to make arbitrary adjustments. The latter mechanism ensures that MobED remains stable on slopes and uneven surfaces, and even allows it to surmount curbs up to 20 centimeters high.

The robot can even reach a top speed of 10 kilometers per hour (6.2 miles per hour), run for more than four hours on a single charge and carry up to 57 kilograms, depending on the configuration.

Spot robot dog works at Hyundai Motor's booth at the CES 2026 in Las Vegas. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Near MobED, multiple Spot AI Keepers, based on the four-legged robot dog Spot, collaborated to precisely assemble and inspect vehicle components and were able to detect assembly defects directly on the production line, even for hard-to-reach car parts.

Hyundai's robots, however, aren’t limited to fully autonomous humanoids but also include lighter robots that can be deployed immediately.

Visitors wore white safety helmets and the X-ble Shoulder — a wearable exoskeleton resembling a work vest — and stood beneath a massive car chassis suspended overhead. When they moved their arms, the X-ble Shoulder's mechanical joints followed their actions smoothly.

There was no sense of heaviness or hesitation in the visitors' arm movements as they lifted parts and fitted them onto the vehicle body.

Hyundai Motor's booth at the CES 2026 in Las Vegas [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

The exoskeleton is distinguished by its passive torque-generating mechanism, which makes it both lightweight and maintenance-free anrequiresre no charging. Its muscle-assist module alleviates shoulder joint load by up to 60 percent and reduces anterior-lateral deltoid activation by 30 percent, easing fatigue while enhancing performance in physically demanding tasks.

In a separate section, Hyundai unveiled a robotaxi developed in collaboration with Motional, built on its Ioniq 5 EV SUV. Classified as Level 4 autonomous under the Society of Automotive Engineers' standards, the vehicle is capable of perceiving its surroundings, making decisions and navigating independently, even in emergency situations, without human intervention.

Hyundai and Motional plan to launch the robotaxi commercially in Las Vegas this year, providing fully autonomous ride-hailing services.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]