The electric Atlas’s joints will be built by a car-parts company. At CES in January 2026, Boston Dynamics said Hyundai Mobis would supply the robot’s actuators and that the two would work together to build “a highly reliable component supply chain.” For Hyundai Mobis, which describes itself as the world’s sixth-largest automotive supplier, Boston Dynamics is its first customer in robotics.

Actuators turn control signals into movement at each joint. Hyundai Mobis says they “represent more than 60% of their material cost” in humanoid robots. That is the supplier’s own estimate, and it did not say how it was calculated. If it is close, it explains why Boston Dynamics wants a supplier used to automotive volumes.

Designed around car-industry parts

“This generation of Atlas significantly reduces the amount of unique parts in the robot, and every component has been designed for compatibility with automotive supply chains.”

Zack Jackowski, then general manager of Atlas, in Boston Dynamics’ CES announcement (January 5, 2026)

In the Hyundai Mobis release, Jackowski said the partnership gives Boston Dynamics access to “the well-established cost structures and scale potential of the automotive industry.” At CES he went further, saying that with Hyundai Motor Group’s backing the company would “achieve the best reliability and economies of scale in the industry.” Neither claim came with a cost or reliability figure.

The volumes behind the deal

Hyundai Motor Group is Boston Dynamics’ majority shareholder. In its September 21 announcement, Boston Dynamics said the group planned to deploy 25,000 Atlas robots at Hyundai and Kia plants over the next few years and establish a U.S. factory capable of producing 30,000 robots annually. Those are deployment and factory plans, not reported output.

What is not public

Neither company has said what the actuators cost, when Hyundai Mobis production starts or where it will happen. In January, Boston Dynamics said it would build Atlas at its Boston headquarters. In September, Jackowski told The Robot Report the company had “a clear strategy to optimize our supply chain, production, testing, and deployment capabilities for Atlas,” without giving details.

There is also a question of scale for the supplier. Boston Dynamics is Hyundai Mobis’s first robotics customer, and the company says it plans to build a large-scale actuator manufacturing system. Neither company has said what volume that system is designed for, or whether it will also supply other robot makers.

The test of the bet is price and uptime. If automotive-style sourcing works, Boston Dynamics should be able to say more about Atlas’s cost and failure rates as Hyundai’s fleet grows and Boston Dynamics prepares to add outside customers, which it has said it plans to do in early 2027. An earlier sign would be Hyundai Mobis naming a production start date and site.