Boston Dynamics And Google DeepMind  Partner To Advance AI-Powered Humanoid Robots At CES 2026

In Brief

Boston Dynamics and Google DeepMind announced a partnership to integrate Gemini Robotics AI models into the company’s Atlas humanoids.

Mobile robotics firm Boston Dynamics announced a new collaboration with Google DeepMind, an AI research division of a major technology company Google to advance the next phase of AI-driven humanoid robotics. The partnership, revealed at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, is intended to combine advanced Gemini Robotics foundation models with the latest generation of the Atlas humanoid robot.

The alliance is structured around expanding the ability of humanoid machines to perform a broad range of industrial functions and is expected to play a role in reshaping manufacturing processes, with initial emphasis on the automotive sector. Joint research activities are scheduled to begin in the near term and will be carried out across both organizations.

The collaboration reflects the goal of building a highly capable humanoid platform and highlighted the need for new visual, language, and action models to support complex robotic behavior. Google DeepMind offers extensive experience in developing reliable and scalable systems suitable for safe deployment across multiple industries.

Boston Dynamics Deepens AI-Robotics Collaboration As Atlas Humanoid Enters Production

Although Boston Dynamics has long been recognized for the physical performance of its machines, it formally committed to developing a commercial humanoid only in 2024, following rapid advances in AI that accelerated the training and real-world deployment of robotic systems. The AI research organization involved in the partnership, Google DeepMind, is widely regarded as a leader in advanced AI development and has recently focused on robotic foundation models such as Gemini Robotics, which are derived from large-scale multimodal systems and designed to enable robots to perceive their environment, reason about tasks, utilize tools, and interact with people.

“We developed our Gemini Robotics models to bring AI into the physical world,” said Carolina Parada, Senior Director of Robotics at Google DeepMind in a written statement. “We are excited to begin working with the Boston Dynamics team to explore what’s possible with their new Atlas robot as we develop new models to expand the impact of robotics, and to scale robots safely and efficiently,” she added

A little under a year after Google DeepMind introduced its Gemini Robotics models—designed to enable machines to interpret their surroundings, reason through tasks, manipulate tools, and engage with people—the new collaboration has been formalized. The Gemini Robotics system is built on Gemini, a large-scale multimodal generative AI framework, and the research organization previously explained that these models were developed to support flexible behavior across many different types of robotic hardware.

Meanwhile, Boston Dynamics has already deployed commercial machines in global markets, including its four-legged robot Spot, which is currently used by customers in over forty countries. Its logistics-focused robot Stretch has processed more than twenty million packages worldwide since its release in 2023, according to its majority shareholder. Looking ahead, the company and its automotive partner Hyundai are now preparing for the next stage of development, centered on the humanoid robot Atlas, which was announced this week to be in active production and scheduled for delivery to an Hyundai manufacturing facility in Savannah, Georgia.