Hyundai Motor's Atlas robot performs Son Heung-min, Kane and Haaland goal celebrations at World Cup round of 16

Hyundai Motor showcased its vision for future robotics at the FIFA World Cup 2026, deploying Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas on the world's biggest football stage. Atlas demonstrated a series of complex movements at the stadium, extending the potential applications of robotics technology into sports and entertainment.

Hyundai Motor said Atlas successfully delivered the match ball to the referee during the halftime show of the Brazil-Norway round-of-16 match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday (local time).

Atlas emerged from the players' tunnel just before halftime ended and greeted the crowd before performing the signature goal celebrations of global football stars Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Matheus Cunha and Son Heung-min in sequence. It then handed the official match ball to the referee to signal the start of the second half, drawing a strong response from the crowd.

The Atlas model that appeared in the performance is a next-generation electric development model first unveiled at CES 2026, the world's largest consumer electronics and IT trade show, in January. Only its exterior was revealed at the time, with no live movement demonstrated. Its motions were later introduced through a brand video, but Sunday marked the first time Atlas performed a live demonstration before a large crowd.

Hyundai Motor said Atlas proved its real-world potential by executing a range of complex movements reliably even in the unpredictable environment of a live stadium. The performance combined "retargeting" technology — which reconstructs human movements to suit a robot's physical structure — with reinforcement learning based on thousands of simulations and whole-body control technology that allows every joint to respond as a single integrated system.

Hyundai Motor said the movements Atlas performed were developed with practical industrial applications in mind, and that the World Cup stage showed how robotics can go beyond technology demonstrations to create new experiences across sports, entertainment and on-site operations.

The event was part of Hyundai Motor's global brand campaign "Next Starts Now," which the company has run as an official FIFA partner since 1999. Before the World Cup began, Hyundai Motor released a "School of Football" campaign video showing Atlas learning football movements to introduce core robotics technologies. A main campaign video released last month previewed Atlas's appearance on the World Cup stage.

Hyundai Motor will also release a branded film titled "The Training Ground" with the BBC on Monday. Produced in documentary format, the film will cover the preparation behind the World Cup performance, the technical challenges involved in developing the robot, and the future robotics vision shared by Hyundai Motor and Boston Dynamics.

Ji Sung-won, executive vice president and head of brand marketing at Hyundai Motor, said the performance was intended to show a global audience of football fans that "the future is not something to imagine — it is starting now." He added that the company would continue to connect human-centered technology naturally with everyday life and present its vision for a future of mobility expanded through robotics via creative brand experiences.

Alberto Rodriguez, director of robot behavior policy at Boston Dynamics, said it was meaningful to present robot technology — developed from inspiration drawn from dynamic human movement — to football fans around the world in collaboration with Hyundai Motor and FIFA. "This performance was built on AI learning technology applied in real industrial settings, and we will continue to innovate so that more people can experience the possibilities of advanced robotics," he said.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor released a making-of film on its official YouTube channel on June 4, documenting the development process behind the FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign "School of Football" and showing Atlas learning high-difficulty football techniques.

In May, a video of Hyundai Motor brand ambassador Son Heung-min reacting with admiration to Atlas's performance in the campaign footage drew wide attention.

Hyundai Motor Group plans to secure annual robot production capacity of 30,000 units in the United States by 2028 and deploy more than 25,000 robots, including Atlas, at its manufacturing sites. The group also plans to establish an actuator manufacturing facility by 2028 with an annual production capacity of more than 350,000 units.