Hyundai wants 25,000 humanoid robots inside its car factories.
Hyundai Motor Group plans more than 25,000 Atlas robots at Hyundai and Kia plants from 2028, the Korea Herald reported in May. Today its parts arm showed the component behind much of the build cost.
Hyundai Mobis unveiled two humanoid actuators at its R&D Tech Day in Yongin, the Seoul Economic Daily reported on 10 September. Both are still in development. Mobis supplies every actuator in Atlas, the robot Boston Dynamics builds, and puts them at 40% to 60% of a humanoid's build cost.
An actuator is the motor and gearbox in a joint. The Korea Herald said each Atlas needs more than ten, and that Mobis plans US capacity of 350,000 a year from 2028. It cited estimates of $130,000 to $140,000 for early units, and $30,000 once 50,000 have been built.
If the build cost falls to $30,000, the decision moves from a board paper to a plant budget. A worn actuator is then a serialised repairable, tracked against the robot's equipment record through refurbishment.
🎥 Video: Boston Dynamics, official YouTube channel, 5 Mar 2025. News: Seoul Economic Daily, 10 Sep 2026. Links in the first comment.
Who would own that robot's maintenance history in your plant, maintenance or finance?
What the captions say
- A technician builds part of a humanoid robot.
- The robot is Atlas, from Boston Dynamics.
- Its joints are actuators: motors, gearboxes, sensors.
- Hyundai Mobis makes every actuator inside Atlas.
- Today it unveiled two new ones in Yongin, Korea.
- Mobis says actuators are 40% to 60% of a humanoid's cost.
- Hyundai plans over 25,000 Atlas robots in its plants.
- At that volume, a robot becomes a part number.
