Hyundai Is Getting Tired of Waiting for Its Robots - Industrial Equipment News
April 24, 2026 Automation ##### MODEX '26 Brings Material Handling's Biggest Trends The hall was abuzz with automation, robotics, AI and the like.
Key takeaways
- Figure AI released a video in May 2026 showing two of its Helix 02 humanoids making a bed faster than a human and handling tasks such as opening doors and draping clothing after being trained on new data, though the company has not set a consumer release date.
- 1X Technologies announced the launch of full‑scale production for its NEO humanoid at a new Hayward, California plant, saying the first‑year run sold out within five days and that domestic shipments to the public are slated to begin later in 2026.
- Japan Airlines, in partnership with GMO AI & Robotics, began a trial at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport that will run through 2028 to evaluate humanoid robots for moving baggage and cargo on the tarmac, emphasizing the robots’ human‑like form as a way to adapt to busy airport environments without major infrastructure changes.
- Genesis AI unveiled its GENE‑26.5 foundation model in a May 6, 2026 demo, demonstrating dexterous manipulation such as solving a Rubik’s Cube and performing complex physical tasks, and indicated that a general‑purpose robot based on the technology will be shown soon.
- Hugging Face introduced an open‑source “app store” for its low‑cost Reachy Mini desktop humanoid, offering more than 200 ready‑to‑run applications and positioning the platform as a hobbyist and developer‑friendly alternative to higher‑priced commercial robots.
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These roles are facing some of the most immediate disruption in the entire job market. Still, multiple executives including former CEO Robert Playter and CTO Aaron Saunders have reportedly been pushed out by Hyundai, which has grown worried about losing ground in the robotics race against other automakers.
Those competitors include Toyota, which has partnered with Agility to deploy humanoid bots to support manufacturing at its largest plant outside of Japan, and Tesla, which is developing its own Optimus humanoid robot with plans to produce one million of them a year.
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Post a Comment You must be signed in to leave a comment. To sign in or create an account, enter your email address and we'll send you a one-click sign-in link. Last year, Hyundai promised to make a $21 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing, a capital layout that would be used in part to purchase " tens of thousands of robots " from Boston Dynamics.
But according to a new report from Semafor, the robot maker is still only making about four of its Atlas humanoid robots per month. At that rate, it would take more than 200 years to hit the 10,000 robot goal.
A boost to production volume appears to be on the horizon though, as Boston Dynamics is reportedly planning to open a new manufacturing facility in the coming months. A spokesperson for the company told the publication that the upcoming factory will give it the ability to mass manufacture Atlas robots, which are in the process of switching from the prototype to the production version.
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