WhereIsAtlas · Robotics
What Happened to Boston Dynamics?
The robotics pioneer behind BigDog, Spot and Atlas — from an MIT spin-off to a Hyundai-owned leader in agile machines.
Boston Dynamics, founded in 1992 by Marc Raibert, became famous for agile robots like Spot and Atlas. It changed owners several times (Google, SoftBank, Hyundai) and in 2024 retired its humanoid Atlas, replacing it with a fully-electric model — a central branch of the humanoid-robot lineage that traces back to WABOT-1.
The MIT lineage
Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 by Marc Raibert, who had been pushing the boundaries of robot movement at MIT. His insight was that machines could move like animals — using balance and dynamics to run, leap and climb rather than move stiffly. This philosophy made Boston Dynamics' robots unlike anything else.
The famous robots
The company's early fame came from BigDog, a quadruped pack robot. It followed with the Spot quadruped and the humanoid Atlas. Atlas became a global phenomenon, its viral videos of parkour, dancing and backflips making Boston Dynamics a household name in robotics and capturing the public imagination.
The ownership shuffle
Boston Dynamics changed hands several times as big tech and industry competed for its talent. Google acquired it in 2013, sold it to SoftBank in 2017, and in 2021 the Korean automaker Hyundai took it over. Each change reflected the growing strategic importance of advanced robotics.
The Atlas refresh
In 2024, Boston Dynamics retired its hydraulic humanoid Atlas and introduced a new, fully-electric Atlas. The move signaled a shift toward more efficient, commercial robots — and kept Boston Dynamics at the center of the humanoid-robot story.
Where Boston Dynamics sits in the lineage
Boston Dynamics is a central, modern branch of the humanoid-robot family tree. It descends intellectually from the pioneering machines of Japan's WABOT-1 (1973), and it shares that lineage with newer entrants like China's Unitree. For a 'what happened' answer, Boston Dynamics is still very much alive — a leading lab turning the dream of agile, human-like robots into increasingly commercial reality.
Entries in this story
Sources
- Boston Dynamics - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-05)
- Introducing Electric Atlas — Boston Dynamics (2026-09-05)