“The humanoid space has a very, very big hill to climb,” said Cosima du Pasquier, co-founder of Haptica Robotics, which works to give robots a sense of touch. “There's a lot of research that still needs to be solved.”

For several decades, Boston Dynamics has pioneered the development of advanced robots, including humanoids and four-legged systems tested by the military as a way to carry supplies over rough terrain. The company was sold to Google in 2013 and bought by SoftBank in 2017. In 2021, Hyundai acquired a controlling stake.

With the age of humanoids upon us, Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted that his robots will curb crime, eliminate poverty and do surgery.

The company says Atlas will be trained to work in its auto plants, adopting the same strategy that Tesla is using to validate its "Optimus" humanoid. Hyundai says it will build 30,000 robots globally by 2028, with a big robotics plant coming to America around then.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also offered a counterintuitive prediction about how robots will affect human jobs.