Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter says the company’s humanoid robot, Atlas, must be capable of learning a new industrial task within 48 hours before it can be deployed on factory floors. Speaking with Business Insider at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Playter outlined the ambitious goal of getting Atlas working at Hyundai’s manufacturing facility in Ellabell, Georgia, by 2028—just two years from now. To achieve this, Atlas must rapidly adapt to new tasks, a capability Playter emphasized as essential. “We need to be able to bring a new task to bear in a day or two,” he said. “Because in a factory, there are literally hundreds of tasks, and those tasks are constantly evolving.” Atlas, a six-foot-tall, 200-pound bipedal robot with a face inspired by Disney’s Pixar lamp, is designed to operate in complex industrial environments. Hyundai, which owns a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics, revealed plans to integrate Atlas into its automotive production line at the Georgia plant. The robot’s core promise lies in its ability to learn quickly using artificial intelligence and adapt to existing factory layouts without requiring major infrastructure changes. Playter stressed that for Atlas to be truly useful in manufacturing, it must handle a wide variety of tasks—not just one or two. “If you're going to have a robot that's actually useful in the factory, it's got to do a hundred different tasks, not just one or two,” he said. The company recently announced a strategic partnership with Google DeepMind, Alphabet’s AI research division, to accelerate progress in machine learning and robotics. Playter believes AI will be the key enabler for Atlas to learn, reason, and eventually collaborate safely with human workers. “We also have to make that unprecedented reliability—99.9% reliable,” he noted. “The AI is not quite there yet, but it’s very promising.” Initially, Atlas will begin with simpler logistics tasks, such as organizing car parts or sequencing components before they reach the assembly line. Over time, as the robot’s capabilities mature, it will progress to more complex assembly operations. The timeline is tight, but Playter remains confident that breakthroughs in AI over the next two years will make the vision achievable.