Hyundai Launches a New Robotics Institute Powered by Boston Dynamics

Hyundai Motor Group and Boston Dynamics have recently announced the launch of the Boston Dynamics AI Institute (BDAII), a new research-first organization that aims to make "fundamental advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and intelligent machines."

As an initial investment, Hyundai and Boston Dynamics will contribute $400 million to the new institute which will be located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. BDAII will be headed by the founder and former CEO of Boston Dynamics, Marc Raibert, and Al Rizzi (Boston Dynamics’ chief scientist) will serve as the chief technology officer.

According to Hyundai's press release, with a pool of elite talent in AI, robotics, machine learning, software, and engineering, BDAII intends to develop future generations of intelligent machines harnessing both university research labs and corporate development labs to work in four core technical areas: cognitive AI, athletic AI, organic hardware design, and ethics and policy.

"Our mission is to create future generations of advanced robots and intelligent machines that are smarter, more agile, perceptive and safer than anything that exists today," Marc Raibert said. "The unique structure of the Institute – top talent focused on fundamental solutions with sustained funding and excellent technical support – will help us create robots that are easier to use, more productive, able to perform a wider variety of tasks, and that are safer working with people."

Hyundai purchased Boston Dynamics in June 2021 becoming the third owner of Boston Dynamics in seven years (with the previous two owners being Google and SoftBank). The company is best known for the development of a series of dynamic highly-mobile robots such as BigDog, Spot, Atlas, and Handle. Since its inception, Boston Dynamics had mainly operated as an R&D organization, but since 2019, when Spot became the company's first commercially available robot, Boston Dynamics has stated its intent to commercialize other robots as well.

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