Of all the CES robots, this was the most impressive (and scariest)

Boston Dynamics Atlas.

Quick Summary

Boston Dynamics unveiled its new version of its Atlas humanoid robot during last week's CES.

This is set to be a mass produced robot that can work in a wide variety of ways – including in our homes, one day.

Of course CES was the place that Boston Dynamics decided to unveil its latest humanoid robot iteration of Atlas.

This robot, that's due to go into full production this year, is a step towards models that will eventually live in our homes and help us with our day to day tasks. Think iRobot without the murders (hopefully).

Excitingly – and creepily – once one robot in the fleet learns a task, all the others can also do it right away. So for manufacturing, where these will initially roll-out, that could be a huge positive.

They are also able to navigate to a charging station when running low, swap out their batteries, and keep working without stopping.

Atlas was shown off at the Hyundai stage at CES. These robots will be shipped to Hyundai and Google DeepMind facilities this year, with more orders due to be taken in 2027.

(Image credit: Boston Dynamics)

The Atlas robot is able to learn new tasks, quickly adapts to environments, and can lift heavy loads of up to 50kg at a time.

Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics, said: "This is the best robot we have ever built. Atlas is going to revolutionise the way industry works, and it marks the first step toward a long-term goal we have dreamed about since we were children – useful robots that can walk into our homes and help make our lives safer, more productive, and more fulfilling."

I for one am looking forward to my robot helper at home. Here's hoping it'll be affordable enough to own in the near(ish) future.

Boston Dynamics Atlas: pricing and availability

Boston Dynamics has committed to producing 30,000 robots per year once its US factory is built from the company's announced $26 billion investment.

While these appear to be aimed at factories, initially, the goal appears to be for robots to make it into homes in the future. There has been talk of these being priced similar to cars. What type is less clear.