Hyundai x Boston Dynamics: Welcome to the future of mobility
4 minute read
In June, Hyundai officially acquired Boston Dynamics, an acquisition which represents a significant leap forward towards our overall goal of ‘Progress for Humanity.’ To celebrate the occasion, we’ve created two films which showcase the amazing robots from Boston Dynamics, and our friends from BTS.
From the viewpoint of ‘Progress for Humanity’
Despite significant progress over the past decade, robotics is a technically difficult field in need of a lot of funding. That being said, robots have already been assisting humans behind the scenes, carrying out dangerous and dull tasks in factories and beyond. They have also enabled us to explore previously unreachable environments, from the deep oceans to deep space. And today, the robotics have the potential to greatly improve the quality of our lives at work, at home, and play by providing us all with support for all kinds of tasks.
The merger with Boston Dynamics will allow us to merge and expand our future mobility concept including autonomous cars, logistics and Urban Air Mobility. To celebrate the occasion, we want to show our vision for ‘Progress for Humanity’ by presenting a whole new era of robots to the world. An era in which robots are fun, capable and visible companions for humankind that will take our current mobility services to new heights.
As mobility evolves so does humanity
Our first film presents our brand vision for the robotics business from the perspective of ‘Progress for Humanity’. This film explores our commitment to going back to the basics to find new possibilities that will help us to go further.
We go from steel to car, and back to steel to show how we can reimagine mobility for the future. We go from water to Hydrogen and back to water, to show how we’re pioneering hydrogen fuel and creating a H2 society that will benefit us all. We go from feet to wheels and back to feet, to show how we’ve created opportunities to go to places that we couldn’t go to before.
Thanks to Boston Dynamics, robots are moving from our imaginations into our homes, offices, and factory floors and becoming partners that can help us do so much more than we can do alone. This film shows this harmonious coexistence of humankind and robots by showing the evolution of Hyundai Motors up to the dawn of our robotics business, and emphasizes the fact that our technology has been created to power the progress of humankind.
Exploring new horizons for mobility.
Our vision for progressing humanity has already begun and there is so much more to come.
As you can see in the film, we set our sights on building the future of mobility when we commercialized a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle - the Hyundai NEXO - which uses sustainable hydrogen energy and only emits water.
In the film, Korean National Team para-archer Jun-beom Park tries out the S-MEX - a wearable robotic harness which assists people when walking - and is amazed by the progress that has been made. The S-MEX is on its way to the world and will allow people with disabilities to stand up, do things that were not possible and go to places they could not go to before.
We also see Spot, Boston Dynamics’4-legged walking robot, carrying out contact-free assessments of patients in hospital, which is something that Spot has been doing off-screen too. In fact, Boston Dynamics has already proved that Spot can be a helpful companion in risky environments like Covid wards. The 4-legged robot can help medical staff monitor patients’ vital signs and reduce the risk of contamination. People are also beginning to welcome the idea of being treated by a robot in a healthcare setting. So, together with Boston Dynamics we can open up countless possibilities for utilizing robots as a new source of mobility.
Here at Hyundai, we do not settle, we push forward and continue to strive for the next thing. And we’re looking forward to seeing where this new adventure with Boston Dynamics will take us.
A future where humanity and robots co-exist is closer than you might think. Soon, Spot could become an assistant for visually impaired people and robots will become friends with whom we can share life’s beautiful moments. Our film shows that the coexistence of humankind and robots represents a significant step forward for mobility and progress for humanity around the world.
The robots meet BTS
Our second film shows what happens when Spot shows up at the Hyundai x BTS film site. This fun, snackable film showcases Spot - the 4-legged robot - as he meets our kids’ NEXO car from our brand collection (NEXO for children). It also shows the delighted reactions of the BTS members when they ask 7 Spot robots (one for each member of the band) to start dancing to their song “Boy with Luv.”.
The robots from Boston Dynamics are even able to pull off the impressive choreography like BTS and do dance moves that have never been seen before. BTS have so much fun with the robots and their interaction with them shows just how far robotic technology has come.
With this film, we aim to celebrate our entry into the robot business by combining the technological elements of robots with fun cultural elements like BTS’ music and robot dance moves.
Welcome to the future of mobility
The merger between Hyundai and Boston Dynamics is not just a new business development. This will become the starting point for future mobility where we break the conventional concept of road and reach out to places where we were not able to before.
Follow Hyundai’s Instagram(@hyundai) to find out more of our journey towards Progress for Humanity.