Atlas, the Humanoid Robot of Boston Dynamics, a robotics affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, showcased a high-difficulty soccer skill called "rabona kick." With the FIFA World Cup approaching, Hyundai Motor, an official partner, fronted Atlas in its "School of Football" campaign, indicating Hyundai Motor Group's robotics development capabilities are steadily advancing.
Hyundai Motor, a partner of the FIFA North and Central America World Cup, said on the 29th that it released the "School of Football" campaign videos on its official YouTube channel. Across five videos, Atlas deftly performed footwork, passing, and shooting, and also unveiled the "rabona kick," striking the ball with legs crossed. It also pulled off the "ghost rabona kick," which adds a feint to deceive defenders.
Hyundai Motor Group said through the videos that Atlas's moves are not simple reproductions but technologies requiring precise analysis of human motion and AI-based learning. Atlas modeled motion data from real soccer players, then used Reinforcement Learning to iterate through countless successes and failures to derive optimal movements.
A Hyundai Motor official said, "This campaign proved our development capabilities in AI-based Reinforcement Learning, precise human motion imitation, and hardware control." As of the 28th, the launch film and three training videos surpassed a cumulative 33 million views five days after release. A video of Son Heung-min expressing admiration was also released, drawing a strong response.
Ji Seong-won, head of Hyundai Motor's Brand Marketing Division, said, "We showcased the future of Robotics to the world through soccer," adding, "We plan to create a variety of brand experiences using mobility and Robotics."