Boston Dynamics AI Institute Executive Director Marc Raibert joins Emily Chang to discuss their work with Hyundai and their $400 million investment to set up the Institute, and discuss the state of artificial intelligence and robotics development.

It took a while before we got back to robotics. Sony was really the trigger—we’d worked for them quietly for about five years and made a running AIBO which never saw the light of day, and then we worked on their little humanoid QRIO, building tools that made it possible to do choreography.

The pairing has, thus far, been something of a mixed bag. As Boston Dynamics looks to pragmatic applications to commercialize robots like Spot and Stretch, Hyundai has used the technology for some wild sci-fi demos, including one at this year’s CES featuring Spot hanging out on Mars as a metaverse avatar.

Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) today announced the launch of Boston Dynamics AI Institute (the Institute), with the goal of making fundamental advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and intelligent machines.

Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) today announced the launch of Boston Dynamics AI Institute (the Institute), with the goal of making fundamental advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and intelligent machines.