An Era of Labor-Robot Conflict: Can Humans and Robots Coexist?

Humanoid robots and workers stand side by side at a production site, symbolically showing the expansion of manufacturing automation and the changing role of human labor. [Photo = Korea Business Review DB] Atlas Knocks on the Factory Door At the CES 2026 media day held in Las Vegas, USA, in January 2026, Hyundai Motor Group unveiled Boston Dynamics' next-generation electric humanoid robot, 'Atlas.' Introduced alongside a research model was 'The Atlas product,' a next-generation electric Atlas development model aimed at mass production by Hyundai Motor Group. This was received not merely as a technology demonstration, but as a scene showing Hyundai Motor Group's commercialization roadmap to apply humanoid robots to actual industrial sites. Combining official explanations and domestic and international reports, Atlas is introduced as an electric humanoid equipped with 360-degree rotating jo…