TEPCO x Boston Dynamics (Fukushima decommissioning)

One of the most iconic names in robotics, founded 1992 (MIT spinout) and acquired by Hyundai Motor Group in June 2021 at a ~$1.1 billion valuation. Best known for headline-grabbing demonstrations, its current humanoid is the all-electric [Atlas](/models/boston-dynamics-atlas) (a full redesign of the original hydraulic Atlas), now moving into commercial factory work with Hyundai. Its quadruped [Spot](/models/boston-dynamics-spot) is the company's established commercial success (industrial inspection, security, research), informing its robots-as-a-service pricing and field-support models. Deployments: the electric Atlas is being deployed into Hyundai's manufacturing operations (including the Georgia Metaplant Application Center), beginning with material-handling/evaluation tasks and progressing toward production-line work; software is developed with Hyundai operational data and a DeepMind partnership. Boston Dynamics has stated plans for up to 30,000 Atlas units per year by 2028 through Hyundai (a forward capacity plan, not current output). Atlas won Best Robot / Best of CES at CES 2026. Valuation note: following the CES 2026 Atlas demonstration, Boston Dynamics is undergoing a significant valuation re-rating: Korean securities firms have implied valuations of roughly $21-28 billion and bullish analysts have floated IPO targets of $85B+, but these are implied/speculative figures, not a confirmed raise or IPO. The company is widely noted as pre-commercial on humanoids (Atlas) even as Spot is commercially proven.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) is Japan's largest electric utility and the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, where it pioneers robotic decommissioning using remotely operated and [Spot](/models/boston-dynamics-spot) quadruped robots from [Boston Dynamics](/companies/boston-dynamics). Since the 2011 disaster, TEPCO has deployed over 16 types of robots for fuel debris retrieval, radiation surveying, and facility inspection — including the Telesco telescopic device that extracted the first sample of melted fuel in 2024. Its subsidiary TEPCO Power Grid became the first Japanese power company to introduce an arm-equipped quadruped robot for underground substation inspections in 2025.