Even Sonny's impressed as Hyundai's Atlas robot shows off trick 'Ghost Rabona' in football-themed campaign

Hyundai Motor's humanoid robot Atlas has learned to play football well enough to score with an elaborate trick shot, capping a video campaign the carmaker is using to showcase its robotics technology ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The video released Friday shows Atlas, made by Hyundai affiliate Boston Dynamics, scoring with a move it dubbed the "Ghost Rabona." The robot faked a strike with its left foot to throw the defense off balance, then fired the ball with its right foot from behind its standing leg. The move forced it to cross its legs for an instant, a difficult maneuver, yet it kept its balance. Related Article Hyundai Motor Group jumps into growing military vehicle market Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors extends unbeaten streak with stoppage-time strike Hyundai Motor launches vehicle-to-grid pilot service in Jeju The video is part of a five-part series titled "School of Football," uploaded on Hyundai Motor's YouTube channel. Hyundai Motor Group, an official World Cup partner, said it built the campaign to show where robotics stands today and where it could go, with football as the hook. The robot's footwork was convincing enough to startle one of the game's biggest names. In a clip posted Wednesday, Korea's national team captain Son Heung-min watched Atlas train and reacted with disbelief. Son Heung-min reacts to a video of Atlas [SCREEN CAPTURE] "This is real? It's better than your average player," Son said. Hyundai began rolling out the video series on Monday, releasing one video a day. It opened with Atlas studying footage of football legends, then learning basic footwork, simple kicks and the rabona, in which a player crosses one leg behind the other to strike the ball. In the videos, Atlas succeeds only after several misses. None of the footage used computer-generated effects, according to Hyundai Motor. The clips also captured the next-generation Atlas, a development model first shown at the CES in Las Vegas in January, learning the movements on its own and carrying them out. The robot's ability to maintain its balance while performing football moves demonstrates its AI learning capabilities, human motion imitation technology and hardware control systems. Hyundai Motor Group's "School of Football" campaign video for its humanoid robot Atlas. [HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP] "It is significant that we showed the world the future of robotics through football in an engaging, human-centered way," said Jee Sung-won, head of Hyundai Motor's brand marketing division. "We plan to keep building a range of brand experiences that draw on mobility and robotics." The campaign has fed growing optimism about Atlas on the stock market. KB Securities on Thursday sharply raised its target price for Hyundai Motor to 1.2 million won ($795), looking past a slowdown in the core car business, where first-quarter operating profit fell 30.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.5 trillion won. Hyundai Motor's humanoid robot Atlas performs a ″Ghost Rabona″ kick in the company's ″School of Football″ campaign, a five-part video series released ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP] "Boston Dynamics is by far the dominant player in industrial humanoids," said Kang Sung-jin, an analyst at KB Securities. "Hyundai Motor Group, which has secured an edge in both cars and humanoids, is expected to surpass Toyota's market capitalization of 441 trillion won over the medium to long term." This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY NAM YOON-SEO [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]