Hyundai's Georgia EV plant uses Spot robot dogs to check welds, and trains new hires to work beside them

ELLABELL, Ga., May 2026 — At Hyundai's newest U.S. factory, a robot dog checks the welds and new workers are taught not to be startled by it. Here's what launched, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of May 11, 2026)

Job: exterior quality inspection in the weld shop. (Boston Dynamics)
Weld shop: 100% automated, Hyundai says. (The Korea Herald)
Results for Spot: not published.
Cost: not disclosed.

What launched

The first Ioniq 5 rolled off the Metaplant line on Oct. 3, 2024, IEEE Spectrum reported. Hyundai held the grand opening on Mar. 26, 2025, and a photo from that day in The Current shows Boston Dynamics robot dogs, plural, inspecting welds on an Ioniq 5. At the ceremony, Spot gave demonstrations to VIP guests, and Boston Dynamics said it "will be used for exterior quality inspection in HMGMA's weld shop." The same release said Atlas, Boston Dynamics' humanoid, would also be deployed at the plant in the future.

On a tour that week, The Korea Herald saw robotic arms joining panels into car bodies. HMGMA "boasts a 100 percent automation rate for the welding shop," the paper wrote, and at the end of the welding process Spot "checked the body condition of each vehicle." Kim Han-gon, a production vice president at the plant, told the paper that body panel production was 91% automated.

How it works

IEEE Spectrum's Lawrence Ulrich counted 475 robots building chassis in the welding hall and fewer than two dozen people. Spot uses camera vision and sensors to "sniff out potential welding defects," he wrote. The robot can recharge on its own, work around fixed or moving obstacles and get back up if it falls.

Hyundai executives call the Metaplant North America's most automated car factory, IEEE Spectrum reported. It found that by summer 2025 about 1,340 people were running two Ioniq models down the lines, at a plant that may eventually employ 8,500 directly. Assembly manager Jerry Roach told the magazine: "I want my people doing craftsmanship. I want to pay people well for the things humans do well, and take away the stuff that's tedious and boring."

The people side

The AJC reported in May 2026 that many new hires feel nervous around Spot at first, so time getting used to it is part of onboarding. "Spot would walk up beside them and it would startle them," said Susan Williams, who heads the plant's training program through Georgia Quick Start, the state-funded workforce program. "You can't have people screaming on the factory floor."

Who paid, and how

Hyundai Motor Group owns Boston Dynamics, so the buyer and the robot maker are the same group. In April 2025, Boston Dynamics said Hyundai would buy "tens of thousands of robots" over the next few years as part of a $6 billion U.S. investment. That figure covers far more than Spot. The Metaplant itself is backed by $2.1 billion in Georgia state subsidies, IEEE Spectrum reported.

What went wrong

No numbers. Neither Hyundai nor Boston Dynamics has published how many defects Spot finds or how many units work there.
Same owner. The only claims about Spot's role come from inside the Hyundai group or from company-guided tours.
What we don't know yet: the fleet size, the cost, and whether Spot replaced human inspectors or added a check.

Our follow-up question for Hyundai

How many Spot robots inspect bodies at the Metaplant, and what share of weld defects do they catch?

Sources

Boston Dynamics, “Boston Dynamics & Hyundai Motor Group Expand Collaboration to Drive Mobility Manufacturing & Innovation,” Apr. 3, 2025. bostondynamics.com
The Korea Herald, “Glimpse into future of manufacturing: Hyundai Motor Metaplant America,” Mar. 30, 2025. koreaherald.com
The Current, “Photo story: Bryan County's Hyundai Metaplant holds grand opening,” Mar. 28, 2025. thecurrentga.org
IEEE Spectrum, Lawrence Ulrich, “The Hyundai Metaplant: A New Era in EV Manufacturing,” Nov. 5, 2025. spectrum.ieee.org
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Adam Van Brimmer, “Hyundai's Georgia Metaplant uses Quick Start to train workers,” May 11, 2026. ajc.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder