'School of Football' making film released

Robot's journey to master advanced soccer moves documented

24 hours of training replicates a year of human trial and error

Hyundai Motor Co has released a making film for "School of Football," documenting how Atlas, a humanoid robot developed by its subsidiary Boston Dynamics, learned advanced soccer techniques. [Hyundai Motor Co]
Hyundai Motor Co has released a making film for "School of Football," documenting how Atlas, a humanoid robot developed by its subsidiary Boston Dynamics, learned advanced soccer techniques. [Hyundai Motor Co]

Hyundai Motor Co released a making film on its official YouTube channel Thursday, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the development of "School of Football," its FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign, and showcasing how Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas learned advanced soccer techniques.

"School of Football" is part of Hyundai Motor's FIFA World Cup campaign "The Future Starts Here." The film follows Atlas as it learns soccer movements and expands the boundaries of robotics, conveying the message that the future of robotics technology is being realized today.

Particularly striking was Atlas executing a range of moves — from basic soccer fundamentals such as footwork, passing and shooting, to a high-level variation called the "ghost rabona kick," a twist on the classic cross-legged rabona kick.

The launch film and three training videos released through May 28 had surpassed 33 million cumulative views within five days of going live. A video released May 27 also drew wide attention, showing Hyundai Motor brand ambassador Son Heung-min reacting with admiration to Atlas' performance in the footage.

The new making film details the research process behind the soccer performances seen in the previously released campaign videos, along with behind-the-scenes stories from the development team.

Boston Dynamics researchers said that for a humanoid robot to move more naturally, it must simultaneously learn balance, timing, coordination and adaptability. "That is why we turned to soccer as a way for the humanoid robot to learn human movement," they said.

Hyundai Motor and Boston Dynamics designed Atlas' training program drawing inspiration from the biomechanics and movement patterns of world-class soccer players. The team then converted those movements into trainable motion data and action protocols, which were applied to Atlas' learning process.


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