Robot Workers Are Here. Human Workers Are Fighting Back.

机器人工人已至。人类工人正在反击。

The Journal.

2026-08-06

18 分钟
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Tickets for our live show in New York are on sale now! Get yours here.  Early this year, Hyundai unveiled its newest employee: a humanoid robot named Atlas. Now, Hyundai’s unionized workers in South Korea are on a partial strike, arguing that humanoids shouldn’t join the assembly line without their approval. WSJ’s Tim Martin explains how the rest of the world is watching to see who wins the battle over the future. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening: Move Over, Humans. China's Robots Are Taking Over How 1 Million Robots Are Taking Over Amazon Warehouses Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • In January, thousands of people gathered in Las Vegas for CES, one of the biggest tech conferences of the year.

  • One of the most talked about presentations was by Hyundai Motor Group.

  • Hyundai was there to introduce its newest employee.

  • Up walks on stage as a Hyundai executive.

  • He's excited to introduce a new co-worker who has lots of amazing abilities.

  • So for the first time ever in public, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Atlas to the stage.

  • And Up walked on stage was a very agile, a very tactile autoworker.

  • Atlas is about 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs around 200 pounds.

  • He strutted on stage for several minutes, waved at the crowd, spun around, and skillfully picked up a few heavy objects.

  • And if you haven't guessed by now, Atlas isn't an ordinary employee.

  • It's a robot.

  • It's got arms.

  • It's got legs.

  • It's got something amounting to a head that allows it to see objects in front of it,

  • except for this head can turn around completely like the scene out of The Exorcist.

  • The crowd in Las Vegas loved it.

  • To characterize the reaction from workers at Hyundai, the people

  • who are supposed to one day work alongside outlets on the factory floor.

  • The reaction back in South Korea, where Hyundai is based, was shock, surprise, terror.

  • I don't think there was anyone leaping out of their seats and cheering.