Spot Now at Work on U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Sites...Hyundai Motor Group's Robot Era Draws Closer

Inspections in High-Risk Areas with Restricted Human Access
Significantly Reducing Worker Exposure to Hazards

Spot, the robot from Hyundai Motor Group, is taking part in nuclear facility decommissioning work in the United Kingdom, proving its industrial value by collecting data and performing remote inspections in areas that are difficult for humans to access.

According to Hyundai Motor Group on February 11, Sellafield, a state-owned company under the UK nuclear decommissioning authority, recently announced that Spot is being deployed at nuclear decommissioning sites. Spot is a four-legged walking robot developed by Boston Dynamics, Hyundai Motor Group's robotics subsidiary.

Spot, the four-legged robot from Boston Dynamics, the robotics subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, is patrolling the work site of Sellafield, the UK's state-owned nuclear decommissioning company. Hyundai Motor Company

Sellafield is a public company responsible for decommissioning nuclear facilities and managing radioactive waste in the UK, and it operates in a high-risk work environment where human access is restricted due to radiation exposure and complex internal structures. On-site, precise inspections based on accurate data collection are essential, but ensuring worker safety has remained a major challenge.

To address these issues, Sellafield introduced a robot-based on-site inspection system and chose Spot. The Spot units deployed in the field are equipped with a variety of detection sensors and functions tailored to nuclear facility environments, and the company explained that Spot's excellent mobility allows it to move stably even within complex structures that include rough terrain and stairs.

Spot also creates a detailed understanding of site structures through 360-degree video capture and 3D LiDAR scanning, and it was noted that managers can remotely monitor on-site conditions via real-time video streaming.

Spot carries out "radiation characterization" work that identifies the presence of radioactive materials by measuring gamma and alpha radiation, and it recently also successfully completed trial "sample collection" tasks to check for radioactive contamination within the facility. As a result, exposure risks for workers have been significantly reduced.

Sellafield added that reduced use of personal protective equipment is lowering work-related waste volumes, and that securing high-quality real-time data is improving the speed of decision-making.

Spot, the four-legged robot from Boston Dynamics, the robotics subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, is patrolling the work site of Sellafield, the UK's public nuclear decommissioning company. Hyundai Motor

Spot, the quadruped robot from Boston Dynamics, Hyundai Motor Group's robotics subsidiary, is demonstrating floor-surface sampling while fitted with a contamination sample collection tool. Hyundai Motor

Sellafield began trial operations of Spot in 2021 to verify its operability in complex environments, and stated that in 2024 it is using Spot for inspection tasks even in high-risk radiation zones to collect high-quality on-site images and radiation data. Last year, it also became the first in the UK nuclear sector to successfully conduct a remote demonstration of Spot outside a licensed power station area, confirming the potential for fully remote operations that separate workers from the work site.

Sellafield plans to work with partners to equip Spot with new sensor packs so it can be deployed for a wider range of tasks, including radiation mapping and environmental characterization. The BBC, the UK public broadcaster, has also reported on Sellafield's Spot-based sampling technology trials.

Boston Dynamics, which has unveiled the humanoid robot Atlas, Spot, Stretch, and its own in-house robot projects, recently presented its future vision at CES 2026: robots will take over dangerous tasks, while humans focus on supervision and creativity. Spot is already performing detection, inspection, and patrol work in industrial settings at companies such as Posco, Woodside Energy, Australia's largest natural gas producer, and global food company Cargill.