01/04/2026: Maduro, Here Come the Humanoids, Alysa Liu

Summary

60 Minutes – Episode Summary

Episode: Maduro, Here Come the Humanoids, Alysa Liu

Date: January 5, 2026
Host: CBS News
Reporters: Scott Pelley, Anderson Cooper, Bill Whitaker, Cecilia Vega

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Overview

This episode of 60 Minutes delves into three critical stories: the dramatic capture and indictment of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro; a revealing look at the race to develop humanoid robots and their integration into the workforce; and the inspiring comeback of American figure skating champion Alysa Liu. The stories explore global politics and justice, the future of technology and labor, and personal transformation and resilience in sports.

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1. The Capture of Nicolas Maduro

Segment start: [00:08]
Reported by: Scott Pelley & Anderson Cooper

Key Points & Insights

• Nicolas Maduro’s Capture:
  Maduro, Venezuela’s dictator of 12 years, was captured and is held in New York, facing drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges. His wife was also apprehended.
• US Involvement & Investigation:
  The operation was the culmination of a decade-long DEA investigation led by agents like Sandy Gonzalez. The US administration views Maduro as central to a state-sponsored drug trafficking conspiracy.
• Roger Karstens’ Perspective:
  Former US hostage negotiator Roger Karstens worked closely with Maduro to secure the release of 20 American hostages.
  • On Maduro:

    “I didn’t find him to be a bloodthirsty maniac. I found him to be a practical person, someone who wanted to find ways to solve the problems that were faced by his country.” – Roger Karstens ([03:54])

  • Karstens saw Maduro’s actions as calculated but not necessarily monstrous, differentiating between direct involvement and leadership responsibility.
• Nature of the Charges:
  • DEA’s evidence:

    “It’s a state sponsored drug trafficking organization. So it’s a massive conspiracy…Maduro was part of that chain.” – Sandy Gonzalez ([06:53])

  • Investigators believe Maduro directly profited from, and enabled, the drug trade, not merely looked the other way.
• Future of Venezuela:
  Maduro’s Vice President, Delsey Rodriguez, assumed leadership. The US did not place troops on the ground; Venezuelan security and intelligence agencies remain intact.
  • Uncertainty abounds:

    “Who's going to run the country? Is it Delsey Rodriguez? Is it a democratically elected leader?” – Scott Pelley and Anderson Cooper ([11:10])

  • There’s skepticism regarding a real transition to democracy and concerns about ongoing instability.
• Remaining US Hostages:
  A handful of Americans remain imprisoned in Venezuela. Karstens highlights the difficulty of military rescues and the complexity in securing their freedom during such operations.
• US Motives & Reaction:
  Conflicting narratives regarding US motives—law enforcement, regime change, or control of mineral rights—are discussed, with a call for clear communication to the American people.
  • Presidential Message:

    “The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States.” – US President ([12:36])

• Future US–Venezuela Relations:
  Karstens described Delsey Rodriguez as “pragmatic and reasonable,” but questioned her ultimate willingness to cooperate with the US, amid public declarations to the contrary.

Notable Quotes

• “If you’re the president of a country, you of course have responsibility for what’s happening in your government.” – Roger Karstens ([03:54])
• “I believe the evidence is going to show he was enriching himself.” – Sandy Gonzalez ([07:39])

Memorable Moment:
Karstens’ message to the Venezuelan VP and her brother:

“If you can find a way, work towards cooperating with the United States... this is a time for trying to solve problems and please be willing and open to working with the US.” ([14:29])

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2. Here Come the Humanoids: Robots on the Factory Floor

Segment start: [15:56]
Reported by: Bill Whitaker

Key Points & Insights

• Boston Dynamics’ Atlas Debuts in the Real World:
  Atlas, a 5'9" AI-powered humanoid robot weighing 200 lbs, is shown working at Hyundai’s plant in Georgia—the first time out of Boston Dynamics’ lab.

  • “You just can’t believe what my eyes are seeing.” – Bill Whitaker ([17:41])

• Advancements in AI & Robotics:
  Atlas’s learning is powered by Nvidia’s chips and cutting-edge machine learning. It can learn tasks through demonstrations, VR-guided motion, and simulated training.

  • “It’s more about teaching and demonstrations and machine learning than manual programming.” – Scott Kindersma ([20:22])

  • Once one Atlas learns a task, all can perform it through shared AI models.
• Progress & Limitations:
  • Atlas can sort parts, mimic human movements, and learn in virtual simulations.
  • Limitations persist in dexterous daily tasks—like pouring coffee or putting on clothes.

    “Most things that a person does in their daily lives, Atlas or other humanoids can’t really do that yet.” – Scott Kindersma ([23:36])

• The Purpose & Promise of Humanoids:
  • Atlas is being designed for “superhuman” abilities: strength, tolerance for heat, hazardous work, etc.
  • The robots will handle backbreaking labor, but new jobs—robot supervisors, builders, trainers—will emerge.

    “Work does change. So the really repetitive, really backbreaking labor is going to end up being done by robots. But...they need to be managed.” – Robert Plater ([27:04])

• Competition with China and the Future:
  • Chinese robot companies are “formidable challengers,” with large state investment.
  • US firms maintain a lead, but investment scale threatens their dominance.

    “The Chinese government has a mission to win the robotics race... there’s a real threat that simply through the scale of investment, we could fall behind.” – Robert Plater ([27:51])

• Market Outlook:
  Goldman Sachs projects a $38 billion market for humanoids within the decade. The race is on.

Memorable Moments

• Whitaker donning sensors so Atlas can learn human movements, and then seeing video of the robot awkwardly do jumping jacks ([21:36–22:38]).
• Honest humor from engineer Zach Jakowski:

  “I feel like a nervous engineer.” ([18:28])

• On superhuman robots:

  “We would like things that could be stronger than us...go into a dangerous place where we shouldn’t be going.” – Robert Plater ([26:10])

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3. Alysa Liu: Comeback on Ice

Segment start: [29:03]
Reported by: Cecilia Vega

Key Points & Insights

• Alysa Liu’s Unprecedented Journey:
  • Youngest US women’s figure skating champion at 13 ([01:06]), she shocked fans by retiring at 16 and even more by mounting a comeback at 20.
• Stardom, Pressure, and Family:
  • Alysa’s career was heavily managed by her father, Arthur Liu, an immigrant and former activist. He invested immense resources, playing a hands-on—often controlling—role in her development.

    “It was basically his business. It wasn’t even really mine.” – Alysa Liu ([33:06])

  • Pandemic gave her perspective:

    “I was like, wow, this is what a break feels like. And then I was like, I really like not skating.” – Alysa Liu ([35:40])

• Her Return:
  • After a hiatus filled with travel and ‘living her best life,’ Alysa started skating again for herself—not for pressure or external expectation.
  • She returned with full autonomy: choosing music, creative direction, and schedule.

    “I get to pick my own program music. I get to help with the creative process...No one’s gonna starve me. Tell me what I can and can’t eat.” – Alysa Liu ([38:06])

• Transformation into Adulthood:
  • She’s grown 7 inches, sports a new look, and possesses a renewed sense of artistic identity.

    “Do you view yourself as an athlete or an artist?”
    “An artist, actually. But I…love being an athlete, too.” – Alysa Liu ([41:42])

• Olympic Hopes, New Perspective:
  • She shrugs off pressure, focusing on creating excitement.

    “Whether it’s negative or positive, as long as people are feeling some strong emotions and anticipation, I’m fine with that.” – Alysa Liu ([42:16])

• Her Unique Style:
  • Fiercely self-motivated and scrappy:

    “I love struggling, actually. It makes me feel alive.” – Alysa Liu ([41:15])

Notable Quotes

• “Skating feels more like a responsibility or a burden even.” – Alysa Liu ([32:57])
• “I have my own, like, determination. My determination’s, like, up there.” – Alysa Liu ([41:06])
• “With her in charge, is she a better skater?”

  “Okay, 100%.” – Coach ([40:16])

• “She is a very free spirit, like me in many ways.” – Arthur Liu ([39:06])

Memorable Moments

• Concealing her return to skating even from family:

  “I just wanted to. Quick hits of dopamine, basically.” – Alysa Liu ([36:57])

• Coaches’ incredulity at her comeback:

  “Nobody saw this coming.” ([31:40])

• Her definition of success: Not medals, but moving the audience.

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4. Last Minute: A Reflection from Space

Segment start: [43:12]
Speaker: Astronaut Suni Williams

Highlights

• In marking 250 years of American independence, astronaut Suni Williams shares a poetic perspective from her experiences orbiting Earth:

  “Looking at Earth from 250 miles above... you have to automatically sit back and look at the country as a whole. We are working together as one country. And that's the view that we have. It is so special.” ([43:14])

• She calls on Americans to consider the nation’s boundless future, with possibilities “only limited by our imagination.”

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Noteworthy Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Maduro’s Leadership:

  “I didn’t find him to be a bloodthirsty maniac. I found him to be a practical person.” – Roger Karstens ([03:54])

• On Excitement for Humanoid Robots:

  “You just can't believe what my eyes are seeing.” – Bill Whitaker ([17:41])

• Atlas Learns Through Demonstration:

  “If that teleoperator can perform the task that we want the robot to do and do it multiple times, that generates data that we can use to train the robot's AI models to then later do that task autonomously.” – Robert Plater ([21:05])

• Alysa Liu’s Philosophy:

  “I love struggling, actually. It makes me feel alive.” – Alysa Liu ([41:15]) “My goal, honestly, is just to hype people up, give them an extra experience.” ([42:16])

• A View from Space:

  “From that view, it's hard not to think about where we as a country will be in the next 250 years. I think our possibilities are only limited by our imagination.” – Suni Williams ([43:44])

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Maduro Investigation and Capture: [00:08–14:34]
• Atlas: Humanoid Robots & AI in Industry: [15:56-29:00]
• Alysa Liu: Figure Skating Comeback Story: [29:03–43:12]
• Reflection from Orbit: [43:12–44:31]

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In Summary

This 60 Minutes episode provides sweeping insight into urgent issues of global power, the future of work, and personal reinvention. From the drama of Maduro’s takedown, the awe of humanoid robots entering everyday life, to Alysa Liu’s journey from prodigy to worldly artist, the reporting is probing and evocative, capturing voices, complexity, and hope for a changing world.

Transcript

[Scott Pelley]

When you first heard that Maduro had been captured, what did you think?

[Anderson Cooper]

In a way I wasn't shocked. I felt that the possibility of Delta Force showing up at 2am was very real.

[Scott Pelley]

Nicolas Maduro faces drug related charges in the US and this DEA agent was at the center of the investigation. What was the most significant evidence against Maduro?

[Anderson Cooper]

It's a state sponsored drug trafficking organization. So it's a massive conspiracy.

[Bill Whitaker]

At Hyundai's sprawling auto plant, more than 1000 robots work alongside almost 1500 humans. This may look like the factory of the future, but we found the future of the future in the parts warehouse. Getting ready for work. Meet Atlas, a 5 foot 9, 200, 200 pound AI powered humanoid. You just can't believe what my eyes are seeing.

[Cecilia Vega]

After becoming the youngest US women's figure skating champion at age 13, Alyssa Liu shocked the skating world when she quit a few years later. Now Alyssa is back and a favorite to win gold at the Winter Olympics. That was really pretty.

[Anderson Cooper]

I don't even know what to say. That was really pretty.

[Cecilia Vega]

I'm Leslie Stahl.

[Scott Pelley]

I'm Scott Pelley.

[Bill Whitaker]

I'm Bill Whitaker.

[Anderson Cooper]

I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm John Wertheim.

[Cecilia Vega]

I'm Cecilia Vega. I'm Sharon Alfonsi. Those stories and in our last minute, astronaut Suni Williams with a reflection on America from high above. Tonight on 60 Minutes Foreign.

[Anderson Cooper]

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[Cecilia Vega]

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[Scott Pelley]

Perhaps no American official has spent more time face to face with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro than Roger Karstens.

[Anderson Cooper]

Carstar.

[Scott Pelley]

Karstens was America's top hostage negotiator in the Trump and Biden administrations. He freed a total of 65Americans unjustly held in countries including Russia, Iran and Maduro's Venezuela. Yesterday, US forces captured the Venezuelan dictator and his wife. Both are in jail in New York tonight awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges. Over the years, Roger Karstens convinced Maduro to release 20American hostages. And in that time, Karstens got to know the man who is at the center of U.S. foreign policy. Tonight, the administration would paint Maduro as a bloodthirsty drug dealer. Is that the man you knew?

[Anderson Cooper]

I don't think so. And yet, let me answer that by this way. On one way I could say I'm not naive to the crimes that were committed by the regime writ large. And if you're the president of a country, you of course have responsibility for what's happening in your government. On the flip side, I would say that being the person in the room with President Maduro, my job was to get Americans back. And that's best done by building a very human relationship and doing so. I didn't find him to be a bloodthirsty maniac. I found him to be a practical person, someone who wanted to find ways to solve the problems that were faced by his country.

[Scott Pelley]

When you first heard that Maduro had been captured, what did you think?

[Anderson Cooper]

In a way I wasn't shocked. I think probably as early as August or September, in watching the different military moves and the diplomatic moves take place, it seemed that unless he were willing to make some sort of deal or accommodation with the United States, I felt that the possibility of Delta Force showing up at 2am was very real.

[Scott Pelley]

Do you believe that the Maduro that you met was an international drug dealer?

[Anderson Cooper]

From all the information that I've received, I would say no. I think the country clearly touched drugs and there's information I always have to be very clear that I might see certain amounts of information and there's always a treasure trove of information that I've never seen or never will see due to classification or compartmentalization. But what I witnessed was not someone who is necessarily hardcore in the drug business. And I'll be interested to see in how the prosecution goes about proving their case.

[Scott Pelley]

63 year old Nicolas Maduro was in power 12 years. In 2024, he lost his re election bid but remained in power and forced the winner into ex. Maduro ruled Venezuela's 28 million people as an autocrat, imprisoning his opposition and leaving the economy of an oil Rich nation in shambles. Yesterday, the U.S. department of justice revealed an indictment of Maduro accusing him in a so called narco terrorism conspiracy.

[Anderson Cooper]

These investigations aren't easy. They can be stressful and they can take up a lot of time. This one, 10 plus years.

[Scott Pelley]

One of the investigators at the center of the case was Sandy Gonzalez. He served 25 years in the Drug Enforcement Administration, part of that in Venezuela and investigating Maduro.

[Anderson Cooper]

Close to 20 years ago, DEA at the Special Operations division started looking at high level drug trafficking in Venezuela and it eventually led to high ranking military police officials in Venezuela and ultimately government officials.

[Scott Pelley]

And Maduro was among them?

[Anderson Cooper]

Yes.

[Scott Pelley]

What was the most significant evidence against Maduro?

[Anderson Cooper]

It's a state sponsored drug trafficking organization. So it's a massive conspiracy. And what I mean by that is not everybody is going to be holding the kilos of cocaine. But in a conspiracy you link everybody together. That's part of the chain. Maduro was part of that chain for first as a Minister of Foreign affairs and then later as a president. So when you're the president of a country and you are giving the green light to engage in this activity and you're putting people in critical positions in governors, ministers, heads of agencies and allowing them to carry out these drug trafficking activities, you're just as guilty as the person making the drugs and transporting the drugs.

[Scott Pelley]

But is it a matter of Maduro simply looking the other way or was he enriching himself from the drug trade?

[Anderson Cooper]

I believe the evidence is going to show he was enriching himself. It was much more than just looking the other way. There was direct involvement.

[Scott Pelley]

With Maduro now gone, what in your view changes?

[Anderson Cooper]

So it was a great step. But Maduro isn't the only person in that government that was involved in drug trafficking. There are still several DEA fugitives in Venezuela in positions in that government. The jobs just started.

[Scott Pelley]

Maduro may be gone, but the drug conspiracy remains.

[Anderson Cooper]

Yes.

[Scott Pelley]

Also remaining in Venezuela are a few Americans reportedly held in prisons who were not rescued. Saturday morning, former hostage negotiator Roger Karstens told us that Maduro held and tortured Americans who had been arrested for minor offenses.

[Anderson Cooper]

You know, everyone had a different story, but the bottom line is that they were arrested for something in Venezuela and within a few days they were eventually sent to the intelligence or the military prisons in Caracas. Once in prison, then they were used as leverage by President Maduro in negotiations with the United States. But I can say to my mind and my knowledge and having read all the intelligence, there did not seem to be a concerted program to go find Americans to use them as leverage. It's just that whenever an American was arrested, they would end up being used as leverage.

[Scott Pelley]

What did Maduro want in exchange?

[Anderson Cooper]

You know, I think initially I wasn't sure that he knew what he wanted. But eventually meeting with President Maduro and discussing what it is that he might want, he settled on person to person swaps. There were a few people in US prisons that he wanted to have returned. And that's what we ended up settling on over time.

[Scott Pelley]

How many Americans are still held there?

[Anderson Cooper]

You know, I don't have the numbers exactly anymore because I'm no longer in the government, but. But as I understand it, four or five.

[Scott Pelley]

In your view, should they have been rescued during this military operation?

[Anderson Cooper]

I think I would have loved to have seen that. I imagine the challenges of conducting a military hostage raid are significant. The advantage of doing it the other night when we eventually went to get Maduro, is that you've already eradicated the air defense capabilities of the Venezuelan military. You've challenged their command and control architecture. So adding on an additional mission of trying to get some hostages out, that might have been doable, but where are they? So since we may not know where all of them are, you could find yourself having to hit two, three or four objectives. And now you're taking it to a level of complexity that might have been too much for that night. It might have been just enough to get President Maduro and then after the fact that work on trying to get the release of these remaining Americans, to.

[Scott Pelley]

Release any remaining Americans and run Venezuela. The administration is speaking to Maduro's same government now headed by Maduro's loyal Vice President Delsey Rodriguez. The US did not leave troops on the ground and Venezuela's repressive military, intelligence and police units are still in place. Yesterday the President said this about Venezuela's near future.

[Anderson Cooper]

We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.

[Scott Pelley]

Democrats, including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly are asking what's next. Yesterday the President said, quote, we're not afraid of boots on the ground.

[Anderson Cooper]

I think right now we run the risk of Venezuela and Venezuela falling into some form of chaos. I mean, who's going to run the country? Is it Delsey Rodriguez?

[Scott Pelley]

Is it Maduro's hand picked person or.

[Anderson Cooper]

Is it a democratically elected leader?

[Scott Pelley]

We should be on the side of democracy. I mean, we're the good guys here. Kelly serves on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees. Isn't removing Maduro good? For US national security.

[Anderson Cooper]

I think having Maduro out of the country now, in New York, being prosecuted for his crimes is a positive thing. The big question is just what comes next and who winds up in charge in Venezuela.

[Scott Pelley]

They weren't thinking ahead here.

[Anderson Cooper]

Now they say they're going to run the country.

[Scott Pelley]

What does that actually mean?

[Anderson Cooper]

I think this president needs to do a much better job articulating to the American people what is the plan going forward here and then explain to the American people what is this really about.

[Scott Pelley]

Is it about law enforcement?

[Anderson Cooper]

Is it about drug smuggling into the United States? Is it about regime change? Or is it about what the president.

[Scott Pelley]

Said 20 times yesterday? This is about extracting mineral rights, oil.

[Anderson Cooper]

From a foreign nation. He hasn't made that clear.

[Scott Pelley]

Yesterday, the president said it was about drugs.

[Anderson Cooper]

The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States. As alleged in the indictment, he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de las Solas, which flooded our nation with lethal poison, responsible for the deaths of countless Americans. Many, many Americans. Hundreds of thousands over the years of Americans died because of him.

[Scott Pelley]

In an interview today, President Trump threatened Venezuelan Vice President Rodriguez with what he called a fate worse than Maduro's if she didn't cooperate with the United States. Roger Karstens has negotiated extensively with the Venezuelan vice president. The Venezuelan vice president is now in charge. Her brother is the head of the National Assembly. Are these people that the United States can work with?

[Anderson Cooper]

When you take a look at Delsey Rodriguez, she's a lawyer, lots of international experience, hardcore technocrat. And I would say in my meetings with her, I found her to be pragmatic and rational and reasonable.

[Scott Pelley]

But the vice president has said that she wants Maduro back, wants to have nothing to do with the United States going forward.

[Anderson Cooper]

I have to wonder, is she playing to a domestic audience? Is she playing to an audience made up of the military and the intelligence community of Venezuela? I'm not sure. But what I do know is everyone's essentially going to and eventually going to have to deal with the cards that have been laid on the table. And her cards are going to be pretty tough. And that the United States right now, to my mind, has the upper hand, and she'll have to have some sort of accommodation.

[Scott Pelley]

You've known the Venezuelan vice president for a long time. I wonder if you've sent her a message since all this happened.

[Anderson Cooper]

You know, I did pass a message off to her and her brother. And the message was simply like, look, if you can find a way, work towards cooperating with the United States. And I think my fear is that if the current people in charge really dig in hard, then the United States having already eradicated Venezuela's air defense capability and shown an ability to degrade their communications modes and their command control structures, that it probably be very easy for the United States to, you know, rearm re up and then go right back in to grab people. Probably be a harder legal case to make to do such a thing. But I think that the right move for everyone is to just start to work together. And so the message I passed was one of simply saying this is a time for trying to solve problems and please be willing and open to working with the US. What's up world? It's Vaughn Miller, super bowl mvp, chicken farmer, and now host of Free Range. This is a show where I go off the field and off the script. We're talking what's hot in music, film, trending news and everything blowing up your feed. If you love football, you'll feel at home.

[Cecilia Vega]

But if you're here for the vibes.

[Anderson Cooper]

The Internet deep dives the conversation. This is your podcast. Join me every Wednesday. Follow and listen to Free Range with me, Vaughn Miller. Everywhere you get your podcast.

[Bill Whitaker]

For decades, engineers have been trying to create robots that look and act human. Now rapid advances in artificial intelligence are taking humanoids from the laboratory to the factory floor. As fears grow that AI will displace workers, a global race is underway to develop human like robots able to do human jobs. Competitors include Tesla, startups backed by Amazon and Nvidia, and state supported Chinese companies. Boston Dynamics is a frontrunner. The Massachusetts company, valued at more than a billion dollars, is hard at work on a humanoid it calls Atlas. South Korean carmaker Hyundai holds an 88% stake in the robot maker. We were invited to see the first real world test of Atlas at Hyundai's new factory near Savannah, Georgia. There we got a glimpse of a humanoid future that's coming faster than you might think. Hyundai's sprawling auto plant is about as cutting edge as it gets. More than 1000 robots work alongside almost 1500 humans, hoisting, stamping and welding in robotic unison. This may look like the factory of the future, but we found the future of the future in the parts warehouse tucked away in the back corner getting ready for work. Meet Atlas, a 5 foot 9 2, 200 pound AI powered humanoid created by Boston Dynamics. The rise of the robots is science fiction no more.

[Anderson Cooper]

I have to say every time I.

[Bill Whitaker]

See it you just can't believe what my eyes are seeing. Is this the first time ATLAS has been out of the lab?

[Robert Plater]

This is the first time ATLAS has.

[Anderson Cooper]

Been out of the lab doing real work.

[Bill Whitaker]

Zach Jajkowski heads Atlas Development. He has two mechanical engineering degrees from MIT and a mission to turn the robot into a productive worker on the factory floor. We watched as Atlas practiced sorting roof racks for the assembly line without human help. So he's working autonomously.

[Scott Pelley]

Correct.

[Bill Whitaker]

You're down here to see how Atlas works in the field, and you'll be showing Atlas off to your bosses at Hyundai.

[Scott Pelley]

Yeah.

[Bill Whitaker]

You feel like a proud papa?

[Anderson Cooper]

I feel like a nervous engineer.

[Bill Whitaker]

Tchaikowsky has been preparing for this moment for a year. We first met him and Atlas a month earlier at Boston Dynamics headquarters just outside the city, where he and his team were teaching Atlas skills needed to work at Hyundai. And Atlas, with its AI brain, was gaining knowledge through experience. In other words, it seemed to be learning.

[Anderson Cooper]

You know how crazy that sounds? Yeah, a little bit. And I think a lot of our roboticists would have thought that was pretty crazy. Five, six years ago.

[Bill Whitaker]

When 60 Minutes last visited Boston Dynamics in 2021, Atlas was a bulky hydraulic robot that could run and jump. Back then, Atlas relied on algorithms written by engineers. When we dropped in again this past fall, we saw a new generation Atlas with a sleek, all electric body and an AI brain powered by Nvidia's advanced microchips, making ATLAS smart enough to pull off hard to believe feats autonomously. We saw Atlas skip and run with ease. Do you ever stop thinking? Gee whiz?

[Robert Plater]

I remain extremely excited about where we are in the history of robotics, but we see that there's so much more that we can do as well.

[Bill Whitaker]

Scott Kindersma is head of robotics research, a job he proudly wears on his sleeve. You even have on a robot shirt.

[Robert Plater]

Well, once I saw that this shirt existed, there was no way I wasn't buying it.

[Bill Whitaker]

He told us robots today have learned to master moves that until recently were considered a step too far for a machine.

[Robert Plater]

And a lot of this has to do with how we're going about programming these robots now, where it's more about teaching and demonstrations and machine learning than manual programming.

[Bill Whitaker]

So this humanoid, this mechanical human, can actually learn?

[Robert Plater]

Yes, and we found that that's actually one of the most effective way to program robots like that.

[Bill Whitaker]

ATLAS learns in different ways in supervised learning, machine learning. Scientist Kevin Bergman, wearing a virtual reality headset, takes direct control of the humanoid, guiding its hands and arms movement by move through Each task until ATLAS gets it.

[Robert Plater]

If that teleoperator can perform the task that we want the robot to do and do it multiple times, that generates data that we can use to train the robot's AI models to then later do that task autonomously.

[Bill Whitaker]

Kindersma used me to demonstrate another way.

[Robert Plater]

ATLAS learns that very stylish suit that you're wearing is actually going to capture all of your body motion. To train ATLAS to try to mimic exactly your motions. And so you're about to become a 200 pound metal robot.

[Cecilia Vega]

The calibration process is now complete.

[Bill Whitaker]

He asked me to pick an exercise. They captured the way I work as well. I am here at the AI lab at Boston Dynamics. All of my movements, my walking, my arm gestures are being picked up by these sensors. Then engineers put my data into their machine learning process. ATLAS body is different from mine, so they had to teach it to match my movements. Virtually more than 4,000 digital atlases trained for six hours in simulation.

[Robert Plater]

And they're all trying to do jumping jacks just like you. And as you can see, they're just starting to learn, so they're not very good at it.

[Bill Whitaker]

The simulation, he told us, added challenges for the avatars, like slippery floors, inclines or stiff joints. And then homed in on what works best.

[Robert Plater]

And it can eventually get to a state where we have many copies of ATLAS doing really good jumping jacks.

[Bill Whitaker]

They uploaded this new skill into the AI system that controls every ATLAS robot. Once one is trained, they're all trained.

[Robert Plater]

So that's what you look like when.

[Bill Whitaker]

You'Re exercising and what I look like doing my job. I am here at the AI lab at Boston Dynamics. All of my movements, my walking, my arm gestures are being picked up by these sensors. This is mind blowing. Through the same processes, ATLAS was taught to crawl, do cartwheels. It didn't fare as well with the duck walker.

[Robert Plater]

Oh, that was fun. And then this happens, and then this happens. We love when things like this happen, actually, because it's often an opportunity to understand something we didn't know about the system.

[Bill Whitaker]

What are some of the limitations you see now?

[Robert Plater]

I would say that most things that a person does in their daily lives, Atlas or other humanoids can't really do that yet. Well, just putting on clothes in the morning or pouring your cup of coffee and walking around the house with it.

[Bill Whitaker]

That'S too difficult for atlas.

[Robert Plater]

Yeah, I think there are no humanoids that do that nearly as well as a person would do that. But I think the thing that's really exciting now Is we see a pathway.

[Bill Whitaker]

To get there, a pathway provided by AI. What stands out in this Atlas is its brain Nvidia chips, the ones that helped launch the AI revolution with ChatGPT process. The flood of collected data moving this humanoid robot closer to something like common sense.

[Robert Plater]

So the analogy might be if I was teaching a child how to do free throws in basketball, if I allow them to just explore and come up with their own solutions, sometimes they can come up with a solution that I didn't anticipate. And that's true for these systems as well.

[Bill Whitaker]

Atlas can see its surroundings and is figuring. Figuring out how the physical world works.

[Robert Plater]

So that someday you can put a robot like this in a factory and just explain to it what you would like it to do. And it has enough knowledge about how the world works that it has a good chance of doing it.

[Anderson Cooper]

There's a lot of excitement in the industry right now about the potential of building robots that are smart enough to really become general purpose.

[Bill Whitaker]

Robert Plater, the CEO of Boston Dynamics, spearheaded the company's humanoid development. He's been building toward this moment for more than 30 years. The cornerstone was this robotic dog, Spot, introduced almost a decade ago. Spots are trained in heat, cold and varied terrain and roam the halls of Boston Dynamics.

[Anderson Cooper]

So we have some cameras, thermal sensors, the acoustic sensors, an array of sensors on its back that lets it collect data about the health of a factory.

[Bill Whitaker]

Spots carry out quality control checks at Hyundai, making sure the cars have the right parts. They conduct security and industrial inspections at hundreds of sites around the world. What began with Spot has evolved into Atlas.

[Anderson Cooper]

So this robot is capable of superhuman motion, and so it's going to be able to exceed what we can do.

[Bill Whitaker]

So you are creating a robot that is meant to exceed the capabilities of humans.

[Anderson Cooper]

Why not? Right. We would like things that could be stronger than us or tolerate more heat than us, or definitely go into a dangerous place where we shouldn't be going. So you really want to superhuman capabilities.

[Bill Whitaker]

To a lot of people, that sounds scary. You don't foresee a world of terminators.

[Anderson Cooper]

Absolutely not. I think if you saw how hard we have to work to get the robots to just do some of the straightforward tasks we want them to do, that would dispel that worry about sentience and rogue robots.

[Bill Whitaker]

We wondered if people might have more immediate concerns. We saw workers doing a job at the Hyundai plant that Atlas is being trained to perform. I guarantee you there are going to be people who will say, I'm going to lose my job to a robot.

[Anderson Cooper]

Work does change. So the really repetitive, really backbreaking labor is going to end up being done by robots. But these robots are not so autonomous that they don't need to be managed. They need to be built, they need to be trained, they need to be serviced.

[Bill Whitaker]

Plater told us it could be several years before Atlas joins the Hyundai workforce full time. Goldman Sachs predicts the market for humanoids will reach $38 billion within the decade. Boston Dynamics and other US robot makers are fighting, fighting to come out on top. But they're not the only ones in the ring. Chinese companies are proving to be formidable challengers. They're running to win. Are they outpacing us?

[Anderson Cooper]

The Chinese government has a mission to win the robotics race. Technically, I believe we remain in the lead, but there's a real threat there that simply through the scale of investment, we could fall behind.

[Bill Whitaker]

To stay ahead, Hyundai made that big investment in Boston Dynamics.

[Anderson Cooper]

Four robots.

[Bill Whitaker]

We were at the Georgia plant when Atlas engineer Zach Jakowski presented Atlas to Hong Soo Kim, Hyundai's head of global strategy. He came all the way from South Korea to check in on the brave new world the carmaker is funding. What do you think of the progress that they've made with Atlas? I think we are on track about the development Atlas.

[Anderson Cooper]

So far, it's very successful. It's a kind of start of a great journey.

[Bill Whitaker]

The destination, that humanoid future we mentioned at the start, robots like us, working beside us, walking among us. It's enough to make your head spin.

[Cecilia Vega]

The challenge of humanoid hands.

[Robert Plater]

I think there's still a lot of opportunity to do even more dexterous manipulation tasks with robots.

[Cecilia Vega]

@60Minutesovertime.Com. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing, to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into sign up for your $1 per month [e-mail] specialoffer. Very few people retire at the age of 16. Then again, few people have careers with as many twists as American figure skater Alyssa Liu. After becoming the youngest US women's champion in history at age 13, the phenom shocked the skating world when she abruptly quit a few years later. Now 20 years old, Alyssa is back and a favorite to win gold at the Winter Olympics next month. Her return to the sport was almost as surprising as her departure from it. No one knew what to expect when she started training again. But somehow, on a Friday night this past March in Boston, Melissa Liu was leading at the World Championships. With one performance to go, she was the final skater of the night. A world title hung in the balance. Within seconds, it was clear she was up to the moment. As Donna Summers disco beat pulsated, Alyssa Liu blissfully dashed around the ice, weaving intricate jump combinations with artistic flair. The sold out crowd in Boston roared its approval.

[Alyssa Liu]

In my spin, right before I hit my ending point, I saw everybody already standing up. Oh, my God. I was like, this is wild. That was the most hype I've ever felt in my entire life. It's a crazy sensation.

[Cecilia Vega]

Alyssa Liu had seized the night. She was the world champion.

[Anderson Cooper]

You did it.

[Cecilia Vega]

Her coaches, Philip Di Guglielmo and Massimo Scali, were overjoyed.

[Anderson Cooper]

Wow.

[Cecilia Vega]

Did you guys see this coming?

[Anderson Cooper]

No, no, no. A year after she stepped back on the ice, she was tough.

[Cecilia Vega]

It's unheard of in our sport.

[Anderson Cooper]

It is.

[Cecilia Vega]

It is unheard of in women's figure skating because Liu has come back now as a grown woman.

[Alyssa Liu]

You know, that wasn't bad for how I feel.

[Cecilia Vega]

A little edgier, bleached hair and more piercings. But also a full 7 inches taller than when she first broke through.

[Scott Pelley]

By.

[Cecilia Vega]

Winning the 2019 US Championship. At 13, she was still a child. The 4 foot 7 dynamo needed a lift to ascend to the top of the podium. Liu won another national title at age 14 and was hailed as the great American hope in figure skating.

[Alyssa Liu]

And I skated every day when I was like, 13, 14. So it was a very abnormal childhood.

[Cecilia Vega]

She says coaches told her when to practice, what to wear, which music to skate to, even how much to eat. Was it a job?

[Anderson Cooper]

Yes.

[Alyssa Liu]

Yeah, especially as a kid, you know, you don't really know what you want. Skating feels more like a responsibility or a burden even.

[Cecilia Vega]

Like, this is what I have to do.

[Alyssa Liu]

Yeah.

[Cecilia Vega]

It was Alyssa's father who was the engine of ambition. He was really in your business when you were younger?

[Alyssa Liu]

Oh, yeah. I mean, it was basically his business. It wasn't even really mine.

[Cecilia Vega]

Arthur Liu had no skating background in his native China. He had organized demonstrations during the time of the Tiananmen Square protests and was forced to flee. He came to America with nothing. Arthur built a law practice and a family in the Bay Area. A single dad, he had five kids with the help of surrogates, Alyssa was his oldest child, and her figure skating career became his Second full time job.

[Anderson Cooper]

I took her everywhere. I took her to Japan to learn from the top coaches there. I took her to Canada.

[Cecilia Vega]

How much do you think you spent to help her become the figure skater?

[Anderson Cooper]

That I would say half a million to a million dollars.

[Cecilia Vega]

Arthur.

[Anderson Cooper]

I spared no money, no time.

[Cecilia Vega]

Why?

[Anderson Cooper]

I just saw the talent.

[Cecilia Vega]

With so much at stake, Arthur began cycling and recycling through coaches. How many times did he fire you?

[Bill Whitaker]

Me?

[Anderson Cooper]

Once, I think. Three times.

[Cecilia Vega]

Three times?

[Anderson Cooper]

Once in person. Two via text, I think. Yeah. Your services are no longer needed.

[Cecilia Vega]

Some coaches tried to keep Arthur away from the rink, but one afternoon, he just couldn't help himself.

[Anderson Cooper]

Just one time. I sneaked into the ice rink. Why? Big jacket, sunglasses, head covered. Entered the ice rink from the back, not from the front.

[Alyssa Liu]

So I was sitting there up in.

[Anderson Cooper]

The bleachers, watching, and I didn't like what I saw. Standing around for 20 minutes. Skated around the rank a few times. That's where my money was going.

[Cecilia Vega]

And how did that go down?

[Anderson Cooper]

We stopped working with that coach.

[Cecilia Vega]

These stories.

[Anderson Cooper]

Yes.

[Cecilia Vega]

Make it sound like you were like this tiger dad who was all over her career, pushing her. Is that fair?

[Anderson Cooper]

Not quite. Not quite. I was laissez faire. Yes.

[Cecilia Vega]

A laissez faire dad doesn't bring a radar gun to the skating rink.

[Anderson Cooper]

Well, I mean, you know, the radar gun is to measure her speed.

[Cecilia Vega]

Alyssa says everything changed when the pandemic hit. In 2020, her rink in Oakland closed, allowing her to. To catch your breath.

[Alyssa Liu]

I was like, wow, this is what a break feels like. And then I was like, I really like not skating.

[Cecilia Vega]

The pandemic hits, most people are like, oh, this is such a bummer.

[Alyssa Liu]

Honestly, I was hoping, like, the rinks wouldn't open.

[Cecilia Vega]

When rinks did open, Alyssa reluctantly returned to the ice. She made the 2022 U.S. olympic team, finishing sixth in Beijing. But she'd had it with figure skating.

[Alyssa Liu]

And then I was like, yeah, I'm calling quits right now.

[Cecilia Vega]

She did it on Instagram, catching the sport by surprise. So tell me about the decision to retire.

[Alyssa Liu]

It was a crucial time in my Life. I was 16, and college was coming up. Like, I wanted to do so much. I went to Nepal, and I trekked to Everest base camp. Me and my friends would do tons of road trips. Yeah, I mean, I was really just living it up. I would say it was my best life.

[Cecilia Vega]

At any point, are you like, gosh, I kind of miss skating?

[Anderson Cooper]

No.

[Cecilia Vega]

Not at all. You're not thinking about it at all?

[Alyssa Liu]

No, not a thought. I deleted my instagram So I wouldn't see any skating. No one ever brought it up. So I never even had the chance to think about it.

[Cecilia Vega]

But nearly two years into her self imposed exile, she secretly laced up her skates. And did you tell your family you were putting your skates back then?

[Alyssa Liu]

I mean, I wasn't planning to return to competition at this point. I just wanted to. Quick hits of dopamine, basically.

[Cecilia Vega]

Soon she wanted more. She pestered one of her many former coaches, Philip Di Guglielmo.

[Alyssa Liu]

And so I call up Philip and I tell him, like, hey, I think I want to go back to skating.

[Anderson Cooper]

And I said, oh, that's fun. And I thought, like, oh, you want to do collegiate competitions? And she goes, no, I want to compete again. And I said, let me call you back. I go, and I grab a bottle of red wine and I open that bottle and I pour myself a really big glass.

[Cecilia Vega]

And are you thinking this is a terrible idea?

[Anderson Cooper]

This is a terrible idea? Terrible idea. Two and a half hours later of conversation with me trying to talk her out of it. And everything I said, like, oh, I said, you're. You know, other people have tried this.

[Bill Whitaker]

They.

[Anderson Cooper]

And it was hard because they're older. She goes, I'm only 18.

[Cecilia Vega]

Alyssa made it clear on the FaceTime call if she came back, she would be in charge going forward.

[Alyssa Liu]

I get to pick my own program music. I get to help with the creative process of the program. If I feel like I'm skating too much, I'll back down. If I feel like I'm not skating enough, I'll ramp it up. No one's gonna starve me. Tell me what I can and can't eat.

[Anderson Cooper]

I love the arm on Philip Di.

[Cecilia Vega]

Guglielmo agreed with with Alyssa's conditions.

[Anderson Cooper]

It's really the stretch.

[Cecilia Vega]

And brought back choreographer Massimo Scali.

[Alyssa Liu]

It's like, bam, I got my team. I told you it was figure skating. And then I told my dad.

[Cecilia Vega]

And how did dad react when you told him that?

[Alyssa Liu]

I mean, he was really happy. He's a great father, you know, I just didn't want him to be as invested in it as he was before.

[Cecilia Vega]

When she said she didn't want you on the team anymore, were you hurt?

[Anderson Cooper]

A little bit. A little bit.

[Alyssa Liu]

It's like I brought you up to.

[Anderson Cooper]

Two US national titles.

[Cecilia Vega]

Do you think Alyssa's a little bit of a rebel?

[Alyssa Liu]

Yes.

[Cecilia Vega]

Like her father?

[Anderson Cooper]

I think so. I really think so. She is a very free spirit, like me in many ways.

[Cecilia Vega]

God has a sense of humor, right?

[Alyssa Liu]

Yes, absolutely.

[Cecilia Vega]

In June 2024, Alyssa started training again full time at her home rink, the Oakland Ice Center. The idea was to take it slowly to see where her comeback might lead, if anywhere. At first, she was out of shape. When you got back on the ice, how long did you think it would take you to be a contender for a world championship?

[Alyssa Liu]

Oh, never.

[Anderson Cooper]

I never.

[Cecilia Vega]

That was not the.

[Alyssa Liu]

No, guys, high five.

[Anderson Cooper]

Yeah.

[Cecilia Vega]

But her coaches saw the old men magic reappear.

[Anderson Cooper]

Oh, beautiful. That was really pretty. I don't even know what to say. The jumps came back like that.

[Cecilia Vega]

How amazing is that?

[Bill Whitaker]

Oh, and incredible.

[Anderson Cooper]

And there was something different about the way she moved her body. That was no longer a child.

[Alyssa Liu]

Yeah, I kind of don't like that. The leg and arm both move together.

[Cecilia Vega]

With her in charge, is she a better skater?

[Anderson Cooper]

Okay, 100%.

[Cecilia Vega]

What do you see?

[Anderson Cooper]

For many years, she was dropped off at the rink. She was told what to do. Now she comes in, and it is all collaborative.

[Alyssa Liu]

I could, like, hold.

[Anderson Cooper]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I like that.

[Cecilia Vega]

Her attachment to her coaches can be literal. This harness and what looks like a fishing pole help reel her in before she falls. But eventually, they have to let her go. No.

[Bill Whitaker]

Nah.

[Cecilia Vega]

This is what it takes to become a champion. Constant pounding.

[Alyssa Liu]

I'm so tired.

[Cecilia Vega]

In pursuit of perfection. One more. I saw that when you were training, and they're like, okay, that's good. And you're like, one more. Yeah, one more.

[Alyssa Liu]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cecilia Vega]

You don't need somebody pushing you.

[Alyssa Liu]

I know. I have my own, like, determination. My determination's, like, up there.

[Cecilia Vega]

You're pretty scrappy.

[Alyssa Liu]

I love struggling, actually.

[Cecilia Vega]

You do.

[Alyssa Liu]

It makes me feel alive.

[Cecilia Vega]

Skating isn't Alyssa Liu's entire life anymore. She's traded her ice princess tiara for a little freedom. When you pulled your skirt out like.

[Alyssa Liu]

That, that was cute.

[Cecilia Vega]

And room for expression.

[Alyssa Liu]

Oh, yeah.

[Cecilia Vega]

This is what's unique about Alyssa skating is her blend of jumping ability and alluring movement. Do you view yourself as an athlete or an artist?

[Alyssa Liu]

An artist, actually. But I. I love being an athlete, too. I think it's really cool. I view competitions more as, like, a stage for performing.

[Cecilia Vega]

There was. There will be no bigger stage than next month's Winter Olympics in Italy, where Alyssa will be a gold medal favorite. No American woman has won an Olympic figure skating singles Title in 24 years. Do you feel any kind of pressure that now I've got to do the Olympics and I need to win gold?

[Alyssa Liu]

No, actually, I'm really excited because my goal, honestly, is just to hype people up, give them an extra experience. Whether it's negative or positive, as long as people are feeling some strong emotions and anticipation, I'm fine with that.

[Cecilia Vega]

Now the Last minute of 60 minutes to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence. We're inviting leaders in the arts, science and business to end this broadcast with their reflections on America. We begin with astronaut Suni Williams. She spent 608 days in space on three separate missions. We asked her what struck you about the view of America from orbit?

[Alyssa Liu]

Looking at Earth from 250 miles above.

[Cecilia Vega]

Onboard the International Space Station is just amazing. And I can't help but think about.

[Alyssa Liu]

The 250 years of American innovation that got us to that point where we.

[Cecilia Vega]

Actually can have this view.

[Anderson Cooper]

Houston Station 2 for Fur Rap. Go ahead on two.

[Cecilia Vega]

You know, it's actually really, really fun.

[Alyssa Liu]

When you start to head toward the United States.

[Cecilia Vega]

You know, you come over the west coast, you start to recognize things, and that's home.

[Alyssa Liu]

You start to see the beaches that, you know, you start to see the.

[Cecilia Vega]

Rocky Mountains, the plains, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi river, the Appalachians, and finally the east coast, where my family and friends are from. And then you have to automatically sit back and look at the country as a whole. We are working together as one country. And that's the view that we have. It is so special. From that view, it's hard not to think about where we as a country will be in the next 250 years. I think our possibilities are only limited by our imagination. I'm Sharon Alphonsi. Next Sunday, CBS broadcasts the Golden Globe Awards. So we'll be back in two weeks with another edition of 60 Minutes. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows.

[Anderson Cooper]

This is the mindset.

[Cecilia Vega]

Like Joe Dirt, Pixels Survivor and spongebob off squarepants. Free.

[Anderson Cooper]

You're welcome.

[Cecilia Vega]

Pluto tv. Stream now pay Never.

[Bill Whitaker]

Everything you've done has come to this. The biggest and wildest mission yet is now streaming.

[Anderson Cooper]

I need you to trust me one last time. Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible the final reckoning. Rated VG13.

[Bill Whitaker]

Now streaming on Paramount Plus.