Recent Robot News
Stay up to date with robotics, AI breakthroughs, and product launches.
543 news found • Page 8 of 12
TetraBOT’s Two-Tier Robot Platforms Put Development Access on a New Price Curve
TetraBOT has launched two distinct development platforms: the accessible T4-C wheeled humanoid and the specialized TIM-F200 explosion-proof quadruped. This dual-pronged strategy lowers the barrier to entry for general robotics research while simultaneously addressing the high-end, hazardous-environment industrial market.
Japan Backs Noetra’s National Physical-AI Cloud With 27,500 NVIDIA Rubin GPUs
Japan is treating robot-training compute as national industrial infrastructure, backing Noetra Corp. with roughly US$6.2 billion to build a sovereign physical AI ecosystem powered by 27,500 NVIDIA Rubin GPUs.
Xiaomi Releases Robotics-1 With 100,000 Hours of Embodied Training Data
Xiaomi Robotics has released the Robotics-1 Vision-Language-Action model, trained on over 100,000 hours of real-world trajectories to address the data scarcity bottleneck in embodied AI.
MIIT Opens Public Comment on Technical Standards for Substation and Manufacturing Humanoid Robots
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has opened a public comment period on new technical standards governing humanoid robots used in electrical substations and home appliance manufacturing, an early step toward standardized performance evaluation as deployment scales.
luna 4 min read
Shanghai's MScape to Debut Domestic Embodied AI Brain Chips at WAIC 2026
MScape, a year-old Shanghai startup incubated by the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, will publicly debut its Tongjing and Zhijing embodied AI compute modules at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, alongside a claimed world-first biomedical operating system built for embodied AI.
luna 4 min read
Nvidia and Kawasaki Heavy Team Up to Build an AI-Powered Shipyard in Japan
Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Nvidia are partnering to build a next-generation shipyard that uses Nvidia's digital twin technology and Kawasaki's welding robots to address Japan's shrinking pool of skilled shipyard welders.
luna 4 min read
Hyundai-Backed Novatek Raises US$4.7 Million to Take Its Robot Orchestration Platform to North America
Novatek, a Korean startup whose PiPER platform already coordinates over 300 robots inside Hyundai's Georgia Metaplant, has raised 7 billion won to expand into North American logistics hubs with a robot-as-a-service model.
luna 4 min read
Boston Dynamics Tests a Conveyor-Equipped Spot Robot for Last-Mile Package Delivery
Boston Dynamics is piloting a new conveyor-belt accessory for its quadruped robot Spot that lets it carry packages from a delivery van and drop them at doorsteps, aiming to reduce the physical strain on human delivery drivers.
luna 4 min read
Shanghai's RoboParty Raises Nearly RMB 500 Million for Open-Source Humanoid Robots
Shanghai humanoid robotics startup RoboParty has closed nearly RMB 500 million (about US$69 million) across two funding rounds, with battery giant CATL leading the latest tranche, as the company pushes its open-source bipedal robot design toward mass production.
luna 14 min read
Kawasaki lines up JPY 193.4 billion for robotics, physical AI
Kawasaki Heavy Industries expects about JPY 193.4 billion in net proceeds from a new share offering and a bond offering. The allocation includes robotics manufacturing capacity, a Nishi-Kobe Works investment to raise supply for semiconductor robotics, and about JPY 30.5 billion for physical artificial intelligence research and development, strategic alliances, and debt repayment or bond redemption.
SK Telecom’s AI-RAN Pilot Moves Physical AI Into the Network Layer
SK Telecom was selected to lead a Hyper-AI network demonstration in South Korea. Over two years it will pilot AI-RAN features for three physical AI services, staging trials at Incheon and Pangyo before extending to Pyeongtaek. The work targets uplink capacity, latency, distributed computation, mobility, and reliability.
Xiaomi’s Humanoid Factory Trial Is Progress, Not Proof of Full Autonomy
Xiaomi reports high station success rates for its humanoid robot on three automotive factory tasks, including flexible interior covers and box folding. The evidence shows bounded station progress with meaningful manipulation content, but lacks cycle, uptime, intervention, and cost data required to claim broad labor replacement.
Hyundai MobED vs Samsung Dremo: The Form Factor Debate
Hyundai and Samsung are testing contrasting consumer robotics architectures. Hyundai’s MobED concepts center on a reusable mobility base with posture control. Samsung’s Dremo, Minimo, and PUCO center on a persistent AI identity across home and portable companions. Awards signal intent, not product readiness.
SoftBank and Yaskawa Prove Physical AI Can Tame Deformable Objects
SoftBank and Yaskawa showcased a Physical AI system that can manipulate tangled wire harnesses, using NVIDIA-powered simulation, synthetic data, and cloud training. The demo is a small but important step in Japan's wider push to deploy robots across industry and care work.
luna 6 min read
Swancor to Debut Shape-Shifting Quester1 Robot at WAIC 2026
Chinese manufacturer Swancor Advanced Materials will unveil the Quester1, a personal robot capable of automatically switching between bipedal and quadrupedal forms, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference.
Yaskawa Electric Shares Plunge Following Q1 Profit Collapse
Shares of Japanese factory automation giant Yaskawa Electric fell sharply after the company reported a 19 percent drop in operating profit, driven by severe IT system migration disruptions.
General Motors Grades Suppliers on Automation Maturity Amid Labor Tensions
General Motors is pushing its supply chain toward near-total automation with a new maturity index, raising concerns among suppliers and labor unions about the future of manufacturing jobs.
IFR Barcelona Declaration on Robotics and Automation 2026
Four leading global robotics organizations have signed the Barcelona Declaration on Robotics and Automation 2026, establishing a permanent framework to advocate for pro-automation public policies.
Hyundai Motor Workers Strike Over Robot Job Security and AI Deployment
Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor have initiated a partial strike, demanding income guarantees and formal negotiations before the automaker deploys Atlas humanoid robots in its factories.
Holiday Robotics Secures US$103.4 Million Series A to Scale Humanoid Manufacturing
South Korean humanoid startup Holiday Robotics has raised US$103.4 million in the country's largest-ever Series A round, targeting mass production of its manufacturing-focused FRIDAY robot.
Robots Hit the Factory Floor — and They're Bringing Safety Certificates
Physical AI is moving into factories through certified safety systems, live industrial trials, and better human instruction handling.
luna 4 min read
Persona AI Deploys Humanoid Welding Robot in Houston Shipyards
Houston-based Persona AI (founded 2024) has deployed a humanoid welding robot and signed an MOU with HD Hyundai (world's largest shipbuilder) for shipyard applications. The 175cm, 85kg robot is designed to fit the same physical envelope as human welders in confined shipyard spaces. The article covers the teleoperation-first development approach, the economics of shipyard welding ($150K-200K fully loaded cost per welder), the cross-border supply chain strategy, and why the humanoid form factor makes genuine sense for constrained environments that cannot be redesigned.
SK Hynix Record Nasdaq Debut Signals Capital Flow to AI Infrastructure
SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion in the largest US equity sale by a foreign company, with 7x oversubscription. The article connects this to the robotics supply chain through HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) chips essential for embodied AI compute. It covers the Yongin cluster funding, Micron's $250B US expansion plan, and why massive upstream investment in AI compute infrastructure has downstream implications for robotics cost curves and capability scaling.
Agility Robotics SPAC Highlights Safety Certification as Commercial Gate
A deep analysis of why safety certification, not technology, is the binding constraint on Agility Robotics' commercial scaling. The Digit robot has logged 65,000 deployment hours with a $300M order book and $37M trailing revenue (implying a 34x P/S multiple at SPAC valuation). The article examines NVIDIA Halos integration, ISO/IEC 17020 inspection requirements, and why the gap between "technically capable" and "certified for fenceless operation" is the real bottleneck for the entire humanoid sector.
IAG Invests in Verve Motion to Bring Wearable Robotics to Aviation
International Airlines Group (British Airways, Iberia parent) invested in Verve Motion, a Harvard University spin-out that makes soft-textile exosuits for baggage handlers. The company has raised $55M+ total. The article covers the biomechanics of repetitive lifting injuries in aviation ground handling, the connected-data platform that tracks worker fatigue, the economics of musculoskeletal injury claims in airlines, and how wearable robotics represents a distinct adoption pathway that bypasses the safety certification barriers facing full humanoid robots.
Chinese Startup Deploys Embodied AI Welding Robot Across 10 Factories
Xinhua reports a Chinese startup has deployed an embodied AI welding robot across 10+ factories in shipbuilding, steel structures, and bridge construction. The system uses 3D vision, force sensing, and real-time path planning to weld complex curved surfaces without pre-programmed trajectories. The article covers the economics (effective hourly cost below 80 RMB vs. 120-180 RMB for human welders), the labor shortage driving adoption, quality improvements (95%+ first-pass inspection rates), and competitive positioning against Path Robotics and Novarc Technologies.
China Embodied AI Model Explosion Shifts Competition to Software
Chinese research labs and startups released 13 distinct embodied AI foundation models within a single 30-day window (June/July 2026), including BAAI's Wujie Physis, RoboBrain's Orca, Alibaba's Qwen Robot, and CasiaHand Brain Si. The article argues this signals competition has shifted from hardware manufacturing to software ecosystem control. Most models are open source, following the same market-capture playbook used in LLMs. The piece analyzes fragmentation risk, the global competitive response (NVIDIA Isaac, DeepMind, Tesla), and implications for vendor evaluation.
Insta360 Enters Consumer Robotics with Autonomous AI Cameraman
Insta360 has officially entered the consumer robotics market, announcing the formation of a dedicated robotics team on its 11th anniversary. The company unveiled its vision for an AI powered Cameraman robot, scheduled for launch in the second half of 2027. This move signals a significant expansion for the camera manufacturer, leveraging its expertise in imaging and AI to create an autonomous filming agent.
Norway's Six Robotics Raises €12M for Drone Swarm Autonomy
Oslo-based Six Robotics has raised €12 million led by DTCP to scale software that lets multiple drones operate as a coordinated team, part of a European push for homegrown defense autonomy.
AI2 Robotics Raises $735M to Scale Wheeled Humanoid Robots in China
Shenzhen startup AI2 Robotics closed a $735 million round at a $2.8 billion valuation, backed by state funds and industrial giants, as it bets that wheeled humanoid robots can reach factory floors faster than bipedal alternatives.
RoboSense LiDAR Sales to Robots Surge 510 Percent in First Half 2026
RoboSense reported that LiDAR sales to robotics customers grew 510 percent year over year in the first half of 2026 to 282,600 units, overtaking growth in its traditional autonomous driving business and reinforcing its position as the top robotics LiDAR supplier worldwide.
Oxipital AI Raises Series A as Food Plants Adopt Its Vision Platform
Bedford, Massachusetts based Oxipital AI has closed a Series A round to expand its V-CORTX AI vision platform after landing a contract to deploy 120 systems for foreign object detection across food manufacturing lines facing persistent labor shortages.
Simplexity Robotics Ships 100 Robots to Factory Floors
Simplexity Robotics, founded less than a year ago, has delivered its first 100 i7 Pro embodied AI robots to production lines including harmonic reducer maker Leaderdrive, moving from laboratory validation to multi site industrial deployment at an unusually fast pace.
MIT and EPFL's Flapping Robot Flies and Swims Like a Bird
Researchers at MIT and EPFL have built a half pound flapping wing robot that swims underwater and then breaks the surface to fly, mimicking diving birds such as puffins, in a design that could let scientists sample oceans without large research vessels.
Seoul's DDP to Deploy SK Intellix NAMUHX Wellness Robots
The Seoul Design Foundation has partnered with SK Intellix to deploy a fleet of autonomous NAMUHX wellness robots across Dongdaemun Design Plaza, turning the Zaha Hadid landmark into a public test bed for air quality monitoring and contactless health screening.
Hangzhou's Xihu Robotics Closes Third Funding Round in Five Months
Westlake University spinout Xihu Robotics has closed its third funding round in five months, over 100 million yuan from Henan Investment Group's Huirong Fund, as its O1 humanoid moves from lab demonstrations into logistics inspection and cultural tourism deployments.
DEWALT and August Robotics Launch Fleet-Capable Downward Drilling Robot for Data Centers
DEWALT and August Robotics have commercially launched DALE, an autonomous downward drilling robot designed to accelerate data center construction by drilling up to 10 times faster than traditional methods.
Kraken Technology Group Reaches Unicorn Status With $175M Series B
UK-based Kraken Technology Group has secured a $175 million Series B funding round led by DTCP, reaching a $1 billion valuation as it rapidly scales uncrewed surface vessel production across NATO countries.
ForSight Robotics Completes Fully Robotic Cataract Surgery on Human Patient
ForSight Robotics has achieved a historic milestone by completing the world's first fully robotic cataract surgery on a human patient using its JASPER platform, addressing critical surgeon shortages, consistency challenges, and ergonomic strain in ophthalmology. The procedure marks a major step for robotic microsurgery, although it should be understood as robot-assisted surgery under surgeon control rather than independent AI autonomy.
Dexmal Unveils DM0.5 Embodied Foundation Model with 31 Percent Zero-Shot Navigation Jump
Dexmal has launched DM0.5, a 4-billion-parameter embodied foundation model that improves zero-shot robot navigation by 31 percent and cuts fine-tuning costs by 60 percent. The release targets the software bottleneck holding back robot deployment in dynamic commercial spaces.
LG Electronics Starts Mass Production of Its AXIUM Robot Actuator Months Early
LG Electronics has begun full scale mass production of AXIUM, its robot actuator, several months ahead of schedule at its Changwon plant. The company will install the parts first in its own Cloid home humanoid robot as it races to secure a supply position in the fast growing humanoid robot market.
Taiwan's First Rescue Robot Dog Passes Its Fire Trial at 120 Degrees Celsius
Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute has cleared a domestically built quadruped robot for firefighting duty after the machine walked through smoke and heat up to 120 degrees Celsius, marking Taiwan's first verified fire rescue robot dog.
Rokae Surges 15 Percent in Hong Kong Debut as Capital Backs China’s Cobot Champion
Rokae Robotics made a strong debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under Chapter 18C, rising 15.21 percent on its first trading day. The listing gives China’s flexible collaborative robot leader fresh capital for capacity expansion, embodied AI research and international growth, while also signaling stronger public market confidence in deployable robotics platforms.
Taisei and Fanuc's New AI Warehouse Doubles Storage Space in Japan
Japanese construction group Taisei and robot maker Fanuc have jointly developed an AI powered automated warehouse system that roughly doubles storage capacity within the same building footprint, using industrial robots, facility engineering, and AI driven layout optimization to increase storage density in constrained industrial real estate.
Mitsubishi Motors Bets on Humanoid Robots to Rescue Japan's Factories
Mitsubishi Motors and Highlanders have agreed to jointly develop humanoid robots and explore mass production at the Kyoto Plant, signaling a major push to bring physical AI into Japanese factories.
luna 4 min read
Ant Group Leads $74 Million Round for Home Robot Maker Zeroth
Chinese home robotics startup Zeroth has raised about 74 million dollars in pre series A funding led by Ant Group, taking its total funding to roughly 147 million dollars. The round arrives alongside two new full size embodied AI products, Jupiter and N1, and follows a reported 600 percent year over year revenue jump in the first half of 2026.
The Reality Check for Generalist Robots: What the RoboDojo Benchmark Reveals About Embodied AI
The newly released RoboDojo benchmark exposes the stark reality of current generalist robot manipulation models, revealing single-digit success rates and challenging industry timelines for production-ready embodied AI.
NVIDIA and Hugging Face Open Up Humanoid Robot Brains to 19 Million Developers
NVIDIA and Hugging Face are bringing GR00T 1.7 and Isaac Teleop into LeRobot, opening advanced humanoid robotics tools to millions of developers.
luna 5 min read