Robotics
127 reportsRobot safety and actuators supply complementary evidence rather than a single decisive result. Together they clarify how motion is controlled and what failure modes occur, distinguishing a laboratory demonstration from a dependable operational system.
WorMa Robot Shifts Water Weight to Conquer Rough Terrain
NYU's WorMa prototype moves 300 grams of water between its head and tail to change traction on slopes and steps and improve swimming without switching its basic undulating motion
Amazon puts one million robots behind physical AI development
AWS has introduced the open-source Physical AI Toolchain, combining cloud infrastructure with NVIDIA software to help companies generate data, train models, simulate robots and deploy them at the edge while making clear that the platform is not itself a ready-made robot or safety certification.
Humanoid Robots Move Into FAW-Volkswagen Factory Logistics
UBTECH and FAW-Volkswagen will jointly develop and test embodied-AI humanoid robots for factory logistics and smart-manufacturing demonstrations. The agreement expands earlier production-line trials but does not establish autonomous routine deployment or identify a timetable, site, robot fleet or logistics task list.
FiberMotor puts linear motion into a thread-like motor
EPFL researchers developed FiberMotor, a 1-3-millimeter electrostatic actuator made from two hollow fibers and copper electrodes. Applying voltage makes one fiber slide inside the other, producing quiet bidirectional linear motion for textiles and soft robotic devices.
DEWALT's DALE Robot Drills 385000 Concrete Holes
DEWALT says its DALE drilling robot has completed more than 385000 concrete holes with over 99 percent accuracy; company-reported deployments include more than 300 weeks saved across 44 data-center construction phases, while August Robotics separately reported 190 weeks saved across 26 major projects.
NASA Tests Autonomous Satellite Inspection in Low Earth Orbit
NASA's SSPICY mission has launched the 335-kilogram Otter 24C spacecraft to inspect up to four inoperable U.S.-origin objects in low Earth orbit and test autonomous technologies for future servicing and debris removal.
Two Actuators Give a Feather Star Robot Three-Dimensional Control
A North Carolina State University prototype uses two actuators and four elastic wings to move vertically, horizontally, and rotationally underwater while relying on structure rather than additional motors.
AGILINK Robot Hand Takes on Silk Embroidery
AGILINK's robot hand separated silk into 16 strands, threaded a needle and made initial Suzhou embroidery stitches in a company demonstration focused on tactile control rather than simple gripping.
Clone Robotics sets November launch target for Torso 4
Clone Robotics has shown a remotely controlled Torso 3 hand while targeting November 2026 for Torso 4, a redesigned platform aimed at stationary two-arm workplace tasks.
Kawasaki Plans Staged AI Control for Kaleido Humanoid Robot
Kawasaki plans to combine remote operators with Noetra's physical AI in Kaleido from around 2030 before attempting autonomous industrial work in less structured environments by 2040
University of Stuttgart plans autonomous robot teams for construction
University of Stuttgart researchers are designing SCALAR and COBRAS to assemble timber modules and lightweight space frames with coordinated robot teams while testing whether automation can reduce waste and site labor
LinkerHand O30 Performs Magic Tricks With 20 Active Degrees
LinkerBot's LinkerHand O30 performed card and coin tricks in a company demonstration that showed precise finger coordination while leaving its reliability outside controlled tasks untested
China Builds PLA Colleges Around Drones and AI
China's PLA has established new colleges for unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, engineering support and military oversight, signaling a long-term effort to turn emerging technologies into formal training and maintenance capabilities.
Humanoid Robots Face a Reality Gap Before Factory Work
Humanoid robots can walk and manipulate objects in demonstrations, but reliable factory work still depends on real-world data, simulation, measurable safety systems and continuous human oversight.
Atlas Gets Four Fingers for Industrial Robot Work
Boston Dynamics unveiled a four-finger, 13-degree-of-freedom hand for Atlas on October 1, 2026. The company says the directly actuated design can reorient objects, recover from slipping grasps and operate demanding industrial tools.
NASA Tests Human-Supervised Robots for Lunar and Mars Work
NASA is testing robots that can recognize hatches, open heavy doors, move cargo and service equipment while astronauts provide high-level commands across the communication delays of lunar and Mars missions.
A $3,555 Home Robot Trades Strength for Simplicity
Flourish 1 is a compact household robot that owners teach by demonstration. Its low price, 3.3-pound lifting limit, and task-specific software reveal a deliberate tradeoff between broad capability and practical domestic automation.
Texas A&M Drone Carries More Than Twice Its Own Weight
Texas A&M aerospace students flew a 50-pound battery-powered drone carrying 110 pounds over four nautical miles in 12 minutes at the first DARPA Lift Challenge, demonstrating the limits and promise of lightweight heavy-lift engineering.
ANYmal Robots Gain Digital Credentials for Industrial Doors
ANYbotics says its ANYmal robots can authenticate at restricted doors and pass through existing industrial sites using dormakaba automation and LEGIC credentials, while human oversight and layered security remain part of the operating model.
China claims first fully domestic embodied AI robot
A robot unveiled in Yichang on 28 September 2026 links AI decision-making to physical control through an electronic architecture developed in China. The developers, associated with Dongtoo Tech and LimX Dynamics, report safe operation after simulated joint damage and cyberattack tests, but provide no independent verification or numerical reliability data.
Atlas Enters Hyundai Factories Through a New Robotics Testbed
Boston Dynamics and Hyundai have opened a Georgia facility where trainers are teaching Atlas humanoid robots to sort parts and sequence factory work before planned industrial expansion
MIT Builds a Muscle-Powered Robot Thin Enough to Swim Mazes
MIT engineers have built a paper-thin biohybrid robot that swims through water using light-responsive muscle cells. Its maze test demonstrates controlled locomotion with minimal biological material, but not autonomous operation.
NASA Builds Humanoid Robots for Safer Lunar Work
NASA's 16-member Dexterous Robotics Team is testing humanoid robots, robotic arms, and supervised autonomy for logistics, maintenance, and scientific work supporting a sustained human presence on the Moon and possible future missions to Mars.
US Air Force Begins Testing Its First Collaborative Combat Aircraft
The United States Air Force has received Anduril's YFQ-44A and General Atomics' YFQ-42A for experiments on how semi-autonomous aircraft can operate with crewed fighters in contested airspace
DirectHop Shows How Tiny Robots Could Hop Over Obstacles
University of Washington engineers built DirectHop, a roughly one-gram robot that can hop over a stair-like obstacle, recover after landing and prepare for another jump without relying on a spring.
Unitree Humanoids Bring Chinese Water Sleeve Dance to America's Got Talent
Eight Unitree G1 humanoid robots joined Sichuan dancer Wu Yufei for a synchronized water-sleeve routine in the Season 21 finale of America's Got Talent, demonstrating carefully programmed coordination rather than independent machine improvisation.
Tiny Drones Navigate Dark Spaces With Artificial Whiskers
Researchers at Delft University of Technology demonstrated a tiny drone that uses pressure-sensitive artificial whiskers to navigate clear-wall test environments without relying on visual information.
Robotic Hands Struggle With Real Objects Despite Athletic Feats
Humanoid robots can now perform acrobatics and dance routines but still fail at reliably folding laundry or handling fragile objects. New research highlights why tactile sensing and unpredictable environments remain unsolved barriers.
Figure and Nscale plan massive GPU buildout for robot AI training
Figure and Nscale have announced a multi-billion dollar partnership to deploy up to 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs for training general-purpose humanoid robot AI models, aiming to overcome the data and compute bottlenecks in physical intelligence research
XPeng begins mass production of IRON humanoid robot in Guangzhou
XPeng has started manufacturing its IRON humanoid robot at a dedicated facility in Guangzhou, aiming to scale up production with automated lines as rivals like Tesla face delays in bringing similar robots to market.
Humanoid Robot GEAIR 2.0 Automates Tomato Flower Pollination in Beijing
A humanoid robot called GEAIR 2.0 has been demonstrated in Beijing performing autonomous hybrid pollination of tomato flowers. The system aims to reduce manual labor in crop breeding by combining robotics, AI, and gene editing in real greenhouse conditions.
Zeroth releases Bridge robot and open-source platform for embodied AI
Zeroth has launched Bridge, a desktop-sized humanoid robot built for AI research, along with OpenBridge, an open-source platform for sharing robot skills and development tools. The system is aimed at researchers and hardware builders interested in real-world embodied AI.
Fluffy Robot MOFU Tested for Lifelike Movement in Animacy Study
A Japanese team built MOFU, a spherical robot that expands and contracts its body to test whether volumetric movement makes machines seem more alive. Nearly 500 participants rated its lifelikeness in controlled video experiments
AEON Humanoid Robot Begins Industrial Training at Schaeffler Facility
Hexagon Robotics and Schaeffler have started training the AEON humanoid robot in a dedicated industrial environment in Germany, aiming to equip the system for manufacturing tasks and prepare for a planned rollout of at least 1,000 units
Unitree G1 Robot Demonstrates Autonomous Sparring Using UnifoLM-X2-1.0
Unitree Robotics has released footage of its G1 humanoid robot sparring with a human using the UnifoLM-X2-1.0 AI model, highlighting advances in predictive perception and autonomous motion planning for dynamic physical tasks
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