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In China, humanoid robots are serving as Lunar New Year entertainment, with their manufacturers pitching their song-and-dance skills to the general public as well as potential customers, investors and government officials.

In China, humanoid robots are serving as Lunar New Year entertainment, with their manufacturers pitching their song-and-dance skills to the general public as well as potential customers, investors and government officials.

Trending News: China's Kung fu is an ancient and revered martial art well known across the world, practised for over decades and passed down through generations of S.

Angelica Lim, an associate professor of computing science, is making sure empathy is being built into AI robots by using facial expressions.

The consolidation of SpaceX and xAI could lead to more adaptive use of robots, data, and AI in manufacturing, says Flexxbotics' CEO. The post What the SpaceX acquisition of xAI means for industrial robotics appeared first on The Robot Report.

During a tech demo at a mall in Shenzhen, China, over the weekend, Xpeng's Iron humanoid robot took a tumble for all to see.

/PRNewswire/ -- AGIBOT, a leading robotics company specializing in embodied intelligence, today hosted AGIBOT NIGHT, a robot-led gala show streaming on...

On its first attempted backflip, Atlas lost a hand. Now, the robot can combine the move with a cartwheel. Atlas has also learned to walk naturally, although Boston Dynamics didn’t pull this stunt off without accidents.

As the all-electric Atlas prepares for industrial deployment at Hyundai, Boston Dynamics and the RAI Institute released a final demonstration of the research platform performing high-level gymnastics and natural locomotion.

Automakers including Tesla and Hyundai are investing heavily in humanoid robots as a long-term cost-saving strategy, even as questions remain over productivity, technical feasibility, and the risk of widespread job losses.

In 2025, North American robot orders from non-automotive customers led the way, with cobots gaining more traction as well. The post North American robot orders rise by 6.6% in 2025, reports A3 appeared first on The Robot Report.

The champion delegation of humanoid robots from the first World Humanoid Robot Games visited China Media Group (CMG)'s broadcast studio for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Friday, showcasing China's latest breakthroughs in advanced robotics to a global audience.

Picture a humanoid robot, and you probably imagine something sleek, vaguely threatening, or at least a little cold. Maybe it's built for a factory floor, towering and intimidating, or designed to look eerily human in a way that triggers that uncanny valley feeling. Either way, it's not exactly something you'd want hanging around your living

A group of humanoid robots recently visited CMG's studio in Milan, ahead of the second edition of the World Humanoid Robot Games. The reigning champions from last year's inaugural Games have extended a global invitation and launched a worldwide "energy

Elon Musk told investors that Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot will revolutionize the world. But most of it could belong to China, he warned.

Waymo has unveiled its new World Model, powered by Google DeepMind’s Genie 3, to simulate rare "long-tail" driving scenarios and edge cases, signaling a major shift toward generative world models in the race for physical AI.

A new "class" has arrived at the Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan Province, where humanoid robots teamed up with monks to practice the legendary Shaolin Kung Fu.

The champion robots from last year's inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games on Friday issued a global invitation for more international robotics teams to join the event's second edition, which will be held in Beijing later this year.The advanced humanoids

A delegation of humanoid robots have visited China Media Group's studio in Milan, as the Winter Games get underway. The robots are the reigning champions of the first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games in 2025, claiming victories in obstacle races, football and real-world application events. They have extended a global invitation for the second Robot Games, launching a global 'energy relay' which coincided with the Olympic torch relay.

Boston Dynamics’ Aya Durbin explains the engineering challenges behind deploying humanoid robots in messy, real-world settings.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion. ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNA Enjoy today’s videos! To train the next generation of autonomous robots, scientists at Toyota Research Institute are working with Toyota Manufacturing to deploy them on the factory floor. [ Toyota Research Institute ] Thanks, Erin! This is just one story (of many) about how we tried, failed, and learned how to improve ‪drone delivery system. Okay but like you didn’t show the really cool bit...? [ Zipline ] We’re introducing KinetIQ, an AI framework developed by Humanoid, for end-to-end orchestration of humanoid robot fleets. KinetIQ coordinates wheeled and bipedal robots within a single system, managing both fleet-level operations and individual robot behaviour across multiple environments. The framework operates across four cognitive layers, from task allocation and workflow optimization to VLA-based task execution and reinforcement-learning-trained whole-body control, and is shown here running across our wheeled industrial robots and bipedal R&D platform. [ Humanoid ] What if a robot gets damaged during operation? Can it still perform its mission without immediate repair? Inspired by self-embodied resilience strategies of stick insects, we developed a decentralized adaptive resilient neural control system (DARCON). This system allows legged robots to autonomously adapt to limb loss, ensuring mission success despite mechanical failure. This innovative approach leads to a future of truly resilient, self-recovering robotics. [ VISTEC ] Thanks, Poramate! This animation shows Perseverance’s point of view during drive of 807 feet (246 meters) along the rim of Jezero Crater on Dec. 10, 2025, the 1,709th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Captured over two hours and 35 minutes, 53 Navigation Ca...

The bills seek to establish a National Commission on Robotics and restrict humanoid imports for U.S. security and competitiveness. The post Bills introduced to strengthen U.S. robotics competitiveness, humanoid security appeared first on The Robot Report.

Claire chatted to Elmira Yadollahi from Lancaster University about how children interact with and relate to robots. Elmira Yadollahi is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Lancaster University. She has a joint PhD in robotics and computer science from EPFL in Switzerland and Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal. Her research tackles explainability in robotics, […]

Humanoid.ai launched KinetIQ, an AI framework designed to orchestrate humanoid robot fleets for use in industrial, service, and home environments. This single system manages robots with varying builds and coordinates their interactions through a cross-timescale architecture, enabling scalability and independent component improvement.

Li Auto (NasdaqGS:LI) announced a major pivot toward artificial intelligence, including plans to enter the humanoid robotics sector. The company is restructuring operations and R&D, with a stated goal to become a top AI player by 2028. As part of the shift, Li Auto plans to close about 100 inefficient stores and reallocate resources toward AI focused initiatives. For investors watching NasdaqGS:LI, the move comes as the shares trade around $17.79, with a 7.0% return over the past week and a...

Founder Scott LaValley confirms the closure of Cartwheel Robotics after four years, citing a failure to secure the "oxygen" of capital despite the viral success of the Yogi humanoid.

Firms are working to make the motors that drive robots more efficient and cheaper.

A new full-stack framework from HKUST and Shanghai AI Lab allows humanoid robots to acquire complex athletic skills like basketball and reactive fighting directly from human videos—no manual reward engineering required.

While quantum computers continue to slowly grind toward usefulness, some are pursuing a different approach—analog quantum simulation. This path doesn’t offer complete control of single bits of quantum information, known as qubits—it is not a universal quantum computer. Instead, quantum simulators directly mimic complex, difficult-to-access things, like individual molecules, chemical reactions, or novel materials. What analog quantum simulation lacks in flexibility, it makes up for in feasibility: quantum simulators are ready now. “Instead of using qubits, as you would typically in a quantum computer, we just directly encode the problem into the geometry and structure of the array itself,” says Sam Gorman, quantum systems engineering lead at Sydney-based startup Silicon Quantum Computing. Yesterday, Silicon Quantum Computing unveiled its Quantum Twins product, a silicon quantum simulator, which is now available to customers through direct contract. Simultaneously, the team demonstrated that their device, made up of 15,000 quantum dots, can simulate an often-studied transition of a material from an insulator to a metal, and all the states between. They published their work this week in the journal Nature. “We can do things now that we think nobody else in the world can do,” Gorman says. The Powerful Process Though the product announcement came yesterday, the team at Silicon Quantum Computing established its Precision Atom Qubit Manufacturing process following the startup’s establishment in 2017, building on the academic work that the company’s founder, Michelle Simmons, led for over 25 years. The underlying technology is a manufacturing process for placing single phosphorus atoms in silicon with subnanometer precision. “We have a 38-stage process,” Simmons says, for patterning phosphorus atoms into silicon. The process starts with a silicon substrate, which gets coated with a layer of hydrogen. Then, by means of a scanning-tunneling microscope, individual hydrogen ...

Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc has announced the establishment of FF EAI-Robotics Inc., headquartered in California and officially launched its first batch of Embodied AI (EAI) humanoid and bionic robots. FF Futurist (full-size professional humanoid), FF Master (athletic “action master” humanoid), and FX Aegis (quadruped security/companion), and the first batch of deliveries is planned for […] The post Faraday Future Launches Three Series of Robot Products in Las Vegas at the Annual NADA Show appeared first on Humanoid Robotics Technology.

In a deep dive on the Robo Papers podcast, 1X Director of Evaluations Daniel Ho explains how "imagination" via video generation is allowing humanoids to perform zero-shot tasks with minimal robot-specific training data.

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NVIDIA GEAR Lab has unveiled DreamZero, a 14-billion parameter World Action Model (WAM) that uses video diffusion to grant robots physical "imagination," enabling zero-shot task completion and rapid adaptation across different robotic embodiments.

Bedrock Robotics has raised money to scale autonomous construction fleets, tackling labor shortages with operator-less machines. The post Bedrock Robotics’ $270M Series B paves the way for operator-less excavators appeared first on The Robot Report.

According to Precedence Research, humanoid robotics is advancing rapidly, with key companies leading the charge toward mass production and real-world deployments. Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Figure AI are at the forefront of this transformation, focusing on building general-purpose humanoid robots, with significant funding and operational goals. These companies are not only innovating in design but are also gearing up for large-scale production, making humanoid robots a reality for various secto

New footage shows the world’s most anatomically complete humanoid robot, Protoclone, flexing 1,000 muscles and moving in a way robots usually don’t

Overland AI is already working closely with formations across the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and SOCOM to provide autonomous ground systems. The post Overland AI raises $100M to scale autonomy with the U.S. armed forces appeared first on The Robot Report.

The podcast guest this week is Kevin Damoa, founder and CEO of Glid Technologies. The post Road to rail: Slashing costs and carbon with automation appeared first on The Robot Report.

The Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center has completed a significant 700 million yuan financing round, signaling a strategic shift from research milestones to large-scale industrial deployment.

Waymo plans to continue its expansion across locations, citing statistics showing that self-driving cars are safer than human drivers. The post Waymo keeps foot on the autonomous vehicle pedal with $16B funding appeared first on The Robot Report.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is one of the largest trade events in the world. Every year, thousands of companies showcase their state-of-the-art technologies to over 100k attendees. It brings together global industry leaders, startups, and media, and is used to launch products and signal future tech trends. Henry Hickson, a Research Associate at the Hauert Lab, attended CES 2026. In this article he reports on the highlights of the show, […]

A superpowered Formula 1 car, a buzzing drone, a soldier’s pack, and a wearable smart device have this in common: They all need batteries. Ideally, those batteries could fit into oddly shaped nooks, curves, and voids, something that today’s cylindrical or rectangular cells struggle to do. Engineer Gabe Elias, who helped design the Mercedes-AMG Petronas racers that won seven consecutive F1 championships, cofounded a startup to 3D print batteries onto surfaces, flowing into those unused spaces in all kinds of devices and vehicles. The company recently won a US $1.25 million, 18-month contract with the U.S. Air Force to prove its tech’s potential. It joins competitors such as Sakuú, in Silicon Valley, and Germany’s Blackstone Technology, in a race to popularize printed batteries that can conform to various shapes. Soon after Elias cofounded Material Hybrid Manufacturing in 2023, his group realized that their initial pitch—printing batteries in new shapes for passenger cars—was stuck in neutral. EVs, especially bigger ones, don’t have pressing space constraints for batteries. Electric SUVs and pickup trucks from Rivian, where Elias also worked, can fit 7,776 cylindrical batteries into a brawny, 135 kilowatt-hour pack. So, the company changed lanes to smaller devices with wasted space it could stuff with energy. The Hybrid3D, a proprietary manufacturing platform, can print full-stack batteries in situ: Anode, cathode, separator and casing, with no molds or costly tooling required. The tech eliminates the metal casings, bus bars and other components that hog space in conventional cells. Material’s active battery material can fill voids and follow three-dimensional curves: Think the wing of a drone, or the slender, curling arm of a pair of smart glasses. “Things are shrinking, so we’re shrinking around it,” Elias says. “Electronics are becoming embedded, consolidated, optimized, and batteries are the only part of that equation that’s being left behind.” The company has ...

Belgrade Plans to build Europe's biggest humanoid factory with China's help

This infographic shows the number of startups listed in the field of humanoid robotics, by country (as of Jan. 2026).

With a global debut at CES 2026 and high-level praise from Premier Li Qiang, EngineAI has officially scheduled its "Ultimate Robot Knock-out Legend" (URKL) competition for February 9.

A conversation with RobCo’s CEO Roman Hölzl, on the importance of service-based solutions in the automation industry. The post The RaaS Blueprint: Key Insights from a conversation with RobCo’s Roman Hölzl appeared first on The Robot Report.

With a flurry of partnerships involving NVIDIA, Siemens, Ford, and Schaeffler, the UK startup is living up to its reputation as the fastest-moving player in the western humanoid race.

During the demonstration, NASA engineers used vision-language models, or VLMs, to create waypoints on Mars for Perseverance. The post NASA’s Perseverance Rover completes its first AI-planned drive appeared first on The Robot Report.

Humanoid robots are transitioning from research laboratories to practical applications, serving as versatile tools in both automotive manufacturing and

Humanoid robots, such as NEO, include some automated tasks, but many functions will require a human teleoperator, raising concerns over privacy and safety.

A new technical deep-dive from XPENG Robotics reveals the 'body logic' behind the IRON humanoid, including a rebuilt reinforcement learning stack and proprietary algorithms used to simulate complex 3D-printed lattice muscles.

Robotics company Persona AI will launch a pilot program todeploy humanoid robots at a steel manufacturing plant in Louisiana.

A Chinese humanoid robot by XPeng fell face-first during its debut, drawing attention online and a response from the CEO.

Shenzhen-based LimX Dynamics has raised \$200 million in Series B funding to accelerate the development of its "Tri-Form" modular robots and the new COSA "Agentic OS," signaling a major push for real-world humanoid deployment.

Richtech Robotics has announced a hands-on collaboration with Microsoft through the Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Labs to jointly develop and deploy agentic artificial intelligence capabilities in real-world robotic systems. Through close collaboration between Richtech Robotics’ engineering team and Microsoft’s AI Co-Innovation Labs, the companies worked together to enhance Richtech Robotics’ ADAM robot with adaptive intelligence powered by Azure AI. The collaboration focused on […] The post Richtech Robotics Collaborates with Microsoft appeared first on Humanoid Robotics Technology.

Liquid-cooled robotic actuator technology is a central element shared by Apptronik and NASA.

Morgan Stanley analysts highlight stocks of companies that sell specialized robotics parts.

Changing robot standards provide an opportunity for designers of cobots to deliver improved safety and greater functionality, says IDEC. The post What evolving robot standards mean for implementations of cobots appeared first on The Robot Report.

Tesla’s pivot to producing humanoid robots is expected to engage a network of key Chinese component makers.

The new year kicked off with CES, and the momentum continued with companies hitting milestones and debuting new systems. The post Top 10 robotics developments of January 2026 appeared first on The Robot Report.

Xpeng’s "Iron" humanoid robot took to a public stage in Shenzhen for a surprise interaction event, showcasing its "human-like" gait and "bionic" design to weekend shoppers.

Fauna Robotics’ humanoid robot Sprout is an attempt to start a focus on ‘approachable’ robots inspired by Wall-E and BB-8, not Terminator.

Google DeepMind has launched Project Genie, an experimental tool powered by the Genie 3 world model that creates interactive 3D environments from text and images. Beyond gaming, the technology serves as a cornerstone of DeepMind’s strategy to solve the robotics data bottleneck and achieve physical AGI.

Humanoid robots are set to soak up a whopping 75 GWh of solid-state battery capacity between now and 2035 – nearly 1500x growth!

The Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics on Thursday launched a pilot manufacturing and validation platform for humanoid robots, the first of its kind in the capital, transforming the industry from small-batch prototyping to large scale production.

Generalist AI's chief scientist argues that the next leap in robotics won't come from internet text, but from scaling the 'reflexive' intelligence of physical interaction.

Tesla says it will halt Model S and X output and repurpose its Fremont factory to build Optimus humanoid robots, signaling a shift toward large scale humanoid manufacturing. The post Tesla to Convert Fremont Plant for Mass Production of Optimus appeared first on Humanoid.guide.

Wandercraft's Atalante X robotic exoskeleton, which is already in use in rehabilitation centers worldwide, is being tested for ICU use. The post First patient enrolls in clinical trial for Wandercraft Atalante X exoskeleton appeared first on The Robot Report.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion. ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNA Enjoy this week’s videos! Westwood Robotics is proud to announce a major update: THEMIS Gen2.5, the world’s first commercial full-size humanoid robot capable of manipulation on the move! Now that you mention it, the bit at the end where the robot picks up a can while walking? I haven’t seen a lot of that. [ Westwood Robotics ] Last year, Helix showed that a single neural network could control a humanoid’s upper body from pixels. Today, Helix 02 extends that control to the entire robot—walking, manipulating, and balancing as one continuous system. Why yes, I am a normal human and this is very similar to the default state of my kitchen. [ Figure ] Harry Goldstein, our Editor in Chief, went to meet Sprout from Fauna Robotics. He was skeptical at first, but Sprout won him over with its robotic charm. [ Fauna Robotics ] Kimberly Elenberg is showing how the data collected by robotic responders can save lives in mass casualty events. [ Carnegie Mellon University ] The educational robotics market is tough, but you’ve got to hand it to Sphero—going strong since 2011, which is pretty incredible. [ Sphero ] If you want to fly in crazy conditions, you have to flight test in those conditions. Here’s how and why we do it! [ Zipline ] I want to be impressed more by the idea of 3D printing skin and skeleton at the same time, but come on, animals have been doing that for literally hundreds of years without even trying. [ JSK Lab, University of tokyo ] If there is a market for small bipedal robots that can both ski and be dinosaurs, LimX has it covered. [ LimX ] How do you remotely control robots that change shape? We introduce a method for user-guided control of modular robots using reconfigurable joint-spa...

New York Robotics is launching with more than 80 industry partners, 20 academic partners, 40 robotics labs, and over 300 venture capital partners. The post New York Robotics launches with 160 startups in its ecosystem appeared first on The Robot Report.

The global humanoid robot market moved closer to large-scale commercialization in 2025, with installations reaching an estimated 16,000 units worldwide, according to new data from Counterpoint Rese…

Figure AI detailed the Helix 02 humanoid platform with full body autonomy and fine finger control, as Tesla restated Optimus stance against Chinese competitors. The post Figure AI Helix 02 shows autonomous dexterity as Optimus claims rise appeared first on Humanoid.guide.

‍Fauna Robotics has launched its debut robot, Sprout. Shipping as a Creator Edition, Sprout is a friendly and capable humanoid robot platform designed to operate safely in shared human spaces. Moving beyond the closed industrial systems of the past, Sprout offers developers, researchers, and creators a platform to build the next generation of embodied intelligence […] The post Fauna Robotics Unveils Sprout appeared first on Humanoid Robotics Technology.

OpenMind launches a robot app store enabling humanoids and quadrupeds to gain new skills via apps.

Meta’s former AI chief is taking his 'contrarian' bet to Paris, founding AMI Labs to build non-generative world models. Between a rumored $3.5 billion valuation and high-profile spats with Elon Musk, LeCun is betting that the path to true robotic intelligence doesn't start with language.

Tesla will discontinue production of the Model S and Model X at the end of the second quarter of 2026. The section of the Fremont, California plant where the

Figure AI has just released Helix 02, a revolutionary neural network that enables a humanoid robot to move from its head to its toes. With a single AI system in command, Helix 02 handles everything from going into a room to precisely grabbing objects, as well as maintaining balance while juggling difficult tasks, all based on what the robot sees through its cameras, feels through its touch sensors, and understands about its joints. Helix 02 is a significant upgrade from the previous Helix model, which merely monitored the upper body and translated visual inputs into arm and hand movements. This

Elon Musk revealed the electric vehicle maker will move deeper into AI and robotics.

After Sunday Robotics CEO Tony Zhao critiqued Figure’s dishwasher demonstration for only using plastic, Figure CEO Brett Adcock responded with a new video of the Figure 03 handling delicate glassware.

Tesla says its Optimus humanoid robots could be offered for public sale by the end of 2027, outlining a tentative commercialization timeline for the platform. The post Tesla Targets Public Sales of Optimus Humanoid Robots by 2027 appeared first on Humanoid.guide.

Tesla’s Q4 2025 shareholder deck marks a historic shift for the company, officially including the Optimus production line in its manufacturing capacity table for the first time as the 'Gen 3' mass-production prototype nears its Q1 reveal.

Gartner says that relatively few humanoid robot developers will progress proofs of concept beyond experimentation. The post Gartner predicts fewer than 20 companies will deploy humanoids at scale by 2028 appeared first on The Robot Report.

Fauna Robotics unveils Sprout: a safe, character-driven robot designed to live, work, and play alongside humans in everyday life. The post Introducing Sprout, a new humanoid development platform appeared first on The Robot Report.

A new IDC report crowns AgiBot as the global shipment leader for 2025, but the title remains contested as rivals debate the definition of a "humanoid" robot.

Many of the world’s critical IT systems remain riddled with bugs, and AI tools threaten to make it easier than ever to exploit them. But AI could also be part of the solution: A new initiative aims to automatically convert vulnerable code into the security-focused language Rust, which would eliminate the vast majority of known software vulnerabilities. Rapid advances in AI coding tools have made it easier than ever to tackle software-engineering tasks that were previously too expensive or time-consuming to take on. The Institute for Progress think tank launched the Great Refactor initiative to use those tools in order to convert open source software written in C and C++ into Rust. Unlike the former languages, Rust is designed to prevent a dangerous class of bugs known as memory exploits. Memory safety issues occur when software accesses or manipulates memory in an unintended way. These bugs are prevalent in older languages that provide developers with manual control over memory handling. Most newer languages incorporate guardrails to prevent these kinds of problems, but this typically comes at the cost of lower performance. As a result, memory-unsafe languages like C and C++ are still widely used, and memory-safety exploits still account for an estimated 70 percent of software vulnerabilities. Rust’s Role in Memory Safety Rust, which was first released in 2015, is designed to match the performance of C and C++ while introducing memory safety. The language has seen rapid uptake by technology companies eager to harden their code, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, but converting older software into Rust is a laborious and expensive process. The success of the Great Refactor is banking on the idea that AI tools have changed the equation, says project lead Herbie Bradley, a Ph.D. student at the University of Cambridge. The initiative proposes setting up a “Focused Research Organization” funded by the U.S. government that will use AI-powered coding tools to conv...

Sprout is a humanoid robot designed to be “physically safe and socially approachable.”

Optimus is expected to be one of Tesla's most ambitious projects, with Elon Musk estimating that the humanoid robot could be the company's most important product.

OpenMind has debuted a shared marketplace for robotic applications, partnering with heavyweights like UBTECH and AgiBot to break down the software silos currently fragmenting the robotics industry.

Figure's Helix 02 upgrades humanoid control by using a single neural network to walk, balance, and manipulate objects autonomously.

Powered by a dual-loop AI system. UBTECH's Walker S2 robots deliver "human-eye" vision perception for "enhanced adaptability in complex factories." They can also swap out their own batteries—and work 24/7 shifts.

Generative AI tools such as DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion create photorealistic images. However, they burn lavish amounts of energy. Now a pair of studies finds that so-called thermodynamic computing might generate images using one ten billionth the energy. At the heart of many AI image generators are machine learning algorithms known as diffusion models. Programmers feed the models large sets of images to which they gradually add noise until they resemble the static on an out-of-tune analog television. They then train neural networks to reverse this process, enabling diffusion models to generate entirely new images given prompting. However, the AI digital computations that add noise and then conjure pictures from the static are energy-hungry. Now a new technique involving thermodynamic computing might generate images “with a much lower energy cost than current digital hardware can,” says Stephen Whitelam, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Using nature’s noise Thermodynamic computing employs physical circuits that changes in response to noise, such as that caused by random thermal fluctuations in the environment, to perform low-energy computations. For instance, a prototype chip from New York city–based startup Normal Computing consists of eight resonators connected to each other via special couplers. Programmers use the couplers to build a kind of calculator customized for the problem they want to study. Then they pluck the resonators, which introduce noise into the resonator-coupling network, performing the calculation. After the system reaches equilibrium, the programmers can read the solution in the new configuration of the resonators. In a 10 January Nature Communications article, Whitelam and a colleague revealed it was possible to create a thermodynamic version of a neural network. This lays the groundwork for image generation via thermodynamic computing. Whitelam’s new strategy would give a thermodynamic ...

Sprout aims to bridge the gap between heavy industrial humanoids and domestic-ready assistants with a 50-lb, bipedal platform built for safety and developer accessibility.

Figure AI has revealed Helix 02, a unified neural network model that enables the Figure 03 robot to navigate and manipulate environments simultaneously, moving past the "walk-then-act" limitations of traditional humanoid systems.

Robotiq says it has combined adaptive gripping with high-frequency tactile sensing, enabling robots to generalize across objects. The post Robotiq brings sense of touch to physical AI with fingertips for 2F grippers appeared first on The Robot Report.

Hyundai plans to begin deploying humanoid robots at its Metaplant America facility in Georgia by 2028.

As delivery robots become more common on campus, they are finding wide acceptance, found a Starship survey. The post Big robot on campus: Starship finds 97% student approval rating appeared first on The Robot Report.

As the new robot called Sprout walks around a Manhattan office, nodding its rectangular head, lifting its windshield wiper-like “eyebrows” and offering to shake your hand with its grippers, it looks nothing like the sleek and intimidating humanoids built by companies like Tesla. Sprout's charm is the point. A 5-year-old child could comfortably talk at eye level with this humanoid, which stands 3.5 feet (1 meter) tall and wears a soft, padded exterior of sage-green foam.

Fauna, a new startup, is betting that humanoid robots will find success as hospitality workers, research assistants, and entertainers.

Though the U.S. has long been a leader in the tech field, Chinese companies been showing off advanced humanoid robots that American companies can't quite match.

Vention has raised Series D funding to continue commercializing its robot control platform and expand into Europe. The post Vention raises $110M to accelerate physical AI deployments in manufacturing appeared first on The Robot Report.