robotics

China ships 78% of global humanoid robots in H1 2026

The global humanoid robot market saw explosive growth in the first half of 2026, with shipments approaching 25,000 units — a 432.1% increase from a year earlier — according to new data from IDC. Chinese manufacturers dominated the market, shipping…

Nvidia launches Halos safety system for autonomous vehicles and robots

Nvidia has expanded its Halos safety platform with a broad push to embed safety checks across every layer of physical AI, from autonomous vehicles to humanoid robots, as the company and its partners prepare for a wave of machine deployments…

Toyota plans 400,000 factory robots, $6.4B annual spend from 2028

Toyota has outlined plans to deploy around 400,000 robots across its global manufacturing network, with an estimated annual investment of roughly 1 trillion yen ($6.4 billion) starting in 2028, in what would be one of the auto industry's largest automation…

Tesla audits Chinese suppliers ahead of Optimus robot mass production

Tesla's robotics team has been conducting a new round of supply chain audits across China's Yangtze River Delta region, inspecting suppliers of core components for its Optimus humanoid robot as the company prepares to begin production at its converted Fremont…

Tesla AI chief says Optimus robot moves are remote-controlled

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's Vice President of AI Software and head of the Optimus humanoid robot program, posted a candid assessment on X on Sunday acknowledging that the movements seen in Optimus demo videos are "essentially remote controlled."

Top AI models rarely refuse dangerous robot commands, benchmark finds

A new safety benchmark called RoboHarm has found that leading AI models, including OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra and Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1, rarely refuse dangerous instructions when given control of robotic hardware. The results suggest that safety training designed for text-based…

Toyota plans 400,000 robots, $6.4B annual factory spend

Toyota Motor estimates it could spend 1 trillion yen ($6.4 billion) annually starting from 2028 to modernize its factories, as the world's largest automaker pushes ahead with one of the most ambitious robotics deployments in industrial history.

Tesla begins Optimus robot production audit in China

Tesla dispatched its robotics team to Ningbo, China, on September 16, kicking off a new round of production audits for the Optimus humanoid robot on September 17. The audit is focused on verifying exclusivity and consistency standards for mass production,…

China’s record-setting humanoid robot pivots to factory work

Two weeks after China's TianGong Ultra humanoid robot ran 100 meters in 8.64 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing — nearly a full second faster than Usain Bolt's 9.58-second human record — its engineers say the harder…

XPeng’s humanoid robot walks off production line, beating Tesla to manufacturing milestone

At a factory in Guangzhou, China, a humanoid robot assembled by machines walked off a production line on its own — a first for the emerging industry. XPeng announced on Monday that it had completed production-line manufacturing of its IRON…

Unitree claims first autonomous humanoid robot powered by real-time world model

Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics on Monday demonstrated what it called the world's first fully autonomous humanoid robot powered by a real-time world model, releasing video of two robots sparring without any human control. The system, dubbed UnifoLM-X2-1.0, marks an…

China accelerates humanoid robot development for military combat, Reuters finds

China's defense establishment is accelerating research into humanoid robots for military use, with institutions testing the machines against battlefield requirements and planning for their eventual wartime deployment, according to a Reuters investigation published Sunday.

Altman says OpenAI is building a humanoid robot

OpenAI has confirmed it is building its own humanoid robot, with CEO Sam Altman declaring on the Sources podcast that the company "will definitely do a humanoid" and expressing his belief that everyone should eventually own a personal robot. The…

Shein set to debut in Hong Kong amid China’s $54B IPO boom

Chinese stock markets are riding a wave of new public offerings fueled by investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and robotics, with combined IPO proceeds in Hong Kong and Shanghai already surpassing all of 2025's fundraising totals.

Anthropic unveils standard letting AI agents control lab and factory equipment

Anthropic opened a research preview on August 27 of the Model Hardware Standard, a framework that gives AI agents a common interface to operate physical laboratory and manufacturing equipment such as microscopes, robotic arms, and liquid handlers. The standard, developed…

Humanoid robots smash Bolt’s sprint record at Beijing games

The second World Humanoid Robot Games wrapped up this week in Beijing after five days of competition that saw humanoid robots shatter human athletic records, including Usain Bolt's 100-meter sprint mark, while also catching fire, losing limbs, and crashing into…

Nvidia’s physical AI unit hits $10B in revenue as China drives robotics boom

Nvidia now generates roughly $10 billion a year from its physical AI business — the branch of artificial intelligence that powers robots, self-driving cars, and drones — with China emerging as one of its most active markets, according to a…

Anthropic launches standard for AI agents to run lab and factory equipment

Anthropic on Thursday unveiled a research preview of the Model Hardware Standard, a framework designed to let AI agents operate physical devices in scientific laboratories and manufacturing facilities, marking the company's first move into what the industry calls "physical AI."

SoftBank in talks to buy majority stake in robot maker 1X

SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire a majority stake in humanoid robot developer 1X Technologies at a valuation of approximately $6 billion, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

China builds 95% of humanoid robots but they’re too slow for real work

More than 100 humanoid robots stand in neat rows inside a training center in Liuzhou, southern China, guided through simple tasks by human trainers wearing headsets. The machines are slow and awkward — a novice trainer might coax one usable…

Robot runs 100m in 8.64 seconds at Beijing games

A Chinese humanoid robot sprinted 100 meters in 8.64 seconds on Wednesday, nearly a full second faster than Usain Bolt's human world record, closing out five days of competition at what has been dubbed the "Robot Olympics" in Beijing.

Hyundai eyes selling Boston Dynamics robots at dealerships

Hyundai Motor CEO José Muñoz said the automaker's existing dealer network could become a retail channel for humanoid and dog-like robots, outlining the idea during the company's 2026 CEO Investor Day in Seoul on Wednesday.

Robotic platform runs two genetic codes simultaneously

Scientists have developed a way to run two separate genetic codes at the same time within a single biological system, bypassing one of the most fundamental constraints in synthetic biology. The research, published in Nature on August 26, 2026, introduces…

Hyundai partners with Nvidia to bring self-driving tech to mass-market vehicles by 2028

Hyundai Motor Company laid out a sweeping autonomous driving and artificial intelligence strategy at its 2026 CEO Investor Day on Wednesday, announcing plans to deploy Level 2+ self-driving technology in its first mass-produced software-defined vehicle in 2028 through a deepened…

Skild AI unveils S1, a robot model that learns tasks from a single video

Skild AI unveiled S1, a general-purpose robotics foundation model that can teach robots previously unseen tasks from a single video demonstration, with no fine-tuning required. Co-founder Abhinav Gupta declared at SMARTCLOUD SHOW 2026 in Seoul on Wednesday that the "ChatGPT…

China’s Tiangong Ultra robot runs 100m in 8.86 seconds

China's Tiangong Ultra humanoid robot ran 100 meters in 8.86 seconds during a semifinal at the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Tuesday, smashing its own opening-day record of 9.39 seconds and widening the gap over the 9.58-second…

Humanoid robots beat Bolt’s 100m record at Beijing games

Chinese humanoid robots shattered multiple human world records, including Usain Bolt's 100-meter sprint mark, on the opening day of the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Saturday, in a dramatic showcase of the country's accelerating robotics ambitions.

Chinese robot beats Usain Bolt’s 100m record, state media says

A humanoid robot developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor ran 100 meters in 9.32 seconds on Saturday, shattering the human world record held by Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt, according to China's state broadcaster CCTV.

China claims 97% of global humanoid robot shipments

The 2026 World Robot Conference opened this week in Beijing with more than 300 exhibitors displaying upwards of 2,000 exhibits and launching over 150 new products, underscoring China's commanding position in the global humanoid robotics market. An industry report released…

Humanoid robot shipments nearly triple in first half of 2026

Global humanoid robot shipments topped 22,000 units in the first half of 2026, rising nearly 300% year-on-year, as the industry reaches what researchers call a critical stage for large-scale commercial deployment, according to a report published Wednesday by Counterpoint Research.