robotics

Unitree surges in Shanghai debut after report ties its robot dogs to US military research

China's Unitree Robotics based the designs for its most successful robot dogs on innovations funded by the U.S. military, according to a Reuters investigation published on the same day the company made a blockbuster debut on Shanghai's STAR Market.

Unitree soars in Shanghai debut as Europe sounds alarm on robotics gap

Germany's VDMA engineering association called on Wednesday for humanoid robotics and physical AI to be placed at the top of the political agenda in Germany and Europe, warning that a global race for leadership in the sector has begun —…

China opens World Robot Conference amid tech rivalry with U.S.

The 2026 World Robot Conference opened on Wednesday in Beijing, bringing together more than 300 companies and over 2,000 robotic exhibits in what has become one of the world's largest showcases of automation technology. The five-day event, running through August…

China’s top robot dog maker built on US Army research

China's Unitree Robotics based designs for its most successful robot dogs on innovations funded by the U.S. military, according to a Reuters investigation published Tuesday that detailed for the first time the connections between U.S. Army research and the Chinese…

Unitree Robotics lists in Shanghai amid record demand, U.S. curbs

China's Unitree Robotics is set to begin trading on Shanghai's STAR Market on August 19, becoming the first general-purpose humanoid robot maker to go public on the Chinese mainland — a milestone that arrives under the shadow of escalating US…

Hormuz tolls, dry rivers, robot ban strain supply chains

Supply chain operators are contending with three simultaneous disruptions this month: Iranian toll restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, record-low water levels on European rivers, and a US ban on foreign-made robots that is reshaping automation procurement. The convergence of…

LG and Nvidia sign deal on humanoid robots, AI factories

LG Corp and Nvidia signed a memorandum of understanding on August 13 at Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, formalizing plans to collaborate on humanoid robotics, AI factory infrastructure, and autonomous vehicle technology. LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Nvidia CEO…

AI firms recruit thousands of gig workers to train robots with wearable cameras

A new class of gig work is emerging across more than 50 countries, where thousands of contract workers strap cameras to their foreheads and don motion-tracking gloves to record the most ordinary of human tasks — folding laundry, washing dishes,…

Unitree’s $904M robot IPO draws 8,000x oversubscription

Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics has priced its Shanghai Stock Exchange initial public offering at 150.80 yuan per share, seeking to raise 6.1 billion yuan (approximately $904 million) in a deal that makes it the first mainland-listed humanoid robot…

Dyna Robotics unveils AI model trained on 1M hours of human video

Dyna Robotics has unveiled DYNA-2, a robot foundation model trained entirely on more than one million hours of first-person human video, an approach the company says could break the data bottleneck that has limited the development of general-purpose robots.

China holds 97% of humanoid robot shipments, report says

Chinese manufacturers commanded more than 97% of global humanoid robot shipments in the first half of 2026, according to new data from California-based research firm Smart Analytics Global, underscoring the country's overwhelming dominance in a sector projected to reshape global…

Musk envisions sending robots to Moon to build factories

Elon Musk used SpaceX's first-ever public earnings call to lay out a vision for deploying humanoid robots on the Moon to build factories and industrial infrastructure, describing a future that he acknowledged sounds "totally nuts" but insisted is inevitable.

BYD unveils humanoid robot to rival Tesla Optimus

BYD, China's largest electric vehicle maker, has confirmed it will debut its first humanoid robot in early August 2026 at its Di Space experience center in Zhengzhou, entering the rapidly growing robotics race just days after the United States moved…

Ukraine deploys armed ground robots from drones in battlefield first

Ukraine is accelerating its integration of artificial intelligence into battlefield drones while pioneering a new form of combat that deploys ground robots from aerial platforms, developments that underscore the country's role as a testing ground for the future of warfare.

Chinese robots fill UK warehouses as U.S. bans imports

Chinese robotics firm Geek+ is rapidly expanding across Britain's warehouse sector, with major retailers including Tesco, Asda, and Next deploying its autonomous mobile robots to address persistent labour shortages and sluggish productivity growth, according to a BBC report published this…

Unitree Robotics launches Shanghai IPO days after U.S. robot ban

Unitree Robotics, one of China's most prominent robotics companies, announced on Thursday that it will begin its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market next week, moving forward with a landmark listing just days after the Trump…

Google DeepMind launches Gemini Robotics 2 for humanoid robots

Google DeepMind on Thursday unveiled Gemini Robotics 2, a next-generation AI system that extends robot control from the upper body to full whole-body movement, enabling humanoid machines to walk, crouch, manipulate objects, and collaborate with one another.

Enigma exits stealth with $71M seed for AI robotics

Israeli AI robotics startup Enigma emerged from stealth on Monday with a $71 million seed round co-led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital, announcing what it calls the world's first live public AI robotics experience — a fleet of more…

Nvidia announces over $500B in AI deals across Japan and South Korea

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang spent the past two weeks courting Asia's industrial heavyweights, forging partnerships in Japan and South Korea that aim to embed artificial intelligence into factories, robots, and data centers at unprecedented scale.

SoftBank in talks to buy Swiss robotics startup Gravis

SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks to acquire Gravis Robotics AG, a Swiss startup that makes autonomous systems for heavy construction equipment, in a deal that could value the company at more than $500 million, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Black Forest Labs launches Flux 3, its first AI model built for robotics

Black Forest Labs, the German AI research lab known for its Flux image generation models, on Wednesday announced Flux 3, a multimodal foundation model that jointly learns from images, video, and audio — and can predict robotic actions. The launch…

Banks finalize loan for SoftBank’s $5.4B ABB robotics deal

A group of banks has finalized a loan package to back SoftBank Group's $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB's robotics division, according to Bloomberg, after the lenders increased the size of the dollar tranche in the financing. The deal represents one…

Samsung creates robotics division reporting to CEO

Samsung Electronics announced on Tuesday the establishment of a new robotics division that will report directly to CEO Roh Tae-moon, marking the company's most aggressive structural move yet in its push to become a major player in AI-powered robots.

Robot decapitated in world’s first humanoid combat tournament

A humanoid robot lost its head — literally — during the debut of the world's first freestyle combat tournament for full-sized humanoid robots in Shenzhen, China, on Thursday night. The machine kept fighting anyway.

Nvidia unveils Cosmos 3 Edge model, expands Japan AI partnerships

Nvidia has unveiled Cosmos 3 Edge, a compact "world model" that enables robots and vision AI agents to perceive their surroundings and generate actions in real time at the network edge. The announcement, made this week alongside a sweeping expansion…

Nvidia partners with Fujitsu, Fanuc and others on Japan physical AI push

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a broad set of partnerships with Japan's leading industrial and robotics companies during a week of announcements in Tokyo, positioning the chipmaker at the center of Japan's push to bring artificial intelligence into factories, hospitals,…

Nvidia unveils Japan AI factory and new Thor robot modules

Nvidia on Tuesday unveiled two new robotics computing modules and announced a partnership with Japan to build what it called the world's first national AI infrastructure for physical AI, extending the chipmaker's reach from cloud data centers into factories, hospitals…

Hyundai to fully own Boston Dynamics after buying SoftBank’s remaining stake

Hyundai Motor Group announced on Wednesday that it will acquire SoftBank Group's remaining 9.65% stake in Boston Dynamics for approximately $325 million, making the U.S. robotics company a wholly owned subsidiary.

1X clashes with journalist over ‘creepy’ Neo robot hand video

A demonstration video of 1X Technologies' NEO humanoid robot performing delicate tasks with newly unveiled tendon-driven hands has gone viral, igniting a debate that cuts to the heart of how society perceives — and describes — robotic advancement.

Tesla dismantles Model S/X line in 46 days for Optimus

Tesla released a time-lapse video on Thursday showing the complete decommissioning of its original Model S and Model X assembly line at the Fremont, California factory, a process the company completed in just 46 days. The footage, posted on X…