Physical AI & robotics news
- · Partnerships & M&A
Mimic Robotics Announces FLUX-mimic Robot Video-Action Model in Collaboration With Black Forest Labs
Mimic Robotics, in collaboration with Black Forest Labs, announced a preview of FLUX-mimic, a next-generation video-action model designed to enable general-purpose dexterous movements in robots.
- · Industry
Unitree shares fall about 45% after first-day surge
Shares of Hangzhou-based Unitree plunged, sharply reducing its market capitalization.
- · Funding
Asteria to Invest in U.S.-Based Figure AI
Asteria announced Aug. 13 that it will invest in U.S.-based humanoid robot company Figure AI.
- · Product launches
Shanghai RoboParty Unveils Fully Open-Source Humanoid Robot “Roboto Origin”
Shanghai RoboParty Technology has unveiled “Roboto Origin,” a fully open-source humanoid robot for research and education. It stands 125 cm tall, weighs 34 kg and uses CNC-machined aluminum and DAMIAO servos.
- · Tenders
Stratom-Led Team Wins U.S. Army Contract
According to The Robot Report, a Stratom-led team has won the U.S. Army’s Project Sustainment contract.
- · Product launches
Kubota to Launch Remotely Monitored Unmanned Tractor Next April
Kubota announced on the 6th that it will launch an unmanned autonomous tractor that can be monitored remotely next April.
- · Product launches
AGIBOT A2 Sets Guinness World Record for Longest Distance Walked by a Humanoid Robot
AGIBOT announced that its A2 set the Guinness World Record for the longest distance walked by a humanoid robot.
- · Partnerships & M&A
Agility Robotics Announces Strategic Investment and Humanoid Robot Supply Agreement With Schaeffler
Agility Robotics announced at Web Summit a minority investment by Schaeffler and an agreement for Schaeffler to buy Digit robots.
- · Partnerships & M&A
Agility Robotics Announces Expanded Collaboration With NVIDIA
Agility Robotics announced an expanded collaboration with NVIDIA on March 18, 2025.
- · Product launches
Agility Robotics Announces New Features for Digit Humanoid Robot
Agility Robotics announced new features for its Digit humanoid robot.
- · Deployment & production
Mercado Libre and Agility Robotics Announce Commercial Agreement to Deploy Humanoid Robots
Mercado Libre and Agility Robotics announced a commercial agreement to deploy Digit humanoid robots at a facility in San Antonio, Texas.
- · Industry
Agility Robotics Names Michael Beer CFO
Agility Robotics announced July 23, 2026, that it had appointed Michael Beer as chief financial officer (CFO).
- · Partnerships & M&A
Boston Dynamics Upgrades AI Inspection With Gemini
Boston Dynamics announced it has enhanced its AI inspection software with Gemini and Gemini Robotics.
- · Funding
Skild AI unveils method for robots to learn new skills from human videos
Skild AI unveiled a method for robots to learn new skills simply by watching videos of humans. The company said it requires less than one hour of robot data.
- · Deployment & production
Figure 02 helped produce 30,000 vehicles at BMW plant, company reports 11-month deployment results
Figure AI announced results from an 11-month deployment of its Figure 02 humanoid robots at BMW Group’s Spartanburg plant, reporting that they helped produce more than 30,000 X3 vehicles.
- · Partnerships & M&A
DeepSeek Makes Strategic Investment in Unitree Robotics IPO
According to reports, DeepSeek invested about 140 million yuan in connection with Unitree Robotics’ IPO and acquired shares through a strategic allocation.
- · Product launches
Seeed unveils open-source robotic arm “reBot-DevArm”
Seeed has released an open-source project for its “reBot-DevArm” educational robotic arm.
- · Product launches
Alibaba-Affiliated Team Releases Embodied Foundation Model RynnBrain 1.1, Adding Contact-Point Prediction Across Three Sizes From 2B to 122B
An Alibaba-affiliated research team released the embodied foundation model RynnBrain 1.1. It comes in three sizes—2B, 9B and 122B-A10B—and newly adds contact-point prediction and 3D grounding. It was evaluated on three types of robots: Unitree G1, Astribot-S1 and Tianji-Wuji.
- · Partnerships & M&A
1X Unveils 25-DOF Hand for NEO
On July 9, 2026, 1X announced a 25-degree-of-freedom tendon-driven hand for its humanoid robot NEO.
- · Product launches
Generative Bionics Unveils ‘Gene.01,’ a Smart-Skin Humanoid Robot for Human Collaboration
Italy’s Generative Bionics has unveiled ‘Gene.01,’ a humanoid robot equipped with full-body tactile sensors that was developed in six months.
- · Product launches
X Square Robot Completes Four Consecutive Funding Rounds, Valuation Tops $2.8 Billion
X Square Robot said it completed four consecutive funding rounds through Series C, bringing its valuation to more than $2.8 billion (20 billion yuan).
- · Research & technology
JAIST Unveils ‘EleTac’ Soft Gripper Inspired by an Elephant’s Trunk Tip
JAIST announced a soft robotic gripper, ‘EleTac,’ that can use a single camera to estimate contact location, force, object shape and its own pose.
- · Industry
AgiBot Tops Unitree in Humanoid Shipments in First Half
humanoid.guide reported Aug. 11 that AgiBot surpassed Unitree Robotics in humanoid robot shipments in the first half of 2026, citing data from research firm Smart Analytics Global. AgiBot shipped about 8,400 units, accounting for a 44% share of the global market. Unitree shipped about 5,900 units, accounting for a 31% share.
- · Research & technology
Physical Intelligence unveils π*0.6 VLA, which learns from autonomous experience
Physical Intelligence on Nov. 17, 2025, announced π*0.6, a VLA model trained with a new method called Recap.
- · Product launches
Physical Intelligence Announces General-Purpose Robot Model π0.7
Physical Intelligence has announced a new general-purpose robotics foundation model, π0.7.
- · Product launches
NVIDIA unveils Holoscan 3.0 for edge AI at GTC 2025
NVIDIA unveiled Holoscan 3.0, a real-time AI sensor processing platform, at GTC 2025.
- · Product launches
NVIDIA Announces Isaac Sim 5.0 and Isaac Lab 2.2 Updates at COMPUTEX 2025
NVIDIA announced updates to Isaac Sim 5.0 and Isaac Lab 2.2 for robot development on May 19, 2025.
- · Product launches
NVIDIA Unveils AlpaGym, a Closed-Loop Training Platform for Autonomous Driving Models
NVIDIA on June 1, 2026, released AlpaGym, an open-source platform for training autonomous driving models in a closed loop.
- · Product launches
NVIDIA unveils CloudXR.js JavaScript SDK for browser-based XR experiences
NVIDIA announced CloudXR.js, a JavaScript SDK that can stream GPU-rendered XR content to standard web browsers, on March 31, 2026.
- · Product launches
NVIDIA Announces Newton 1.0 GA, a Physics Engine
NVIDIA announced the 1.0 GA release of Newton, a physics engine for industrial robotics, on March 16, 2026.