Robotics28 articles

Robotics

Articles

Meta Deploys ABB and Kinova Robots to Automate Physical Hardware Tasks in AI Data Centers
Meta has begun testing specialized robotic systems from industrial automation manufacturers to perform physical maintenance tasks across its AI data center fleet, according to internal reporting confirmed by current and former staff. The automation program, deployed across facilities including the company's Prometheus data center campus in New Albany, Ohio, uses robots to replace networking cables, power-cycle servers, reseat components, and perform routine hardware maintenance without human in
August 28, 20261 min
Anthropic Previews Model Hardware Standard for AI Control of Scientific and Industrial Equipment
Anthropic has introduced the Model Hardware Standard (MHS) in a research preview, establishing an interface specification designed to allow autonomous AI agents to operate physical scientific instruments and industrial machinery. Developed jointly by Anthropic's Beneficial Deployments team and researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus, the standard aims to solve the bespoke driver bottleneck that currently requires weeks of manual engineering per laborator
August 28, 20261 min
Anthropic Previews Model Hardware Standard for AI-Driven Lab and Industrial Automation
Anthropic has announced a research preview of the Model Hardware Standard (MHS), an open specification designed to let AI agents discover, interface with, and control programmable physical equipment. The framework extends the software-level capabilities of autonomous models into scientific laboratories, robotics cells, and advanced manufacturing environments. Originating from a collaborative effort between Anthropic and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus, the pro
August 28, 20261 min
Anthropic Previews Model Hardware Standard for AI Agent Control of Physical and Lab Equipment
Anthropic has introduced the Model Hardware Standard (MHS), an open interface specification intended to let AI agents control physical machinery and scientific instrumentation. Released in a research preview on August 27, 2026, the standard extends the design principles of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to physical actuators, automated laboratory equipment, and industrial hardware. Connecting autonomous software agents to physical hardware has historically required custom integration code for
August 28, 20261 min
Anthropic Previews Model Hardware Standard to Connect AI Agents with Physical Laboratory and Manufacturing Devices
Anthropic has introduced a research preview of the Model Hardware Standard (MHS), an open specification designed to connect autonomous AI agents with physical scientific instruments and manufacturing hardware. The framework establishes a unified interface for models to programmatically monitor, orchestrate, and control physical devices across network boundaries. According to reporting from Reuters and Wired, the standard aims to expand agentic automation beyond software APIs into physical labor
August 27, 20261 min
Hugging Face Unveils Microduck, a 99 Open-Source Bipedal Robot for Embodied AI
Hugging Face has introduced Microduck, a 10-inch-tall, 1.7-pound bipedal open-source robot priced at $399. Developed in partnership with Pollen Robotics and manufactured by Shenzhen-based hardware specialist Seeed Studio, the device is designed as an accessible hardware platform for embodied AI research and reinforcement learning experimentation. The compact biped features integrated visual sensors, microphone arrays, audio output, and wireless connectivity over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Commercial
August 27, 20261 min
SoftBank in Talks to Acquire Majority Stake in Humanoid Robotics Maker 1X at Billion Valuation
SoftBank Group is in advanced discussions to acquire a controlling majority stake in humanoid robotics manufacturer 1X Technologies in a deal valuing the startup at approximately $6 billion, according to reporting by The Information and Reuters. 1X Technologies, founded by Bernt Øivind Børnich and backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund, designs autonomous bipedal and wheeled robots for industrial logistics and home assistance. Deal Structure and Strategic Context The negotiations mark a valuation
August 27, 20261 min
XPeng Robotics Raises 00M at .3B Valuation to Scale IRON Humanoid Production
XPeng announced that its robotics subsidiary has secured over $900 million in private capital at a post-money valuation exceeding $6.3 billion. The transaction marks the largest single-round private financing in China's physical AI and humanoid robotics sector to date. The funding round was led by IDG Capital, with participation from Gaorong Ventures as well as strategic backing from internet conglomerates Tencent and Alibaba. Concurrently, XPeng Chairman and Chief Executive Officer He Xiaopeng
August 26, 20261 min
Figure AI Unveils Index Platform with 16 Million Crowdsourced Videos for Robot Foundation Models
Humanoid robotics startup Figure AI has launched Index, a global crowdsourced data collection platform engineered to capture real-world human task demonstrations at scale. Operating in stealth for four months prior to its public unveiling, the platform has compiled 16 million video demonstrations from contributors across 108 countries, generating embodied training data for Figure's physical AI foundation models. The initiative directly targets the primary bottleneck in scaling embodied AI: the
August 25, 20261 min
Skild AI Introduces S1 Robotics Foundation Model with In-Context Video Prompting
Robotics foundation model startup Skild AI has unveiled S1, a foundation model capable of learning physical manipulation tasks unseen during pretraining directly from a single video demonstration prompt without fine-tuning. Traditional robotic adaptation typically requires extensive task-specific teleoperation data, domain randomization, and model fine-tuning before a system can reliably execute novel actions. S1 employs in-context prompting to translate visual demonstrations directly into real
August 25, 20261 min
Gatik Raises 00M Series D to Scale Autonomous Middle-Mile Trucking Fleet
Autonomous middle-mile logistics startup Gatik has raised $200 million in a Series D funding round to accelerate the deployment of its driverless commercial freight fleet. The capital brings Gatik's total institutional funding to approximately $500 million since its founding in 2019. The funding round was co-led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), with participation from Millennium Management, ARK Invest, and Intact Private Capital. Gatik did not disclose
August 25, 20261 min
NVIDIA Announces Jetson Orin Nano 2 with 78 TOPS AI Compute and 40% Power Cut
NVIDIA has announced the Jetson Orin Nano 2, an updated entry-level robotics and edge AI computer designed to double inference throughput over the Jetson Orin Nano Super while maintaining the identical physical form factor. The module delivers up to 78 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of AI compute and reduces power consumption by 40% when matched against its predecessor's performance baseline. Targeted at robotics, autonomous delivery drones, and edge computer vision deployments, the hard
August 25, 20261 min
Sentante Begins Commercial Rollout of Endovascular Surgical Robot with Physical AI Telemetry
Lithuanian medical robotics company Sentante has initiated commercial deployment of its CE-marked endovascular robotic platform, launching revenue clinical operations across European vascular surgery and interventional radiology departments. The platform is designed to perform catheter-and-guidewire vascular interventions while capturing synchronized procedural telemetry to train downstream physical AI navigation models. Teleoperated Architecture and Standard Tool Interoperability Sentante's
August 25, 20261 min
Unitree Shares Fall 45% After Shanghai Debut as Humanoid Valuations Face Scrutiny
Shares of Hangzhou-based humanoid robot manufacturer Unitree Robotics have fallen approximately 45 percent from their peak following an initial surge on the Shanghai STAR Market, reducing the company's market capitalization from a high of $66 billion down to roughly $36 billion. The sharp decline across three consecutive trading sessions follows a debut that saw shares close up 460 percent on their first day of trading. The post-listing volatility has intensified debate among market analysts an
August 25, 20261 min
Airbound Raises 7M Series A Led by Greenoaks to Scale Autonomous Drone Freight
Autonomous aerial delivery startup Airbound has raised $37 million in a Series A funding round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lightspeed, Humba Ventures, and Physical Intelligence co-founder Lachy Groom. The financing follows an $8.65 million seed round completed less than a year prior, bringing total capital raised by the three-year-old Bengaluru-based company to approximately $50 million. Airbound plans to deploy the proceeds to scale manufacturing, expand commercial deli
August 25, 20261 min
Robotics Foundation Model Startup Generalist Raises 98M Led by 8VC
Robotics foundation model startup Generalist AI Inc. has secured $198.2 million in a new equity offering, according to a Form D regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 24. The capital injection comes less than three months after the company closed a $400 million financing round in early June. The financing round was led by venture capital firm 8VC alongside participating existing investors, as reported by Axios. The new transaction elevates Generalist's valu
August 25, 20261 min
Valor and Point72 Back General Intuition at B Valuation for Physical AI and Robotics
New York-based foundation model startup General Intuition is in discussions to secure new funding at a $6 billion pre-money valuation, according to sources familiar with the matter. The financing round includes new backing from Valor Equity Partners, Point72 Ventures, and Seven Seven Six, alongside continued participation from existing investors Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst. The potential valuation represents a steep increase from the company's previous financing round, which raised $32
August 24, 20261 min
Ukrainian Officials Identify Nvidia Jetson Orin Modules in Autonomous Russian Strike Drones
Ukrainian forensic examiners inspecting the wreckage of Russian strike drones have recovered Nvidia Jetson Orin microcomputers, confirming that Moscow is deploying commercial edge-computing hardware to run autonomous targeting systems on the battlefield. The findings, detailed in investigations by Ukrainian military specialists and reported by The New York Times, indicate that Russian engineers have integrated off-the-shelf edge AI accelerators into modified uncrewed aerial vehicles, including
August 24, 20261 min
XPeng Robotics Raises Over 00M at .3B Valuation to Scale Humanoid Robot Production
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng has announced that its robotics affiliate raised over $900 million in its first major institutional financing round. The investment values the robotics business at more than $6.3 billion post-money, representing one of the largest single private capital raises in the embodied AI sector to date. The round was led by IDG Capital and Gaorong Ventures, with participation from strategic tech conglomerates Tencent and Alibaba alongside parent firm XPeng Inc
August 24, 20261 min
Nevada Approves Commercial Robotaxi Permits for Up to 8,000 Vehicles Across Tesla, Waymo, and Uber
The Nevada Transportation Authority (NTA) has unanimously approved commercial robotaxi operating permits for Tesla, Waymo, and Uber across Clark County, establishing the regulatory foundation for up to 8,000 autonomous passenger vehicles in the Las Vegas metropolitan area over the next 12 months. The regulatory decision marks one of the largest single-county autonomous vehicle authorizations in the United States, distributing operating rights across three primary commercial applicants: * Tesl
August 21, 20261 min