A Korean chip startup just quadrupled to $2.2bn, betting AI’s next money is outside the data centre.
A Korean chip startup just quadrupled to $2.2bn, betting AI’s next money is outside the data centre.

A South Korean chip designer few outside the industry have heard of just became a $2.2bn company. DeepX has signed the first tranche of a Series D round that values it at roughly four times its previous mark. And it is not finished raising. The first s…

BYD’s answer to its car-sales slump: a humanoid robot in every showroom
BYD’s answer to its car-sales slump: a humanoid robot in every showroom

BYD sells more electric cars than anyone. Next month, it wants to sell you one using a robot. China’s biggest EV maker will unveil its first humanoid robot in August, at its Di Space experience centres in Zhengzhou, the company told the South China Mor…

China threatens ‘resolute’ retaliation over the US robot ban, and it holds the rare-earth card
China threatens ‘resolute’ retaliation over the US robot ban, and it holds the rare-earth card

The US wanted to keep Chinese robots out. Beijing’s answer: do this, and we will hit back where it hurts. China has threatened “resolute” retaliation after Washington moved to bar imports of Chinese-made humanoid robots. Its commerce ministry called th…

Google’s new AI can now walk a humanoid across the room and tidy up, feet to fingertips
Google’s new AI can now walk a humanoid across the room and tidy up, feet to fingertips

Google DeepMind wants one AI brain to run every robot, and it just taught that brain to use its whole body. It has released Gemini Robotics 2, a family of models that can control a humanoid from its feet to its fingertips. The system can also coordinat…

Procore’s AI could read the blueprints. For $845M, it just bought eyes on the site.
Procore’s AI could read the blueprints. For $845M, it just bought eyes on the site.

Procore’s AI can read a construction project’s paperwork. Now it is paying $845m to give that AI eyes on the actual site. The construction-software company said it will buy DroneDeploy, a reality-capture and robotics firm, for about $845m in cash, Proc…

The US government just blacklisted foreign-made robots and power inverters

The FCC added foreign made humanoid robots, quadrupeds, and power inverters to its Covered List over national security concerns. Here’s what actually changes.

The US just banned ‘foreign’ robots and inverters, and it means China
The US just banned ‘foreign’ robots and inverters, and it means China

The United States has moved to block new imports of foreign-made robots and power inverters. Officials fear a hostile power could spy through them, or switch them off from afar. The order never says China. It does not need to. The Federal Communication…

New York school pauses humanoid robot ‘Sally’ after state and union pushback
New York school pauses humanoid robot ‘Sally’ after state and union pushback

A humanoid robot named Sally was due to take a seat in a Western New York high-school classroom this autumn, silicone skin, long brown hair, and all. Instead she is on hold. A plan that had quietly cleared the Salamanca school board back in June turned…

Enigma raised $70M to let anyone online control its robots and figure out how humans actually want to talk to machines
Enigma raised $70M to let anyone online control its robots and figure out how humans actually want to talk to machines

Enigma, a robotics research lab less than a year old, is emerging from stealth with a $70 million seed round led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital, with participation from Sarah Guo’s Conviction Partners. The startup is not building a foundation mod…

Dopl Technologies raises $6.3M to bring remote robotic ultrasound to rural hospitals
Dopl Technologies raises $6.3M to bring remote robotic ultrasound to rural hospitals

Dopl Technologies raised $6.3 million in seed funding led by SpringTide Ventures to advance a telerobotic ultrasound platform toward FDA clearance. The system, called Traverse, lets sonographers remotely operate a robotic arm via haptic controllers and…