A startup with a bankrupt fintech CEO and a president’s son wants to build America’s robot army
A startup with a bankrupt fintech CEO and a president’s son wants to build America’s robot army

Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco startup founded in April 2024, has secured $24 million in research contracts with the US Army, Navy, and Air Force to test humanoid robots designed to breach enemy positions. The company’s Phantom MK-1 is a…

The USC Professor Who Pioneered Socially Assistive Robotics
The USC Professor Who Pioneered Socially Assistive Robotics

When the robotics engineering field that Maja Matarić wanted to work in didn’t exist, she helped create it. In 2005 she helped define the new area of socially assistive robotics.As an associate professor of computer science, neuroscience, and pediatri…

A humanoid robot passed an eight-hour factory shift at Siemens’ Erlangen plant
A humanoid robot passed an eight-hour factory shift at Siemens’ Erlangen plant

Siemens, Nvidia, and UK robotics startup Humanoid have successfully deployed an AI-powered wheeled humanoid robot in live logistics operations at a Siemens electronics factory in Germany. The HMND 01 Alpha completed over eight hours of autonomous tote-…

Robots just ran the Beijing half-marathon faster than the world record holder

A robot built by Honor just ran a Beijing half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record of 57 minutes.

A humanoid robot just beat the human half-marathon world record by seven minutes in Beijing
A humanoid robot just beat the human half-marathon world record by seven minutes in Beijing

A humanoid robot named Lightning completed the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon today in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by nearly seven minutes. The robot, built by Shenzhen Honor Smart Technology Development Co., navigated the 2…

Chef Robotics escaped the robot cooking graveyard and says it’s thriving — here’s why

The company, which deploys AI-guided robot arms for food production, says it is looking to expand its services to provide for a broader array of customers.

Tesla’s China chief calls Shanghai factory a ‘golden key’ to mass-producing humanoid robots
Tesla’s China chief calls Shanghai factory a ‘golden key’ to mass-producing humanoid robots

In short: Tesla’s China president Wang Hao has described the Shanghai Gigafactory as a “golden key” to mass-producing Optimus humanoid robots, the first time a Tesla executive has publicly linked the factory to robotics manufacturing. The plant deliver…

Accenture bets on General Robotics to unify factory AI across robot brands
Accenture bets on General Robotics to unify factory AI across robot brands

In short: Accenture Ventures has invested in General Robotics, whose GRID platform provides a unified AI intelligence layer across 40+ robots from different manufacturers including FANUC, Flexiv, and Ghost Robotics. The deal extends Accenture’s physica…

Chinese humanoid robot maker UBTech is offering $18M to hire a chief AI scientist
Chinese humanoid robot maker UBTech is offering $18M to hire a chief AI scientist

UBTech’s salary range for Chief Scientist of Embodied Intelligence runs from $2.2M to $18M. The Shenzhen company’s humanoid robot revenue grew twenty-fold last year. Bloomberg calls the offer unusual even by Chinese standards. Chinese humanoid robotics…

Melania Trump wants a robot to homeschool your child

The First Lady sees AI and robotics playing a prominent role in the future of American education.