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Robotics

Humanoid robots from Figure, Unitree, Tesla Optimus and others, plus robot arms, embodied AI and self-driving cars.

4 stories in the last 7 days

  1. Reach 31

    Boston Dynamics' Atlas is now breakdancing

    Boston Dynamics just dropped a wild video showing its electric humanoid robot Atlas pulling off cartwheels, forward rolls, and slick breakdancing coffee-grinder spins. Teaming up with the Robotics and AI Institute, the team trained the bot via motion-capture suits and reinforcement learning. Why it matters: As humanoid competition heats up globally, Boston Dynamics is pushing extreme agility, even while under heavy pressure to turn parlor tricks into real commercial revenue.

  2. Reach 34

    Nvidia teams up with Disney and DeepMind on open-source physics engine Newton

    Nvidia just teamed up with Google DeepMind and Disney Research to build Newton, an open-source physics engine designed to help robots learn complex physical tasks with higher precision. Disney plans to plug Newton into its next-generation entertainment animatronics, starting with Star Wars-inspired BDX droids.

  3. Reach 43

    DeepMind puts Gemini 2.0 into robots with two new models

    Google DeepMind just launched Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, two models built on Gemini 2.0 designed to bring AI reasoning into physical actions. The models can handle delicate chores like origami and zip-bag packing, and DeepMind is already teaming up with Apptronik to power Apollo humanoid robots.

  4. Reach 33

    A bionic hand that actually feels what it touches

    Johns Hopkins researchers just developed a biomimetic prosthetic hand blending rigid 3D-printed bones with soft silicone joints. Multi-layered fingertip sensors allow it to recognize everyday objects with 99.69% accuracy and hold a full water cup without crushing it. The prototype still requires an air compressor and awaits clinical amputee trials.

  5. Reach 34

    Uber and Waymo roll out driverless rides in Tesla's backyard

    Uber and Waymo just launched autonomous rides in Austin, Texas, giving Uber riders a chance to get picked up by an all-electric Jaguar I-PACE with no human driver behind the wheel. The ride comes at no extra cost, and passengers can easily opt in or out. It plants robotaxis right in Tesla's home territory ahead of its own planned rollout.

  6. Reach 33

    A driverless Maserati just broke the autonomous speed record

    A fully driverless Maserati MC20 Coupe just hit 197.7 mph (318 km/h) at the Kennedy Space Center, shattering the autonomous land speed record. Powered by algorithms from Politecnico di Milano and Indy Autonomous Challenge, the team pushed the AI software to its absolute limit to stress-test systems and eventually improve high-speed highway safety.

  7. Reach 47

    Figure fast-tracks humanoid robots for the home

    Figure just moved up its home robotics roadmap by two years, with plans to begin alpha testing its Figure 02 humanoid in living rooms later in 2025. CEO Brett Adcock credited Helix, the startup’s new generalist VLA model, for the rapid shift. Why it matters: While rivals stick to factory floors, Figure is taking on the messy real world surprisingly early.

  8. Reach 31

    DJI's new drone dock launches from moving trucks

    DJI just unveiled the Dock 3, a rugged drone-in-a-box system that lets drones launch directly from moving vehicles with an optional gimbal mount. Built for the Matrice 4D and 4TD, it packs an IP56 rating, handles extreme temperatures from -30 to 50 degrees Celsius, and starts at $21,059. Why it matters: Mobile launches allow inspection and emergency teams to deploy aerial scans without ever having to stop the truck.

  9. Reach 33

    Apptronik's humanoid robot gets closer to building itself

    Apptronik just inked a pilot deal with manufacturing giant Jabil to deploy its Apollo humanoid robots on factory floors for sorting and transport tasks. If all goes smoothly, Jabil will eventually mass-produce Apollo in its own facilities—meaning the robots will literally help build themselves, with commercial manufacturing targeted for 2026.

  10. Reach 48

    Figure's Helix gives humanoid robots a two-speed brain

    Figure just introduced Helix, a vision-language-action model that drives full upper-body control for humanoid robots. By decoupling slow scene comprehension from a 200Hz reactive action policy, it lets robots pick up unfamiliar household items and even coordinate across two units entirely on onboard, low-power GPUs.

  11. Reach 47

    Clone unveils a water-powered musculoskeletal android

    Clone Robotics just introduced Protoclone, billed as the world's first bipedal musculoskeletal android. Powered entirely by water and electricity, it replaces rigid electric motors with proprietary artificial muscles called Myofibers that contract faster than human tissue. It is a wildly biomimetic step toward soft-bodied, sci-fi-style humanoids.

  12. Reach 31

    Steph Curry's tireless new shooting partner is an AI robot

    The NBA just revealed a trio of AI-powered robots currently testing with the Golden State Warriors. Steph Curry uses one named A.B.E. as a non-stop rebounder, while other bots mimic real-time defensive pressure and boost team morale in the locker room. Why it matters: professional sports training is finding real utility in specialized autonomous hardware.

  13. Reach 68

    Meta is building an Android for humanoid robots

    Meta is making a major bet on humanoid robots, setting up a dedicated team inside Reality Labs led by former Cruise CEO Marc Whitten. Instead of rushing to sell its own branded bot, Meta wants to build the underlying AI, sensor, and software platform using Llama to power third-party hardware, with talks already underway with Figure AI and Unitree.

  14. Reach 31

    Iran unveils submarine-launched AI suicide drone

    Iran’s Ministry of Defense just published footage showing what it claims is the first submarine-launched autonomous suicide drone, dubbed Hadid 110. The loitering munition relies on onboard AI image recognition to identify and strike targets without radio links or manual guidance, making underwater launches harder to detect and jam.

  15. Reach 33

    Lyft eyes robotaxi launch in 2026 with Mobileye and Marubeni

    Lyft is teaming up with Intel's Mobileye and Japanese conglomerate Marubeni to launch a robotaxi fleet in Dallas as soon as 2026. The ridehail platform is sticking to an asset-light playbook, letting Marubeni own and manage the cars while Mobileye supplies the self-driving tech, all in a bid to keep pace with Uber.

  16. Reach 33

    Apple brings Pixar's desk lamp to life with AI

    Apple engineers just built an expressive robotic desk lamp straight out of a Pixar film. Equipped with cameras, microphones, and tiny motors, the prototype responds to hand gestures, grooves to music, and even peeks out the window before answering weather questions.

  17. Reach 33

    humanoids gain human-like agility with ASAP framework

    Researchers just introduced ASAP, a two-stage framework that bridges the sim-to-real physics gap for humanoid robots. By pairing simulated pre-training with a real-world residual action model, the team demonstrated agile whole-body skills on a Unitree G1 robot with significantly reduced tracking errors. Why it matters: It offers a practical path to dynamic robot agility without manual parameter tuning.

  18. Reach 47

    OpenAI starts hiring for its first robotics hardware team

    OpenAI is officially getting into physical hardware. Robotics hardware lead Caitlin Kalinowski just posted openings for the company’s first hardware-focused roles, recruiting senior sensing engineers, mechanical designers, and a TPM manager to set up a new training lab. OpenAI isn't content with just supplying the AI brains; it wants to build the bodies too.

  19. Reach 33

    Nvidia's 'Mega' blueprint tests robot fleets in digital twins

    Nvidia just unveiled Mega at CES, an Omniverse blueprint designed to test and optimize physical AI and industrial robot fleets in digital twins before real-world deployment. It combines Isaac robotics and Omniverse sensor simulation, allowing operators like KION Group to simulate infinite warehouse scenarios. Why it matters: Bringing software-defined simulation to physical factories finally lets logistics scale without trial-and-error downtime.

  20. Reach 31

    NVIDIA opens Omniverse Sensor RTX early access for autonomous machines

    NVIDIA just opened early access for its Omniverse Sensor RTX APIs, targeting AV and robotics developers. The tool simulates physically accurate data for cameras, radar, and lidar, letting teams safely generate rare edge cases without risking real-world hardware. Partners like Accenture, Foretellix, and Nuro are already plugging it into their testing pipelines.