Boston Dynamics just introduced an all-electric Atlas humanoid, ditching its iconic hydraulics for custom high-powered electric actuators. The new design is sleeker, lacks exposed cables, and can pull off uncanny 180-degree joint rotations to stand straight up from the floor. Commercial pilot testing kicks off at Hyundai facilities early next year.
Elon Musk just posted on X that Tesla will officially unveil its long-promised robotaxi on August 8th. The autonomous vehicle is reportedly built on Tesla's next-generation platform, as reports surface that the company is shelving its $25,000 mass-market EV to go all-in on self-driving.
Apple is reportedly exploring personal home robotics after ditching its electric vehicle project in February. Engineers are looking into mobile bots that follow users around the house as well as robotic tabletop smart displays. It could give Apple a new hardware vehicle for AI, though any actual product remains years away.
Uber and Waymo just launched autonomous food delivery across the Phoenix metro area using Waymo's self-driving cars. Uber Eats customers within the 225-square-mile zone may be matched with an autonomous vehicle, with instructions to unlock the trunk using their phone—though they can still opt for a human courier at checkout.
Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal just teased the Ola Solo, a driverless electric scooter concept packed with self-balancing tech. While the April Fools video poked fun with joke specs like an 'LMAO9000' chip, Aggarwal clarified the underlying autonomous two-wheeler tech is real and actively in prototyping for future vehicles.
Unitree just achieved a standing backflip with its H1 humanoid, making it the first bipedal robot to land the trick using electric joint motors instead of heavy hydraulics. Trained via reinforcement learning simulation, the bot relies on custom M107 motors pushing 360 Nm of torque. It is a major proof point for electric dynamic agility.
Nvidia just introduced Project GR00T, a general-purpose foundation model platform tailored for humanoid robots, alongside a dedicated Jetson Thor computer powered by the Blackwell architecture. Almost every major robotics player—from Boston Dynamics to Figure AI—is already on board, positioning the chip giant as the core brain behind embodied AI.
Apptronik just inked a commercial deal with Mercedes-Benz to trial its Apollo bipedal robots on auto assembly lines. Starting at a factory in Hungary, the 160-pound bots will inspect and deliver parts to human workers. The pitch is simple: carmakers can plug humanoids into existing facilities to tackle grueling, repetitive tasks without having to redesign the plant.
Figure just integrated OpenAI's vision and speech models into its Figure 01 humanoid robot, enabling it to hold full conversations while executing physical tasks. The robot can process visual context, follow verbal commands, and even pauses naturally while speaking. Why it matters: Bringing ChatGPT into a physical frame turns generative AI into an embodied agent, accelerating the race toward real-world AGI.
California regulators just gave Waymo permission to expand its driverless robotaxi service to highways in Los Angeles and the Bay Area at speeds up to 65 mph. The approval brushes aside objections from local transport agencies over recent safety scares, though Waymo says it has no immediate plans to send cars onto the highway right away.
Humanoid robot maker Figure AI just raised $675 million at a $2.6 billion valuation from Big Tech heavyweights, including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Along with the cash, Figure signed a deal with OpenAI to develop next-generation multimodal models for its robots. Why it matters: the tech giants are officially racing to put frontier AI into physical bodies.
Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly in discussions to invest up to $500 million in humanoid robot startup Figure AI. Under the proposed deal, Microsoft would put in around $95 million and OpenAI $5 million, valuing the startup at $1.9 billion before funding. The round is meant to fuel its general-purpose Figure 01 robot, though final terms could still change.
Cambridge researchers just developed a robotic fingertip sensor that reads braille at 315 words per minute, roughly double the speed of human readers with 87% accuracy. It uses machine learning to clear motion blur as it smoothly slides across pages. The goal isn't just braille reading, but bringing human-like touch sensitivity to future robotic hands and prosthetics.
Elon Musk just shared a video of Tesla's Optimus robot folding a t-shirt, but admitted it wasn't acting autonomously. While the demo showed off impressive hardware dexterity, the bot was essentially following scripted motions in a controlled setup. Why it matters: Mechanical progress is evident, but fully autonomous household chores remain a distant goal.
Robotics researchers just introduced AutoRT, SARA-RT, and RT-Trajectory to make robots faster, safer, and better at generalization. AutoRT uses foundation models to safely orchestrate fleets and gather training data, SARA-RT slashes Transformer complexity to boost speed by 14%, and RT-Trajectory doubles task success rates on unseen scenarios.
