The Ukrainian Classroom: What NATO Must Learn Before It’s Too Late
Three years into the war, Ukraine’s forces have become the most battle‑hardened in the West, generating a wealth of peer‑warfare knowledge. Their rapid development of FPV drone tactics, decentralized command, and integration of civilian technology outpaces NATO’s traditional acquisition cycles. Allies such as Poland, Estonia, the UK and France are already embedding Ukrainian instructors to update doctrine. Yet NATO lacks a dedicated institution to capture and institutionalize these lessons, risking loss of hard‑won expertise as veterans leave the battlefield.
Reliable Robotics Scoops Up $160M
Reliable Robotics announced $160 million in new financing to speed deployment of its Reliable Autonomy System (RAS), the first FAA‑certifiable solution for fully automated aircraft operation. The round, led by Nimble Partners, includes existing backers and a slate of new investors...
China's Robotaxi Fleet to Nearly Triple in 2026, Goldman Says
Goldman Sachs projects China’s robotaxi fleet to surge from 5,000 in 2025 to 14,000 in 2026, nearly tripling in a year. By 2035, robotaxis are expected to account for 36% of all ride‑sharing vehicles, while the robotruck fleet could expand...
Thales, Viasat and Partners Complete Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Connectivity Demo
Viasat, Thales, Dimetor, TTP plc and the European Space Agency completed successful Beyond‑Visual‑Line‑of‑Sight (BVLOS) flight trials at Cranfield University using a Bulldog light aircraft. The tests, part of ESA’s Iris RPAS airspace‑modernisation programme, demonstrated a trusted multi‑link architecture that blends...
Seeds | Boundary.AI Closes Series B Round Exceeding 100 Million Yuan
Boundary.AI, a Chinese developer of high‑safety flight control systems for eVTOL aircraft, closed a Series B round exceeding 100 million yuan (about $14 million). The round was led by Xiamen C&D with participation from Zhangke Yaokun, Xingqi Weilai, and existing backers Yida...
China Deploys Robot Dogs, Drones, and Humanoids to Run a ‘Full-Space’ Metro System
During February’s Spring Festival rush, Hefei’s metro deployed a coordinated fleet of robot dogs, drones and humanoid assistants, forming China’s first “full‑space” robot cluster for rail transit. Managed by a single AI‑driven dispatch platform, the machines handle platform patrols, tunnel...
WHILL Accelerates Global Expansion Across North America, EMEA, and Asia, Reaching 25 Airports and Facilities Worldwide
WHILL, Inc. announced it now operates autonomous mobility services in 25 airports and facilities across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company delivered one million rides with a flawless safety record and will add four new airports,...
US Navy Unmanned Surface Vessel Fleet to Grow Sevenfold in Indo-Pacific
The U.S. Navy announced it will grow its medium‑sized unmanned surface vessel (USV) fleet in the Indo‑Pacific from roughly four today to about 30 by 2030, a sevenfold increase. The expansion is part of a broader vision that includes thousands...
He Xiaopeng Responds to Autonomous Driving Route Debate: Iterating Directly From L2 to L4 Is the Safest Path
He Xiaopeng, XPeng's chairman and CEO, argued that the safest route to full autonomy is to iterate directly from Level 2 to Level 4, bypassing the traditional Level 3 bridge. He emphasized extending the distance between driver interventions from 100 km to 1,000‑10,000 km to...
GMEX Robotics Advances Autonomous Hospital Logistics Platform to Enhance Safety, Efficiency and Operational Workflow
GMEX Robotics announced an upgraded autonomous Hospital Logistics Robot designed to improve durability, ergonomics and safety in high‑traffic medical settings. The new chassis resists impacts while the delivery height is optimized to prevent staff from bending to retrieve supplies. Integrated...
A&K Robotics Raises $8 Million to Build Autonomous Mobility Infrastructure for Airports
A&K Robotics announced a CAD $8 million (~US$5.8 million) Series A round led by BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures. The funding will accelerate deployment of its Cruz™ autonomous mobility pods, which already operate at Vancouver International Airport and Madrid‑Barajas Airport....
California Robotaxi Rides Surged by 500% in 19 Months
California’s autonomous‑vehicle rides exploded from under 200,000 in May 2024 to more than 1.2 million by December 2025, a 500% surge in just 19 months. The jump reflects rapid deployment by Waymo and other robotaxi operators across the state. Meanwhile, lawmakers passed AB1777,...
A&K Robotics Closes $8-Million Series A Round to Put Self-Driving Pods in Airports
Vancouver‑based A&K Robotics secured a CAD 8 million (≈US $5.8 million) Series A round to accelerate its Cruz self‑driving mobility pods. The pods, already in service at Vancouver International and Madrid‑Barajas airports, aim to ease passenger movement in crowded terminals. The funding, led by BDC...
US Navy PMA-281 Selects GA-ASI for CAMP Project
The U.S. Navy’s NAVAIR PMA‑281 awarded General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA‑ASI) the Collaborative Autonomy Mission Planning and Debrief (CAMP) contract. The effort will extend mission‑planning software to support autonomous combat operations, including behavioural tasking, AI decision thresholds, and comprehensive debriefs....
Anduril and Kraken Partner to Deliver Mission-Ready Maritime Power at Scale
Anduril Industries and Kraken Technology Group announced a partnership at the Sea‑Air‑Space Expo to co‑develop the K7 SABRE and K5 KRAKEN unmanned surface vessels (USVs). The agreement targets rapid delivery of scalable, mission‑ready boats for the U.S. Navy’s hybrid‑fleet transition and NATO...
Komatsu Commissions 1,000 Autonomous Ultra-Class Trucks
Komatsu has commissioned its 1,000th autonomous ultra‑class haul truck, a 930E‑5AT deployed at Barrick’s Nevada Gold Mines, making it the first OEM to reach this milestone. Roughly 52% of the fleet are 930E models, with 830E and 980E each accounting...
Robotmaster Software Update Speeds Up Programming
Hypertherm Associates released Robotmaster version 11.0, an offline programming suite for robotic plasma cutting, welding and contouring. The update claims up to twice the processing speed, especially on large CAD models and dense toolpaths, and introduces a standardized deployment framework...
Boonray Signs Cooperation Deal with Vale Indonesia Following Successful Electric Mining Truck Trial
Shanghai Boonray Intelligent Technology and PT Vale Indonesia have signed a strategic cooperation agreement after a successful trial of Boonray’s all‑electric mining trucks. The trial demonstrated stable operation and more than 50% reduction in energy costs, prompting Vale to become...
Tesla Submits Plans for First Robotaxi-Only Supercharger Stations
Tesla filed permits for two private V4 Supercharger stations in Chandler and Mesa, Arizona, dedicated exclusively to its Robotaxi fleet. The Chandler site will host 56 stalls, while a second location in Mesa adds additional capacity, and neither will be...
SiFly – Senior Flight Controller SW Engineer
SiFly announced a senior Flight Controller Software Engineer opening to advance its long‑endurance UAV platform. The role centers on hands‑on development within the open‑source PX4 stack, MAVLink integration, and full‑cycle validation from simulation to live flight. Candidates must bring at...
NEURA Robotics and Amazon Web Services Enter Strategic Collaboration to Accelerate Physical AI at Scale
NEURA Robotics and Amazon Web Services have signed a strategic agreement to accelerate Physical AI at scale, combining NEURA's cognitive robotics platform with AWS's cloud and AI services. The partnership will integrate NEURA Gym training environments with Amazon SageMaker and...
DEEPX and Hyundai Motor Group Robotics LAB Partner to Develop Next-Generation Physical AI Compute Platform for Robotics
DEEPX and Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics LAB announced a strategic partnership to co‑develop a Physical AI computing platform for next‑generation robots. The effort centers on DEEPX’s DX‑M2 ultra‑low‑power chip, designed to run large generative AI models in real time on...
Mayman Aerospace RAZOR™ VTOL Achieves Historic Milestone with Fully Autonomous Inaugural Flight
Mayman Aerospace announced that its RAZOR P100 VTOL drone completed the first fully autonomous, untethered flight, confirming 18 months of engineering work. The test, held at the US Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, showcased the AI‑driven SKYFIELD flight control system...
First AI Driverless Trucks Deployed to Tackle Hong Kong Port Labour Shortage
Hutchison Port Holdings Trust has introduced Hong Kong’s first AI‑powered driverless trucks, deploying six electric autonomous vehicles at Kwai Tsing Container Terminal 4. Since their January launch, the fleet has moved over 8,000 containers, helping alleviate a chronic shortage of commercial‑vehicle drivers. The...
Exail and JFD Join Forces to Support MCM Capabilities in UK
Exail and JFD Global have signed a pre‑bid agreement to explore a UK‑focused partnership that will deliver maintenance, training and support for modern mine‑countermeasure (MCM) capabilities. The deal combines Exail’s autonomous MCM systems, already deployed with several NATO navies, with...
FedEx Conducts India's First Intra-City Drone Delivery Trials in Bengaluru
FedEx announced the successful completion of India’s first intra‑city drone delivery trial in Bengaluru, partnering with IIT‑Madras and securing DGCA clearance. The drone flew a 39‑42 km direct route in about 21 minutes, cutting a typical one‑hour ground trip. In the same...
WRD 3.0 Secures Fourth Consecutive Win in China’s Urban Intelligent Driving Competition
WeRide Driving’s WRD 3.0 platform captured first place at the Wuhu round of China’s Second Urban Intelligent Driving Competition, edging out Horizon Robotics and XPeng by more than ten points. The win marks the system’s fourth consecutive victory, underscoring the strength...
Tilbury Douglas Deploys £15,000 Humanoid Robot
Tilbury Douglas, a UK tier‑one contractor, has introduced a humanoid robot called Douglas on a live construction site, costing about £15,000 (≈ $19,000). The robot autonomously captures 360‑degree imagery, performs laser scanning and generates progress, defect and safety reports, replacing roughly...
Andon Launches AI-Run Store in San Francisco
Andon Labs has opened Andon Market, an experimental retail store in San Francisco run by an artificial‑intelligence agent called Luna. Luna receives a corporate card, a budget and access to digital tools, allowing it to choose products, set prices, manage vendors,...
Blue Ops Partners with HADDY to 3D Print Military Unmanned Surface Vessels at Scale
Red Cat Holdings’ maritime unit Blue Ops has teamed with robotic‑fabrication firm HADDY to embed large‑scale 3D printing into its Georgia plant. The partnership will double production of its 5‑meter and 7‑meter unmanned surface vessels (USVs) by using AI‑driven printers...
Fabricating Perovskite Solar Cells with Robotic Boxes
An international team unveiled an AI‑driven robotic platform that autonomously designs, fabricates, and optimizes perovskite solar cells. The closed‑loop system produced and tested 50,764 devices, achieving a peak power conversion efficiency of 27% (certified 26.5%). The workflow combines a recipe...
Hanwha and Magnet Defense to Produce Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels
Hanwha Defense USA and Miami‑based Magnet Defense have signed a memorandum of understanding at the 2026 Sea‑Air‑Space Exposition to jointly develop medium‑size unmanned surface vessels for the U.S. Department of War. The partnership will focus on a 38‑meter MUSV, AI‑driven...
Hong Kong Launches Automated Parking System at Yau Ma Tei Short-Term Tenancy Site
Hong Kong’s Transport Department has installed an automated parking system (APS) at the Hoi Wang Road short‑term tenancy car park in Yau Ma Tei. The puzzle‑stacking setup provides 117 APS slots within a 200‑space facility, the largest APS deployment at a...
Robinson Unveils Collaborative Autonomous R66 TURBINETRUCK Cargo Helicopter
Robinson Helicopter Company and Sikorsky have teamed to launch the R66 TURBINETRUCK, an autonomous cargo helicopter built on Robinson's R66 airframe and powered by Sikorsky's MATRIX autonomy suite. The aircraft eliminates a cockpit, offering a high‑volume fuselage with a nose‑mounted...
Rise of Physical AI – KUKA and NVIDIA Partner to Launch Automation 2.0
KUKA and NVIDIA announced a strategic partnership at NVIDIA GTC, unveiling the KUKA Automation Management Platform (KUKA AMP) that blends traditional rule‑based control with intent‑based AI. The collaboration marks the launch of what KUKA calls Automation 2.0, a Physical AI framework that...
Lattice and TI Join Forces to Advance Real-Time Edge AI Sensor Fusion
Lattice Semiconductor and Texas Instruments have teamed up to simplify sensor integration for edge AI, pairing TI’s mmWave radar and camera technologies with Lattice’s low‑power Holoscan Sensor Bridge FPGA solution. The joint architecture streams synchronized sensor data directly into GPU‑accessible...
Saildrone Joins Growing Competition for Navy's Medium-Sized Drone Vessel
San Francisco‑based Saildrone entered the Navy's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) competition with its Spectre design, a 250‑tonne craft capable of 27 knots and a 25‑tonne payload. The vessel features optional sail‑driven, near‑silent propulsion for anti‑submarine warfare and can be reconfigured...
Why the US Can’t Copy Ukraine’s Robot Navy
U.S. Navy officials say Ukraine’s success with sea drones cannot be directly replicated in the open Pacific or Red Sea, where vast distances and constant surveillance demand different capabilities. The service recently took delivery of its first 145‑ton unmanned trimaran,...
The Web Is Gaslighting AI Agents and Nobody Can Tell
Researchers at Google DeepMind have identified a new class of threat called “AI Agent Traps,” where hidden instructions embedded in ordinary web pages can manipulate autonomous AI agents. The paper outlines six attack vectors, including content injection and semantic manipulation,...
A Humanoid Robot Set a Half-Marathon Record in China
Honor, the Chinese smartphone maker, unveiled a humanoid robot that completed a 13.1‑mile half‑marathon in 50:26, shattering the human record by seven minutes. The event in Beijing featured more than 100 robots from 76 institutions racing alongside 12,000 human participants...
Iran War Highlights the Value of Unmanned Aircraft
The U.S. Air Force deployed MQ‑9 Reaper drones early in Operation Epic Fury over Iran, using their 24‑hour endurance to locate and strike mobile missile and drone launchers. Despite being vulnerable to sophisticated air defenses, several Reapers were lost, yet...
Anduril, HD Hyundai Expand Partnership with First Autonomous Surface Vessel in Production
Anduril and HD Hyundai have deepened their collaboration to build autonomous surface vessels, with the first ship in a new class now in production after a successful critical design review. Construction is underway at U.S. shipyards operated by Edison Chouest...
HII Launches HYPR Program with Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics to Accelerate Production at Scale
HII announced the High‑Yield Production Robotics (HYPR) program at the Navy League Sea‑Air‑Space Expo, partnering with Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics to embed physical AI across shipbuilding lines. The initiative will combine robotic welding, material handling, surface treatment and autonomous...
Two Weeks to Two Days: Surveying 3,800 Hectares of Queensland Sugarcane with the DJI Matrice 400
A Queensland sugarcane estate adopted a LiDAR workflow using DJI’s Matrice 400 drone equipped with a Zenmuse L3 sensor. The system captured sub‑canopy terrain data across 3,800 ha in two 40‑minute flight sessions, slashing full‑property survey time from roughly two weeks to two...
Creator Is Making a Comeback, Only This Time as a Platform Player and Not ‘Robot Theater’
Creator, the San Francisco‑based robotic burger startup that raised about $60 million and shuttered its flagship store during the pandemic, is re‑emerging as a technology platform rather than a consumer‑facing restaurant. The company now offers its redesigned robot to existing restaurant brands,...
Secures FCC Conditional Approval to Deploy Autonomous Drones for U.S. Electricity Grids
sees.ai has secured conditional approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to operate its centrally controlled autonomous drones for close‑quarter inspection of high‑voltage electricity infrastructure. The approval, granted under the FCC’s new Conditional Approval pathway, validates the company’s security and...
Boeing Lands Chinook without a Pilot at the Controls
Boeing announced that a U.S. Army CH‑47 Chinook completed a fully autonomous landing using its Approach‑to‑X (A2X) software. The test, part of the Army’s broader push for autonomy, required the pilot only to set key parameters before the system guided...
Industry Floods Into Autonomous Vessel Race as U.S. Navy Opens MUSV Marketplace
The U.S. Navy has opened its Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) program to an open marketplace, inviting multiple commercial and defense firms to submit prototype designs. Anduril Industries is teaming with HD Hyundai and Edison Chouest Offshore to combine autonomy software...
Handle with Care: Soft Robot Gripper Picks Ripe Fruit without Bruising
Cornell researchers led by Rob Shepherd have built a soft‑robot gripper that uses stretchable fiber‑optic strain gauges to gauge fruit stiffness and determine ripeness. The device gently twists strawberries off the plant with a planetary‑gear wrist, avoiding the bruising that...
Honeywell Introduces New Warehouse Software Platform and Innovative Sortation Solution
Honeywell announced two new logistics solutions: the Momentum Core software platform and the IntelliSort Irregulars Sorter. Momentum Core consolidates warehouse execution, control and reporting into a single, modular system built on Ignition SCADA, allowing rapid reconfiguration without costly re‑platforming. The IntelliSort...