The World’s Largest Lithium Metal Maker Is Now Producing Semi-Solid-State EV Batteries
Ganfeng Lithium, the world’s largest lithium‑metal producer, has begun mass‑producing semi‑solid‑state batteries with energy densities ranging from 400 to 650 Wh/kg. The company secured supply agreements with major OEMs including Tesla, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and BMW for lithium hydroxide and other battery materials. Its new “zero‑strain” lithium‑alloy anode expands only 3‑5% per cycle and passed rigorous nail‑penetration and 250 °C heat tests. While currently aimed at non‑automotive applications, the technology is expected to enter EVs soon, accelerating the shift toward higher‑energy batteries.
Humanoid Robots that 'Catch Themselves' Instead of Falling: What a New Walking Algorithm Changes
Georgia Tech researchers unveiled a real‑time planning and control framework that lets bipedal robots recover from instability without human input. Implemented on the Cassie robot, the algorithm uses signal‑temporal‑logic‑guided model predictive control to adjust upcoming steps when perturbations are detected....
A3 Presents ‘Age of Automation,’ Global Film Series Produced by BBC StoryWorks
The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) launched “Age of Automation,” a global film series produced by BBC StoryWorks that showcases how automation is reshaping industries and daily life. The series combines short films and articles that highlight real‑world applications in...
Around the Commercial Drone Industry: Training Schools, New NPRM Comments, El Paso Airport Closure
A new UAS training centre at West Wales Airport aims to certify over 120 drone operators in 2026, offering hands‑on and simulator instruction for both line‑of‑sight and BVLOS flights. The FAA briefly reopened comments on its Part 108 BVLOS NPRM, drawing...
How Part 108 Could Shape Global BVLOS Regulation
The FAA is finalizing Part 108, a performance‑based rule that will govern beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight (BVLOS) drone operations. Unlike Part 107’s waiver‑heavy approach, Part 108 offers a scalable certification model focused on safety outcomes such as detect‑and‑avoid, airworthiness, and uncrewed traffic management. Because the United...
Robot Talk Episode 145 – Robotics and Automation in Manufacturing, with Agata Suwala
Technology manager Agata Suwala at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is steering advanced robotics projects that modernise aerospace production lines. Her team integrates automation to replace labour‑intensive steps, cutting cycle times and error rates. The latest initiative targets a circular‑economy...
Nauticus Robotics, Inc. Announces Major Leadership Enhancements, Aquanaut Manufacturing Expansion, and Accelerated Growth Strategy
Nauticus Robotics announced a suite of senior appointments, including Dr. Kjerstin Easton as Vice President of Software, Chuck Claunch as Chief Software Architect, and Jason Close as Vice President of Growth & Go‑to‑Market. The leadership overhaul coincides with Master Investment...
Pella Workers Talk to Machines, Errors Plummet
Window and door maker Pella has deployed a proprietary voice‑activated connected‑worker platform built on Honeywell software. The system guides operators through tasks, slashing error rates and shortening the time needed to reach full productivity. By standardizing on a scalable solution...
Brazil Imposes Anti-Dumping Duties on Chinese Steel
Brazil’s foreign trade committee approved five‑year anti‑dumping duties on a wide range of Chinese steel products after a 2024 investigation revealed pricing below market levels. The duties range from US$323 to US$670 per ton for cold‑rolled coil and US$285 to...
Altomaxx RPAS Specialist – UAS/RPAS Pilot (Calgary AB)
Altomaxx Technologies, a Canadian drone‑service leader, is hiring experienced UAS/RPAS pilots for its Calgary field‑operations team. The role supports oil‑and‑gas inspections, ground‑penetrating radar, bathymetry, and confined‑space surveys across domestic and international projects. Candidates must hold a Transport Canada RPAS Pilot...
Embention Named in Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Spain for Sustained Growth
Embention, a developer of UAV autopilots and high‑reliability avionics, has been named to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Spain, recognizing four years of strong revenue growth. The accolade underscores the company’s certified avionics for UAVs and eVTOL platforms, built to DO‑160,...
Dosenbach-Ochsner Installs More than 100 Exotec Skypod Robots to Modernize Swiss Warehouse
Dosenbach‑Ochsner, part of the Deichmann Group, has gone live with Exotec’s Skypod robotic system at its Luterbach warehouse, deploying over 100 autonomous picking robots. The robots now service roughly 174,000 storage locations, handling both picking and packing operations. Flexibility and...
Kodiak AI Adds Haas Alert’s ‘Safety Cloud’ to Its Autonomous Trucking Solution
Kodiak AI has integrated Haas Alert’s Safety Cloud digital‑alert platform into its autonomous trucking solution, enabling real‑time safety notifications to nearby drivers via cellular networks. The alerts, displayed on infotainment screens, Waze, Apple Maps and OEM‑compatible systems, have been shown...
US Air Force Proves AI Wingmen Can Fly Across Rival Platforms
The U.S. Air Force has taken ownership of the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A‑GRA) and applied it to multiple aircraft, proving AI wingmen can operate on rival platforms such as the YFQ‑42 and YFQ‑44. By decoupling software from any single...
Texas AG Ken Paxton Sues Anzu Robotics Over Alleged DJI Rebranding Scheme
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Anzu Robotics, alleging the company sells rebranded DJI drones while concealing their Chinese origin and data‑security risks. The complaint claims Anzu acts as a passthrough to bypass federal and state bans...
Should Utilities Invest in Larger Scale, Larger UAS Operations? ….maybe
Utilities are moving beyond pilot‑scale drone programs to enterprise‑level unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that can inspect transmission lines, manage vegetation, and support emergency response. The core question now is whether to invest in larger UAS—platforms over 55 lb that operate outside...
Governor Kelly Announces $3M to Develop Unmanned Aerial Systems Technology for Agricultural Research
Governor Laura Kelly announced a $3 million state grant to Kelly Hills Unmanned Systems for developing Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) unmanned aerial systems aimed at Kansas agriculture. The funding, approved during the 2025 legislative session, builds on the state’s...
Michigan State University Scientists Use AI to Grow Gigantic Diamond Worth Trillions in Lab
Michigan State University, partnered with Fraunhofer USA, received a $3 million NSF grant to use artificial intelligence for growing high‑quality laboratory diamonds via microwave plasma. By analyzing hyperspectral and infrared images, AI models aim to predict and prevent defects during layer‑by‑layer...
Tesla Launches $60k AWD Cybertruck, Reverses $15k Cyberbeast Price Hike
Tesla announced a $60,000 base all‑wheel‑drive Cybertruck and cut the top‑end Cyberbeast price to $100,000, down $15,000. The price adjustments come as the model is selling roughly 5,000 units per quarter, far below the original target of 250,000 annual deliveries....
Wales Becomes UK Launchpad for Next Generation Autonomous Technology
The UK government has signed a £50 million Wales Defence Growth Deal to make Wales the launchpad for autonomous defence technology. The agreement expands MOD test ranges, opens air corridors, and gives Welsh SMEs direct access to secure contracts. A new...
Northrop, Brazil’s Embraer Partner on KC-390 to Pitch US, Others
Northrop Grumman and Brazil’s Embraer have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly market the KC‑390 Millennium with an autonomous boom refueling system for the U.S. Air Force and allied forces. Northrop will study integrating a retrofittable boom and other...
Kollmorgen Introduces AKME Series Servo Motors for Hazardous Locations
Electromate has launched the Kollmorgen AKME Series Servo Motors, specifically engineered for hazardous environments with Zone 2 and Zone 22 certification. The new line spans IEC frame sizes 2 through 7, operates from 48 Vdc to 400 Vac, and reaches speeds up to 5,000 rpm...
AI Disruption Fear Might Strike Auto Insurers Next. Two Stocks Are in the Crosshairs
Artificial intelligence and the rise of autonomous vehicles are expected to cap the personal auto‑insurance market at roughly $560 billion by 2040, after which it could shrink about 4 % per year. Self‑driving cars are projected to cut accident rates by 75‑90 %,...
UK Heavy Goods Vehicle Sales Dipped in 2025; ZEVs at 1.4% Share
UK heavy goods vehicle registrations fell 10% in 2025, with 40,504 new trucks added, marking a contraction across every quarter. The decline was most pronounced in box vans (-28.1%) and curtain‑sided trucks (-26.2%), while tractor units slipped 4.4% but rebounded...
GXO Closes Out Record-Setting Revenue Year
GXO Logistics reported record revenue of $13.2 billion for 2025, a 13% increase year‑over‑year, with Q4 sales climbing 7.9% to $3.51 billion. Net income fell to $36 million for the full year, while quarterly profit was $43 million, reflecting higher investment in growth initiatives....
BAE Systems Signs Framework Deal for Logistics Drone Expansion
BAE Systems FalconWorks and SURVICE Engineering have signed a framework agreement to co‑develop uncrewed air system technologies, extending the partnership that began with the T‑150 logistics drone (fielded as the TRV‑150). The deal broadens collaboration into small and tactical UAS...
Yokogawa, ANYbotics Integrate OpreXTM Robot Management Core Software Into ANYmal Inspection Robots
Yokogawa Electric and Swiss robot maker ANYbotics announced that Yokogawa’s OpreX™ Robot Management Core software will be embedded in ANYbotics’ ANYmal inspection robot family, including the upcoming explosion‑proof ANYmal X slated for a 2026 launch. The integration links robot fleets...
Integrated Safety Vs. Standalone Safety Controllers
Integrated safety controllers using industrial Ethernet dominate complex automation, offering reduced wiring, scalable diagnostics, and deterministic communication. However, standalone safety controllers remain preferable for simple machines, multi‑vendor environments, and retrofit projects due to their independence and ease of validation. Dedicated...
Archer Chooses Bristol as Its UK Engineering Hub
Archer announced that Bristol will host its new UK Engineering Hub, a centre designed to accelerate both commercial eVTOL and defence programmes. The company has already received hundreds of applications and begun hiring engineers to tap the city’s deep aerospace...
MCNEX and Valens Unveil QHD Automotive Cameras Using VA7000 Chipsets
South Korean module maker MCNEX and Valens Semiconductor have launched a new family of automotive front‑ and rear‑view cameras that deliver quad‑high‑definition (QHD) video using Valens’ VA7000 A‑PHY chipsets. The cameras transmit high‑resolution video over unshielded twisted‑pair (UTP) or low‑cost...
High-Precision Combustion Analysis & DAQ Solutions for UAV Engines
DC Inc. has joined Unmanned Systems Technology’s supplier network, offering its Plex PCA‑2000Plus combustion analysis and data‑acquisition system for UAV internal‑combustion and hybrid engines. The portable, IP67‑rated unit delivers cycle‑by‑cycle, per‑cylinder data across up to 16 high‑speed analog channels and integrates...
Lockheed Martin Rapidly Developed Lamprey Drone, New Variants on the Way
Lockheed Martin unveiled the Lamprey multi‑mission autonomous undersea vehicle, a UUV developed in just 14 months and showcased at WEST 2026. The drone can attach to submarines, ships, or the seabed using suction cups, allowing it to hitch rides and...
Execution, Not Chat: How Agentic AI Changes Supply Chain Operations
Agentic AI is shifting supply chain management from advisory chatbots to autonomous execution across ERP, WMS, and TMS systems. By embedding bounded autonomy, situational awareness, and direct action authority, these agents compress the detect‑decide‑act loop and reduce the costly “execution...
US Army Lets Soldiers Flaunt Their Drone Skills in First-Ever Competition
The U.S. Army launched its inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition in Huntsville, drawing more than 800 participants from every Army unit. Competitors tackled three distinct lanes—drone racing, a hunter‑killer field exercise, and an innovation showcase—to earn titles such as Best...
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada to Deploy Agility Robotics’ Digit Humanoids
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) has signed an agreement with Agility Robotics to deploy its Digit humanoid robots across its Ontario assembly plants after a successful year‑long pilot. The rollout will add seven additional Digits to load and unload totes...
From Rocks to Row Crops, TerraClear Broadens Its Capabilities with Launch of Fully Autonomous Robot
TerraClear has launched TerraScout, a fully autonomous robot that captures high‑resolution field imagery for rock‑mapping and weed identification across broad‑acre row crops. The machine can map over 1,000 acres per day at speeds up to 15 mph, collecting more than 4 billion...
Epson Robots to Exhibit at DesignCon, APEX and MAX in Early 2026
Epson Robots announced it will exhibit at three major trade shows—DesignCon, APEX Expo, and Manufacturing & Automation eXchange (MAX)—in early 2026. The company will showcase its new T‑Series All‑in‑One SCARA robot, marketed as a cost‑efficient, plug‑and‑play solution, alongside the RC+®...
How Automation Addresses Industry’s Worker Shortage While Improving Safety and Job Satisfaction
Manufacturers are turning to collaborative robots and machine‑tending automation to combat a persistent labor shortage. By moving workers from repetitive, ergonomically‑dangerous tasks—such as single‑cell welding or CNC loading—to supervisory roles across multiple cells, firms boost productivity and job satisfaction. Safety‑driven...
Autotech Ventures Bets Big on Hard-to-Copy Logistics Startups
Autotech Ventures, a $600 million industrial‑focused VC, is targeting logistics startups that are hard to replicate, leveraging its deep network of global manufacturers and carriers. The firm highlighted investments in GenLogs, a data‑rich freight intelligence platform, and Augment, an end‑to‑end AI...
NVIDIA Adds Cosmos Policy to Its World Foundation Models
NVIDIA introduced Cosmos Policy, a post‑trained robot control policy built on its Cosmos Predict‑2 world foundation model. By encoding actions, future states and reward signals as latent video frames, the single diffusion‑based model achieves state‑of‑the‑art results on the LIBERO and...
The Download: Autonomous Narco Submarines, and Virtue Signaling Chatbots
MIT Technology Review’s daily newsletter highlights three major tech stories: uncrewed narco‑submarines equipped with off‑the‑shelf components like Starlink and autopilots could revolutionize Colombia’s cocaine smuggling by increasing payloads and eliminating human risk; Google DeepMind is urging rigorous evaluation of large...
Turkey Targets Italian Market with Strategic Partnership on USVs and Hybrid Platforms
Turkey’s defence firms Havelsan and VN Maritime have signed a strategic MoU with Italy’s Piloda Defence to develop uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and hybrid naval platforms. The partnership targets a first procurement contract in Italy by the first half of...
Introducing Automation in One of the World's Most Demanding Mining Environments
PAMA has become the first open‑pit coal mine in Indonesia’s Kalimantan region to deploy full‑scale automation, integrating autonomous haul trucks, drill rigs and a remote‑operations centre. The rollout targets the mine’s most challenging terrain, from water‑logged tailings to steep embankments,...
Fly at Your Own Peril: The “Zombie” App Leading UK Pilots Into a National Security Trap
Altitude Angel’s Drone Assist, once the UK’s go‑to flight‑planning app, has become effectively abandoned after the company entered administration in late 2025 and its assets were sold to Spain’s Indra Group. The app’s maps no longer reflect the Ministry of...
Swarm Aero Opens Large Drone Production Hub in Arkansas
Swarm Aero inaugurated an 80,000‑square‑foot Advanced Manufacturing Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, dedicated to large‑UAV production. The facility is designed to mass‑produce the Group 5 swarming UAV, which the company claims will cost less than the MQ‑9 Reaper while delivering comparable capability....
High-Precision Local Positioning System for GPS-Denied Drones & Robotics
Agilica has introduced its Agilica Geolocation (AGL) system, a high‑precision local positioning solution for UAVs that operates without GPS. Leveraging ultra‑wideband radio and a mesh of anchor nodes, the system delivers centimeter‑level accuracy even in RF‑rich, jammed or spoofed environments....
Middle East Weekly: Baidu’s Apollo Go Operates Driverless Fleet at WGS, QIA Commits USD 2 Billion to Startups, Qatar Signs...
At the 2026 World Governments Summit in Dubai, Baidu’s Apollo Go deployed the event’s only fully autonomous ride‑hailing fleet, showcasing Chinese driverless technology on a high‑profile international stage. Meanwhile, Qatar Investment Authority announced a $2 billion expansion of its fund‑of‑funds program to...
Aero Systems West Supports Parasafe Integration for High-Altitude UAVs
Aero Systems West (ASW) has supplied its Parasafe ballistic parachute recovery system to Rainmaker for integration into the company’s high‑altitude unmanned aircraft that operate between 10,000 and 15,000 feet. The parachute system is now part of Rainmaker’s FAA‑approved aircraft architecture,...
AI Breakthrough Could Replace Rare Earth Magnets in Electric Vehicles
Scientists at the University of New Hampshire used artificial intelligence to compile a searchable database of 67,573 magnetic compounds, uncovering 25 previously unknown high‑temperature magnets. The AI system extracts experimental data from literature, predicts magnetic behavior, and records temperature thresholds....
Now We Know Why Tesla Killed Autopilot
Tesla has discontinued the Autopilot name and removed Autosteer from new vehicles after a California DMV compliance order. The DMV warned that misleading marketing could trigger a 30‑day suspension of Tesla's dealer and manufacturer licenses. To avoid the penalty, Tesla...