Today's Robotics Pulse
Chinese startup Spirit AI tops global AI robot leaderboard, beating Nvidia
Spirit AI’s embodied intelligence model, Spirit v1.6, achieved a score of 1,924 on the RoboArena benchmark, surpassing Nvidia’s Cosmos3‑Nano‑Policy. The company also disclosed a ¥1.5 billion (≈$222 million) funding round to accelerate its robotics AI platform.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OneRobotics acquires Nanoleaf for $40M
‘It’s Not Just All the Big Companies’: Warehouse Robotics Use Expands
Warehouse robotics are moving beyond Amazon and Walmart as subscription‑based models lower entry barriers. A 2025 MHI study shows robot usage in warehouses jumped to 48%, with 64% of respondents adopting robotics‑as‑a‑service (RaaS) or SaaS solutions. Mid‑size firms like Superior Communications and parcel carrier UniUni are leveraging RaaS to add dozens of autopicker and AI‑sorting robots, cutting labor‑intensive tasks and fulfillment costs. The shift highlights a broader industry appetite for flexible, ROI‑driven automation across the logistics spectrum.
KNAPP Redefines the Competitive Edge at MODEX 2026
KNAPP North America will showcase its latest warehouse‑automation portfolio at MODEX 2026, including the award‑winning AeroBot three‑dimensional robot and the high‑throughput Evo Shuttle 2D/1D systems. The company will also unveil KNAPP Brain, the industry’s first AI layer built specifically for digital...
Teledyne FLIR Defense Signs Memorandum of Understanding with STORM Adapt Group at EnforceTac 2026
Teledyne FLIR Defense and Norway’s STORM Adapt Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding at EnforceTac 2026 to integrate FLIR’s SkyCarrier quadcopter and Black Recon micro‑UAS with STORM’s Rapid Adapt and Deploy System (RADS). The MoU creates a vehicle‑mounted, modular platform that...
Deloitte Unveils Physical AI Solutions Built with NVIDIA Omniverse Libraries to Help Accelerate Industrial Transformation
Deloitte announced an expanded partnership with NVIDIA to launch physical AI offerings built on the Omniverse platform. The new services combine high‑fidelity digital twins, advanced computer‑vision models, and secure edge‑robotics tools for industries such as automotive, life‑sciences, and manufacturing. Deloitte’s...
Article Intro - SurgRAW: Multi-Agent Workflow for Robotic Surgical Video Analysis
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters introduces SurgRAW, a multi‑agent, chain‑of‑thought workflow designed for zero‑shot reasoning on robotic surgical video. The system builds on SurgCoTBench, a new benchmark with 14,256 question‑answer pairs and frame‑level annotations across five core surgical tasks. By...
UK Civil Aviation Authority Outlines Electronic Conspicuity Plans for Uncrewed and Crewed Aircraft
The UK Civil Aviation Authority released a Technical Concept of Operations detailing electronic conspicuity (EC) requirements for integrating BVLOS unmanned aircraft into shared airspace. Uncrewed systems must broadcast a 978 MHz ADS‑B signal and carry ADS‑B IN receivers, while crewed aircraft face...
First Confirmed US One‑way Drone Strike on Iran Sharpens Pentagon UAV Expansion
The United States confirmed its first combat use of low‑cost, one‑way attack drones against Iranian targets during Operation Epic Fury. footage released by CENTCOM shows the drones deployed by Task Force Scorpion Strike alongside precision munitions. The Pentagon is accelerating a program...
Russian Forces Report Strikes by German HX-2 Drones
Ukrainian forces have begun fielding German‑made HX‑2 one‑way strike drones across multiple front‑line sectors, targeting Russian rear‑area support units such as repair brigades and road‑network crews. The HX‑2, introduced in late 2024, can travel up to 220 km/h and strike targets...
Medline Expands AI Platform and Warehouse Robotics
Medline Industries is scaling its AI‑driven supply‑chain platform, Mpower, in partnership with Microsoft, to provide a digital control tower that automates forecasting, inventory management and disruption alerts for hospital customers. The company is also expanding warehouse robotics, now operating AutoStore...
Robotic Fish Turns Ocean Plastic Into Power
I’ve spent years watching robots optimize warehouses and generate content. Now one is designed to repair the ocean. That feels different. A UK design student built a robotic fish that swims like a real marine creature while collecting microplastics. As it moves, it...
500K Views: Sharing Practical Automation Knowledge
500.000 views 🎉 and I am truly overwhelmed. Thank you for every single view, comment and message 🙌 You can find the channel here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e_isrBGj I am incredibly happy that my videos reach so many people and help you...
Hargrave Technologies Unveils 60 V, 120 A Motor Controller for Medium VTOL Platforms
Hargrave Technologies introduced the microDRIVE MP, a 60 V, 120 A motor controller tailored for medium VTOL and helicopter UAVs. The ESC offers high‑current performance in an IP67‑rated, rugged enclosure, addressing the growing power and durability demands of expanding UAV missions. It...
Next-Generation Medical Drone Launched with Faster Response & Higher Payload Capacity
Swedish firm Everdrone unveiled the E3, a purpose‑built medical transport drone that replaces its earlier E2 platform with fully proprietary hardware. The new model doubles payload capacity to 4.5 kg and cruises above 80 km/h, enabling deliveries in under three minutes—significantly faster...
Humanoid Robotics Complements Existing Automation at BMW
BMW Group launches its first European pilot of humanoid robots at the Leipzig plant, extending its ‘Physical AI’ strategy that blends artificial intelligence with real machines. The project, in partnership with Hexagon Robotics and its AEON robot, will test multifunctional...
AGIBOT Showcases Full Humanoid Robot Portfolio at MWC 2026
AGIBot unveiled its full humanoid robot portfolio at MWC 2026, showcasing A2, X2, G2, D1 and C5 platforms alongside the OmniHand dexterous limb. The company launched a global online store and a Robot‑as‑a‑Service (RaaS) leasing model with prices starting at €899...
Inside DJI’s $3.2 Billion Sky: Frank Wang, Drones and Asia’s New Youngest Tech Billionaire
Frank Wang turned a dorm‑room drone prototype into DJI, the world’s dominant premium consumer‑drone maker, propelling him to a $3.2 billion net worth and making him Asia’s youngest tech billionaire. By concentrating on the $1,000‑plus segment, DJI captured professional creators, enterprises,...
Six‑axis Robots Enable True 3D Printing
Print in 3D space. That is a fascinating look at non-planar 3D printing, specifically using a 6-axis motion system. Instead of the traditional "layer-by-layer" approach where the printer head only moves on a flat 2D plane X and Y before...
China Releases National Standards for Humanoid Robotics and Embodied AI
China has unveiled its first national standard system for humanoid robots and embodied AI, organized into six components covering everything from basic commonality to safety and ethics. The framework was drafted by more than 120 institutions under the Ministry of...
Aspen Leads Nation with Firefighting Drone Technology
Colorado is leading with practical wildfire solutions. Aspen is first in the nation using new tech to get ahead of fires and protect lives, landscapes, and communities. From tackling pine beetles to statewide wildfire mitigation, we’re keeping Colorado’s forests and people...
System Report: VLMs Unlock Efficiencies for All World Machinery
All World Machinery Supply, a Roscoe, Illinois distributor of 15,000 machine‑part SKUs, tackled a storage crunch and labor bottlenecks by installing four Kardex vertical lift modules (VLMs) and an in‑house conveyor system. The VLMs cut the warehouse footprint by 75%...
Special Report: 2026 Productivity Achievement Awards
Modern's 2026 Productivity Achievement Awards recognized top performers in warehousing/distribution, innovation, and e‑fulfillment. Performance Health won Warehousing/Distribution for a streamlined distribution center, reduced packaging waste, and improved KPI tracking. Staples earned the Innovation award for its integrated robotics platform, autonomous...
Ferroelectric Fluids Power Magnet‑free, Low‑voltage Rotating Motors
A newly demonstrated sideways electrostatic force in ferroelectric fluids enables motors to rotate without magnets or metal, offering a lightweight, low-voltage alternative for future actuation systems. materialsinnovation
Hellmann and Exotec Sign Global Warehouse Automation Agreement
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics and French robotics firm Exotec have signed a global framework agreement to automate Hellmann’s contract‑logistics warehouses. The partnership will roll out Exotec’s modular goods‑to‑person robotic systems, starting with a pilot at a German healthcare customer. The solution...
Why High-Fidelity 3D Still Can’t Scale to Millions of Users (And How Miris Fixed It)
High‑fidelity 3D experiences have struggled to reach millions because traditional delivery relies on downloading complete assets or expensive pixel‑streaming from cloud GPUs. Both approaches create latency, high infrastructure costs, and limited scalability. Miris introduced a true 3D streaming architecture that...
Nanoliter Precision Turns Lab Robots Into Full Automation
This is real time. You can see how stable the motion is. A system placing droplets between 1 nanoliter and 1 microliter inside a 96 well plate with almost perfect repeatability. No shake. No drift. No overshoot. The robot keeps...
BMW Deploys Humanoid Robots for Real Car Production
BMW Brings Humanoid Robots Into Real Car Production – Physical AI Is Here https://t.co/30rtWebkvi via @YouTube #BMW #car #manufacturing #humanoidtech #humanoid #robot #Robotics #AI #TechRevolution #TechInnovation #ArtificialInteligence @AlbertoEMachado @Eli_Krumova @postoff25 @Khulood_Almani @anand_narang @NutritiousMind @baski_LA @TanyaSinha_ @devaang @AlAmadi1 @jeancayeux @enilev @efipm @mvollmer1...
Why Warehouse Maturity Blooms in Uneven Seasons
The article frames warehouse technology adoption as a series of seasonal maturity levels, ranging from manual operations to fully dynamic, software‑driven facilities. It warns that forcing a single platform across all sites creates fragmentation, higher costs, and stunted growth. Instead,...
US Deploys Iranian‑Style Kamikaze Drones in Combat
U.S. Military Has Used Long-Range Kamikaze Drones In Combat For The First Time America's clone of Iran's Shahed-136 had been used against Iran in an ironic vignette of modern drone warfare. https://t.co/TUY72CkNm5
Laundering Accountability with Embodied AI
The article warns that autonomous‑vehicle firms are rebranding human remote operators as "assistants" to dodge legal responsibility. By labeling these operators as non‑drivers, companies aim to shift liability from tort negligence to product‑defect claims, even when human error directly causes...
ISS Demonstration: A Tow Truck for Space.
In this episode of T‑Minus, host Maria Varmazas interviews Troy Morris, CEO and co‑founder of KMI, about the company’s successful in‑space demonstration of its articulated “tow‑truck” arms aboard the ISS. The demo involved over 200 days of testing, capturing unprepared...
AI's Role in the Future of Robotics: Insights From 3Laws
In episode 233 of The Robot Report, hosts Steve Crow and Mike Oitzman discuss the explosive growth of AI funding, highlighted by OpenAI’s $110 billion raise, and its implications for robotics. They interview Andrew Singletary and Amir Sharif of Three Laws...
2,000 Robots Walk Into a Shop: Simulated A/B Testing (2026) – Shopify
Shopify’s SimGym simulates up to 2,000 cloud‑browser robots to run instant A/B tests on storefront changes, eliminating weeks‑long traffic waits. The system pairs Browserbase’s Chromium sessions with an open‑source 120‑billion‑parameter Mixture‑of‑Experts model, optimized through MXFP4 quantization, FP8 KV‑cache, and custom...
Best Manufacturing and Packaging Automation Companies in 2026
Factory floors in 2026 are shifting from basic automation to intelligent, software‑defined systems. The article ranks the top five automation vendors—Hefestus, Rockwell Automation, Siemens Digital Industries, ABB Robotics, and Fanuc—highlighting each firm’s niche strengths such as high‑precision packaging, edge computing,...
Investors Double Down on Robotics: ROBO Sees $225M Flow Surge
Investors are pouring money into the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF as the rise of “physical AI” expands the addressable market for intelligent hardware. Assets under management jumped to $1.7 billion, driven by a $452 million year‑to‑date inflow, with $255 million...
Whoops: US Military Laser Strike Takes Down CBP Drone Near Mexican Border
The Pentagon’s high‑energy laser counter‑UAS system mistakenly shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone operating near the Mexican border. The strike occurred without prior coordination with the FAA, prompting temporary flight restrictions in the Fort Hancock area. The mishap...
LUCID Releases Atlas10 SWIR 10GigE RDMA Cameras with Sony IMX992 and IMX993 SenSWIR Sensors and Integrated TEC Cooling
LUCID Vision Labs launched the Atlas10 SWIR, a 10GigE camera featuring Sony’s 5.2 MP IMX992 and 3.2 MP IMX993 SenSWIR InGaAs sensors. The camera incorporates integrated thermoelectric cooling (TEC) that can be set to 10 °C, cutting dark current and image noise for...
World’s Smallest Robot Arm Achieves Sub‑Micrometer Precision
The world's smallest industrial robot arm Built for sub-micrometer precision. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how to control what is likely the world’s smallest and most precise industrial robot arm using custom software. The stack includes online and offline programming...
LOCUST Laser Downs CPB Drone, Echoing El Paso Strike
A small CPB drone was shot down by a LOCUST laser system, similiar to what was used in El Paso earlier this month. https://t.co/QyYmTED5Zq
Automation in Manufacturing Will More than Double by 2030: PwC
PwC’s latest outlook finds manufacturers will more than double automation, AI and advanced‑technology use by 2030, with the median adoption rate climbing from 26% to 68% of operations. Adoption in production and product design is already high, while business support...
Weekly ROS Roundup: IntrinsicAI Joins Google, New Tools
Here is your #ROS and open source robotics news for the week of February 3rd, 2026: 🦞@IntrinsicAI joins @Google 🦞A new ROS interface for OpenClaw 🦞New MuJoCo / ROS Control bridge 🦞Changes to the Gazebo release cadence 🦞ROS Lyric release working group ⬇️⬇️⬇️...
Join RoboCup ARM Challenge 2026: MATLAB/Simulink Algorithms
RoboCup ARM Challenge 2026! Open to RoboCup teams, university labs, undergraduate and graduate students, the challenge focuses on developing perception and control algorithms in MATLAB and Simulink 🔗 Register now https://t.co/uZAR88IaHm https://t.co/rtRGhKIsSa
Robotic Wing Inspired by Nature Delivers Leap in Underwater Stability
Researchers at the University of Southampton have created a soft‑robotic wing with a liquid‑metal e‑skin that senses water flow and reshapes itself automatically. In lab tests the wing cut unwanted uplift impulse by 87% versus rigid AUV wings, responded up...
Two-Story 3D-Printed House Withstands Earthquakes with Cave-Like Design
Japan unveiled its first two‑story 3D‑printed home, the O House, a 50 sq m residence built with a hybrid of robotic cement extrusion and conventional reinforced‑concrete framing. The structure rises from 0.5 m below ground to 7 m high, featuring arched, cave‑like walls and skylights,...
Tensor and Arm Collaborate on Agentic Robocar
Tensor and Arm announced a multiyear partnership to supply the compute architecture for Tensor’s Level 4 agentic AI robocar. Each vehicle will house 433 Arm‑based cores across Neoverse AE, Cortex‑X, Cortex‑A, Cortex‑R and Cortex‑M, complemented by Nvidia accelerators. The robocar features...
Carbon Fibers Bend and Straighten Under Electric Control
Researchers at the Polish Academy of Sciences have shown that bare carbon fibers can be bent and straightened reversibly using electricity, without any coatings or structural modifications. The fibers act as bipolar electrodes in a closed electrochemical cell, where asymmetric...
Friday Fun
Manufacturers are increasingly rolling out their own RAMIS (Rapid Automated Manufacturing Integration Systems) platforms, intensifying competition in the industrial automation sector. The surge reflects a broader shift toward modular, AI‑enabled production lines that promise higher efficiency and lower downtime. Vendors...
10 Million Calls: The Drone System Changing Policing
Skydio’s Drone‑as‑First‑Responder (DFR) Command platform has processed over 10 million service calls, demonstrating that autonomous drones are now embedded in U.S. public‑safety workflows. The system pulls live 911, CAD, and sensor data directly into its Flight Deck, allowing operators to dispatch...
Taming Agentic Chaos: The Biggest Tech Challenge
How to make tools like @openclaw behave is the biggest challenge (and opportunity) in tech right now. @lilyhnewman reports on an important new effort to tame agentic chaos: https://t.co/mKSiWh8Kr7
AW 2026 to Show Hyundai’s MobED as Logistics, Manufacturing Robots Advance
Hyundai Motor Group’s Robotics Lab will showcase its MobED mobile platform at the Smart Factory & Automation World (AW) exhibition in Seoul from March 4‑6, 2026. MobED, unveiled in December 2025, features four independently controlled wheels and an eccentric mechanism...
Episode 146: Embodied AI on the ISS - Jamie Palmer
In this episode, Claire Asher talks with Jamie Palmer, co‑founder and CTO of Icarus Robotics, about developing free‑flying, dexterous robots to assist astronauts on the ISS and future commercial stations. Palmer explains how the robots—essentially microgravity drones with manipulators—are being...