California Guard Innovation Center Hosts Drone Training
The California National Guard’s Hap Arnold Innovation Center hosted a DCMA Blue List small‑UAS training on April 14, drawing more than 70 representatives from military, federal and industry agencies. The event highlighted the shift from a two‑vendor procurement model to 40 approved vendors, dramatically cutting acquisition timelines for drones. Attendees interacted with over 20 drone platforms, emphasizing the need for adaptable, joint‑focused procurement strategies. The training supports Executive Order 14307 and the Secretary of War’s drone‑dominance directive, aiming to accelerate fielding of cost‑effective sUAS capabilities.
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...
Spokane, Wash., Police to Use Drones to Protect World Cup Team
Spokane’s City Council approved a $227,000 purchase of four Skydio surveillance drones and a rapid‑deployment barrier system to protect Egypt’s World Cup team during its training camp. The police department will initially absorb the cost, expecting reimbursement from FIFA‑related grants....
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...
From WCS to Orchestration: The New Operating System for Warehouses
Traditional Warehouse Control Systems (WCS) were built for predictable, deterministic automation, but today’s facilities blend AMRs, AS/RS, vision systems, and variable labor. The industry is moving toward an orchestration layer that makes real‑time decisions about work prioritization, routing, and recovery...
Siemens and OnLogic Partner to Bring Industrial Edge to the Harshest Environments
Siemens and OnLogic have formed a strategic partnership to extend the Siemens Industrial Edge platform onto OnLogic’s fanless, ruggedized edge computers, enabling deployment in extreme environments such as mines and energy sites. The collaboration combines Siemens’ automation software with OnLogic’s...
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...
How YellowScan Navigator Closes the Land-Water Data Gap in UAV Lidar Surveys
YellowScan’s Navigator UAV lidar system merges topographic and bathymetric scanning in a single flight, using a green laser to capture both land and underwater data. Weighing 3.7 kg, it offers 3 cm accuracy, 45 minutes of endurance, and can map a 300‑meter river...
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...
10 Automation Trends Shaping Skilled Trades
Automation is reshaping skilled trades rather than replacing them, as robots, sensors, and AI become commonplace on job sites. Robotic welding cells, autonomous mobile robots, and AI‑driven quality systems are shifting workers toward programming, diagnostics, and system oversight. The rise...
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...
NB Corp. Of America Plans Live Demos This Week
NB Corp. of America will showcase live demonstrations of its NV Slide Way configuration and the 3‑axis BG Actuator at the MD&M South trade show, Booth #2311 Automation. The Slide Way delivers precise linear motion without the need for a...
Oceaneering Pilots ROV on Brazilian Offshore Drilling Rig From Land
Oceaneering successfully piloted a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on a Petrobras drilling rig offshore Brazil from its on‑shore Remote Operations Centre (OROC) in Macaé. The test marks the first land‑based control of an offshore ROV in the region, building on...
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...
Tethered Drone Power Stations for Persistent UAV Operations
Rosefinch Technology, now a Platinum supplier for Unmanned Systems Technology, offers tethered drone power stations that deliver up to 24 hours of continuous flight. The portable, lightweight units support UAVs from 5 kg to 120 kg, including DJI models, and feature intelligent winch...
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...
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...
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...
China’s Drone-Laid Mines Aim to Trap US in a Taiwan War
China’s People’s Liberation Army is fielding the AJX002 extra‑large unmanned underwater vehicle, a stealthy XLUUV capable of carrying up to 20 naval mines over a 1,000‑nautical‑mile radius. The drones are designed for offensive minelaying along the First Island Chain, aiming...
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,...
Pongbot Uses AI-Powered Robots to Address Sports Coaching Gap
Pongbot, founded by Zhang Haibo, has turned AI‑driven robotics into a scalable tennis‑training solution. After a successful 2024 Kickstarter that raised over $2.7 million, the company completed a Series A, bringing total funding to roughly $29.3 million across three rounds. Its Pace series...
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...
AI Capabilities Are Needed to Counter Drone Threats, Senator Says
Senator Deb Fischer warned that the United States must swiftly adopt artificial‑intelligence‑driven capabilities to counter the surge of autonomous drone threats from rivals such as Russia, China and Iran. She highlighted how drone swarms have reshaped warfare, citing the Russia‑Ukraine...
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...
Shield in the Sky Transforming Defense with AiON
Northrop Grumman accelerated its AiON counter‑UAS platform from concept to live‑fire testing in just four months, showcasing flawless drone interception at Yuma Proving Ground. The system links over 40 sensors and 45 effectors, allowing a single operator to manage multiple...
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...
The USC Professor Who Pioneered Socially Assistive Robotics
Maja Matarić, a USC professor of computer science, neuroscience and pediatrics, helped define socially assistive robotics in 2005 and has since built robots that provide therapeutic social interaction. Her work includes the Bandit, Kiwi and Blossom platforms, which support children...
U.S. Army Buys VAPOR CLE Drones Under $14.6M Contract
AeroVironment secured a $14.6 million contract from the U.S. Army to deliver its VAPOR CLE (Compact Long Endurance) unmanned aircraft system under the Company‑Level Directed Requirement (CoLvl DR) Small Uncrewed Aircraft System Tranche 2 program. The award supports the Army’s Medium Range Reconnaissance initiative,...
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...
AIR Lifts Off With First Flight of Heavy-Lift Cargo Drone
Air has completed the maiden flight of its Production AIR Cargo-Heavy Lift UAS, a vertical‑take‑off and landing (VTOL) drone capable of carrying roughly 550 pounds in a 70‑cubic‑foot cargo bay. The aircraft demonstrated stable hover, transition, and forward flight, confirming...
Caracol Partners with CNC Robotics to Support U.K. Customers
Caracol of Italy has teamed with UK‑based CNC Robotics to locally assemble and service its large‑format Heron and Vipra additive‑manufacturing systems, creating a full‑cycle support network with reseller AM Futures. The partnership supports the UK’s reshoring agenda, faster delivery and...
Everrati Brings Its EV Propulsion Expertise to Next-Gen Unmanned Vehicles
Everrati Automotive, a UK firm known for converting classic cars to electric, is extending its propulsion expertise to unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The company will focus on supplying advanced electric motors, battery packs and software...
Ag Aircraft Drone Encounters Increased In 2025 Season
Unsafe interactions between drones and manned agricultural aircraft surged during the 2025 growing season, with 20% of aerial applicators reporting at least one incident—up from 16% in 2024 and 11% in 2023. The low‑altitude nature of crop‑dusting puts pilots within...
Human Half-Marathon World Record Zapped by Humanoid Robot at the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half Marathon
At the 2026 Beijing E‑Town Half Marathon, Honor’s humanoid robot Lightning finished the 13.1‑mile race in 50:26, beating the human world record of 57:20. The event featured over 12,000 runners and about 300 robots on parallel courses, highlighting a dramatic...
RS and Festo Make Smart Electric Motion Accessible
RS, a global industrial‑service provider, is now offering Festo’s Simplified Motion Series electromechanical actuators to small and mid‑sized manufacturers. The series bundles motor, drive and servo functions into a plug‑and‑work unit that can replace traditional pneumatic cylinders. While upfront costs...
Leonardo DRS Integrates Counter-Drone M-MEP Kit on Naval Drone
Leonardo DRS has fitted its Maritime Mission Equipment Package (M‑MEP) onto Sea Machines’ STORMRUNNER autonomous unmanned surface vessel, delivering a ready‑to‑use counter‑drone system for naval fleets. The kit bundles maritime radar, electro‑optical/infrared sensors and AI‑driven SAGEcore software to detect, track...
Physical AI Edges Closer to Real-World Deployments
Capgemini’s new report shows physical AI is moving from hype to practical deployment, with 80% of 1,678 executives across 16 countries already experimenting and only 4% operating at full scale. The gap reflects historic integration challenges, but falling hardware costs,...