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 to carry two Mk70 VLS launchers for strike missions. Saildrone partnered with shipbuilder Fincantieri and defense giant Lockheed Martin, planning hull construction this year and sea trials early next year. The program is backed by a $2.1 billion MUSV allocation and $188 million for unmanned‑vessel R&D, part of a broader $1.5 trillion FY2027 defense budget that emphasizes unmanned systems.
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,...
Dronamics Enters Japan and Welcomes Asia Air Survey as Strategic Investor
Dronamics announced a strategic partnership with Japan’s Asia Air Survey, which is investing through its corporate venture arm and becoming the first Japanese shareholder. The deal includes the creation of Dronamics Japan Holdings to commercialize the Black Swan drone in Japan and...
GA-ASI Completes MQ-9B ‘Flight Into Known Icing’ Flight Tests
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA‑ASI) finished a series of flight tests in early April to certify its MQ‑9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft for Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI). The tests, conducted at the company’s Flight Test & Training Center in North...
NGen Announces $62.7M in Funding for Canadian AI, Robotics & Tech Manufacturing Projects
Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) announced nearly C$25 million in new federal funding, matched by C$38 million from industry, to launch 14 advanced manufacturing projects centered on AI, robotics, digital twins and related technologies. The total C$62.7 million (~US$45.8 million) program was unveiled at...
X-Humanoid's Embodied Tien Kung 3.0 Wins Beijing Robot Warrior Challenge with Fully Autonomous Run
The Beijing Yizhuang Robot Warrior Challenge on April 18 served as a proving ground for next‑generation disaster‑response robotics, where X‑Humanoid’s full‑size humanoid Embodied Tien Kung 3.0 completed every obstacle—pendulum traversal, barrier breaching, and obstacle clearance—without remote assistance. By securing the highest overall...
Accelerating Industrial Robotics with NVIDIA Jetson, EverFocus, and EyePick
Industrial robotics face a deployment gap, not an AI shortage, as most pilot projects stall before production. NVIDIA’s Jetson hardware, combined with EverFocus’s rugged EAC‑30N edge computer and EyePick’s Maestro OS, delivers a low‑latency, plug‑and‑play architecture that bridges vision models...
Milvus Robotics Introduces the SEIT F1500S Forklift-Type Autonomous Mobile Robot for Advanced Material Handling
Milvus Robotics unveiled the SEIT F1500S, a forklift‑type autonomous mobile robot designed for fast deployment in high‑mix manufacturing and warehousing. The AMR can lift up to 3,500 lb (1,500 kg) to a height of 8.86 ft (2.70 m) and claims to be the fastest...
Neptune Robotics Invests $12M USD in New Singapore Factory to Expand Robotic Hull Cleaning Capabilities
Neptune Robotics is allocating $12 million to a new manufacturing and R&D facility in Singapore, aimed at scaling its AI‑powered robotic hull‑cleaning systems. The expansion is projected to boost cleaning capacity by 400% by the end of 2026 and support up...
Army Selects AV’s VAPOR® CLE for Medium Range Reconnaissance Program
AeroVironment announced a $14.6 million production contract from the U.S. Army for its VAPOR® Compact Long Endurance (CLE) unmanned aircraft system. The all‑electric VTOL platform will be fielded under the Company‑Level Directed Requirement Small Uncrewed Aircraft System, Tranche 2. The award supports...
Three Verticals for Drone-Based Lidar Beyond Surveying and Mapping
Drone‑based lidar is expanding beyond its traditional surveying stronghold into three high‑growth verticals: utility corridor inspection, forestry inventory, and stockpile volumetric measurement. In utilities, lidar’s canopy‑penetrating returns enable precise clearance tracking and hazard detection, while in forestry it captures tree...
U.S. Navy Confirms $230 Million MQ-4C Triton Drone Crashed Over Persian Gulf
The U.S. Navy confirmed that an MQ-4C Triton ISR drone, valued at about $230 million, crashed over the Persian Gulf on April 9, 2026. The mishap was classified as a Class A incident, indicating total loss of the aircraft but no personnel injuries....
Guest Article: Physical AI Isn’t Replacing Farmers. It’s Critical for Keeping Them in Business
Physical AI is emerging as a lifeline for U.S. family farms, offering autonomous capabilities that augment—not replace—human workers. By retrofitting proven tractors like the Kubota M5 with Agtonomy’s AI stack, growers can oversee multiple machines, cut labor costs, and attract...
Siemens Gets Physical on Industrial AI
Siemens unveiled its Eigen Engineering Agent at Hannover Messe, a physical AI system that can plan, code, configure and validate industrial automation projects. The agent claims to work up to five times faster than manual workflows, improve system quality by...
MQ-9B SeaGuardian: Enhancing Naval and Marine Corps Operations
General Atomics’ MQ‑9B SeaGuardian unmanned aircraft system is being positioned as a cornerstone of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operations, offering the longest endurance of any platform in its class and a full suite of maritime ISR‑T sensors. The UAV...
Sight Machine Advances Autonomous Agents for Manufacturing with AI Agent Crews
Sight Machine unveiled autonomous AI agent crews that continuously monitor and optimize manufacturing operations, showcased at Hannover Messe. The agents tap into the company’s semantic layer—a live digital twin of production processes—to translate raw factory data into actionable insights. Individual agents...
Hyperscale Data Issues Strategic Statement by Its Executive Chairman on Omnipresent Robotics and U.S. Based Robotics Infrastructure and Embodied AI...
Hyperscale Data Inc., an AI‑focused data‑center firm, announced that its subsidiary Omnipresent Robotics will develop and deploy humanoid robots on U.S. soil. The company highlighted a strategic partnership with Singapore‑based AGIBOT, granting it the highest partner tier and direct access...
Agibot Introduces Five Robotic Platforms and Eight AI Models
AGIBOT unveiled five new robotic platforms and eight AI models at its 2026 Partner Conference, built on its “One Robotic Body, Three Intelligences” architecture. The lineup includes the A3 humanoid, G2 Air mobile manipulator, OmniHand 3 Ultra‑T dexterous hand, D2...
Nomagic Hires New Chief Scientist From Google DeepMind to Lead Development of Foundational Models for Robotics
Nomagic has appointed Dr. Markus Wulfmeier, a former Google DeepMind researcher, as chief scientist to spearhead its Vision‑Language‑Action (VLA) foundation model program. He will leverage the company’s proprietary “Library of Chaos,” a massive dataset of real‑world warehouse edge cases, to...
AI System Learns to Keep Warehouse Robot Traffic Running Smoothly
Researchers at MIT and robotics firm Symbotic unveiled a hybrid AI system that directs autonomous warehouse robots using deep reinforcement learning paired with a fast planning algorithm. The method predicts congestion and re‑prioritizes robots before bottlenecks form, delivering roughly a...
Terra Industries Says It Is Building Africa’s Largest Drone Factory in Ghana
Terra Industries, Africa’s most‑funded defence‑tech startup, is constructing a 34,000‑square‑foot drone factory in Accra, Ghana, slated to open in June 2026. The Pax‑2 plant will more than double its Abuja footprint and aims to produce 50,000 UAVs annually by 2028,...
QNX Integrates with Nvidia IGX Thor to Accelerate Safety-Critical AI Deployment
At Hannover Messe, QNX, a BlackBerry division, announced an expanded partnership with Nvidia to integrate QNX OS for Safety 8.0 into Nvidia's IGX Thor platform and its Halos Safety Stack. The unified solution combines QNX's deterministic real‑time operating system with Nvidia’s functional‑safety‑rated...
NVIDIA and Partners Showcase the Future of AI-Driven Manufacturing at Hannover Messe 2026
At Hannover Messe 2026, NVIDIA and partners demonstrated a full suite of AI‑driven manufacturing solutions, from accelerated computing infrastructure to real‑time digital twins and autonomous robots. The Industrial AI Cloud, built by Deutsche Telekom on NVIDIA hardware, provides a sovereign,...
Exclusive: Your Delivery Robot Will Now Offer the Blind Real-Time, On-the-Ground Eyes Around Sidewalk Hazards
Coco Robotics, which runs about 10,000 delivery robots across the U.S. and Europe, has partnered with BlindSquare to stream real‑time sidewalk hazard data to the app used by visually impaired pedestrians. The integration will launch in six markets—Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago,...
Genting Malaysia, Agibot Collaborate to Advance Embodied AI Robotics
Genting Malaysia Bhd has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai‑based Agibot Innovation to develop embodied artificial‑intelligence robotics for its hospitality, entertainment and leisure venues. The partnership was formalised at the Agibot Partners Conference 2026 in Shanghai and will focus...
International Drone Show Sells Out Exhibition Space Amid Growing Demand for Aerial Tech
The International Drone Show 2026 in Odense has sold out all 158 exhibition stands two months ahead of its June 3‑4 opening, expanding from 100 stands last year. Organized by Odense Robotics and the UAS Denmark Test Center, the event...
SRJ Technologies Lands US$4.4m Three-Year UAE Robotic Inspection Contract
SRJ Technologies Group Plc announced that its UAE subsidiary, Air Control Entech (ACE), has won a three‑year, US$4.4 million (≈A$6.1 million) contract to provide robotic leak‑detection and emissions‑inspection services for a government‑owned upstream oil and gas operator in the United Arab Emirates....