Author: Lei Chuang

You remember a specific scene from the Digit 5 promo video. The robot is in the middle of a task, holding a bin, and a warehouse worker approaches it quickly. After putting the bin down, Digit carefully lowers itself into a seated position and stops its motors, patiently waiting for the worker to pass. It appears almost polite. It’s not. It’s engineering, and it’s the biggest announcement Agility Robotics has made in a long time. Digit 5, which Agility unveiled on September 15, is remarkable for reasons that go far beyond its technical specifications. Standing 5’11” and weighing 284 pounds,…

On July 28, 2026, the FCC placed advanced robotic devices manufactured abroad on its “Covered List,” preventing them from receiving equipment authorization. This effectively prevented new models from being sold or used in the U.S. market. The first thought that most people have when they see a Unitree Go2 running around their backyard or a G1 unit parked in a university robotics lab is probably, “Am I in trouble?” The short answer is no. The longer response is more intricate and worthwhile to comprehend. In its initial public offering (IPO) filing, Unitree, a manufacturer of humanoid and quadruped robots, said…

The Google and Boston Dynamics story has an almost circular quality. Google purchased the business in 2013, sold it to SoftBank in 2017, and then stood by while Hyundai took over in 2021. The two are now collaborating once more as research partners rather than as parent and subsidiary, as was revealed at CES in Las Vegas in early January 2026. Additionally, neither of them has ever tried anything like what they are creating together. Through the collaboration, Boston Dynamics’ Atlas hardware is directly integrated with Google DeepMind’s Gemini Robotics models. For those who have only watched the highlight reels,…

At the Tokyo headquarters of GMO Internet Group, a white van with purple lights on its roof is parked. It resembles something you might see outside a hospital from the outside. As you get closer, the signage makes it obvious that this car is not for you. It is available for your robot. The world’s first “robot ambulance,” a specially designed mobile repair workshop that can transport engineers, spare parts, and even a replacement humanoid to any location where a robot has malfunctioned on the job, was announced by Japan’s GMO Internet Group through its robotics subsidiary GMO Air. In…

This summer, there was a quiet incident at Tesla’s Fremont plant. Two of the most recognizable electric cars of the previous ten years, the Model S and Model X, were produced on an assembly line that went dark. Then it awakened once more, creating something quite different this time. Using the available floor space, Tesla has started early production of its Optimus Gen 3 humanoid robot, which Elon Musk describes as a “slow, careful ramp toward a machine that he believes will eventually be the most valuable product any company has ever made.” That’s not a lighthearted assertion. Musk has…

This morning, Apple’s new CEO John Ternus led the audience through the standard choreography of the iPhone 18 Pro updates, AirPods 5, and Apple Watch Series 12 inside the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino. Then, as though recalling something, he said, “Actually, there is one more thing.” The phrase was purposefully borrowed. The iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable phone and possibly the biggest update to the iPhone since its 2007 launch, came next. Like a book, the Duo folds. When closed, it measures 5.4 inches, making it small and portable, much like phones that people already carry. When you open…

Something truly bizarre was taking place inside Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval, a venue designed for the 2022 Winter Olympics with its sweeping curves and icy architectural confidence. A tiny humanoid robot, perhaps waist-high to an adult human, gave its opponent a roundhouse kick. The kick made no contact. The robot whirled, lost its footing, and fell to the ground. Nevertheless, the audience applauded. The event was captured on camera and swiftly went viral online, serving as an unexpected visual synopsis of the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games. It would be simple to watch that video and conclude that nothing…

A traveler passing through the lower levels of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport most likely did a double take at some point during the first week of May. A 130-centimeter-tall humanoid robot was sliding bags onto a conveyor belt next to a Japan Airlines aircraft on the tarmac, not far from where ground crews have spent decades pushing cargo and hauling bags in the gray predawn light. It waved after that. Not at any specific person. Simply waved. In early May, Japan Airlines began a two-year trial with GMO AI & Robotics, using humanoid robots made in China for ground handling duties…

Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia, witnessed a humanoid robot kick a penalty goal early on August 29 while standing inside a factory floor in Šabac, a mid-sized town on the Sava River in western Serbia. It landed the shot with enough accuracy to elicit a response from the audience, moving somewhat deliberately. It’s difficult to determine which moment or the robot impressed people more. In any case, the cameras were rolling, and the message was unmistakable: Europe’s first humanoid robot mass-production facility had recently opened in Serbia. The Serbian government has referred to the factory, which is run by…

In early 2024, Jensen Huang walked onto the GDC stage with two robots made by Disney that had learned to walk using NVIDIA’s AI. Most people in the audience probably thought it was a “interesting demo.” It didn’t quite hit like the announcement it was. Because Huang wasn’t just showing something new. A platform called GR00T was the first form of something bigger. It was NVIDIA’s quiet but serious bet that it could become the standard intelligence layer for a whole generation of physical machines. Generalist Robot 00 Technology is what GR00T stands for. The name is a bit silly,…