Author: Martin Dupuis

No public statement has been released by the CSRC. People familiar with the situation claim that it has used informal guidance, which is the type of covert, quiet pressure Beijing frequently uses to steer without seeming to slam a door. Humanoid IPOs are essentially frozen, according to one source. Another objected, describing it as a sector-specific slowdown as opposed to a complete ban. It’s another matter entirely whether the startups in line care much about the distinction. The three criteria currently in use show what regulators really want to see: losses that are at least moving in the right direction,…

A brief video on social media stopped users in their tracks on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of August. A humanoid robot was strolling through the streets of Cramlington, a small Northumberland town that rarely makes headlines outside of local football games and planning disputes. It was upright, strangely graceful, and almost curious in the way it moved. Commentators were equally fascinated and perplexed. Some were uneasy. The majority simply wanted to know what that was and where it originated. It turns out that the solution is closer to home than most people thought. The engineering company Transmission Dynamics,…

There’s a certain energy in Beijing in late August; it’s hazy, humid, and lately very noisy due to the whirring of servo motors. Held over five days at the National Convention Center, this year’s World Robot Conference was more than just a trade show. It was more akin to a show of national resolve, encased in a spectacle that was both fascinating and a little unsettling. Over three thousand items. Over three hundred businesses. Sixteen nations. And robots that seem to be able to jump two meters off the ground, dance, box, and pour drinks. Unitree Robotics, perhaps the most…

Betting on a character in a big studio movie who is speechless, lacks a human face, and spends the first act alone on a garbage-filled planet requires a certain level of bravery. That is precisely what Pixar did in 2008. And inexplicably, it performed better than nearly everything they had ever produced. The Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class, or WALL-E, is one of those unique inventions that has survived beyond its original decade. The idea seems almost purposefully hard to sell: after seven centuries of being abandoned on a destroyed Earth, a tiny, box-shaped trash-compacting robot falls in love with…

Anyone who has watched a sprint race knows the moment when the starting gun goes off and, by the time it’s all over, your brain hasn’t fully processed what happened. Watching Tiangong Ultra cross a 100-meter finish line is similar to that feeling, which has been present throughout human athletic history. China’s Tiangong Ultra outperformed a few competitors at the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. It beat Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds, which had stood since 2009 and once seemed to be the limit of what any physical body could accomplish, with a final time of…

In the midst of the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games, there is a moment that perfectly encapsulates everything. A humanoid robot crosses the 100-meter finish line faster than Usain Bolt ever did, arms pumping, legs churning, and briefly, almost unsettlingly, resembling an actual athlete. Then it slams into a padded wall at full speed. Sparks fly. Mechanical limbs disperse. The audience lets out a roar. And you’re not sure if you should be relieved, impressed, or a little scared of what lies ahead. Over the course of the five days that Beijing hosted what many have begun to refer to…

Observing a humanoid robot leave its own manufacturing line is almost disorienting. We’ve been hearing about this technology for years, so it’s not that it’s impossible; rather, it happened on September 8, 2026, at a Guangzhou factory. There is no stage of demonstration. No meticulously planned press conference. Just IRON, an upright and moving robot, moving away from the line that had just completed its construction. Up until recently, XPeng was recognized as a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer competing in a fiercely competitive market. However, they have now accomplished something that feels truly unique. It has constructed more than a…

On August 22, 2026, Zheng Jie stepped out onto Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval in the still-bright afternoon light. The location was a strange choice because it was designed for winter speed skating rather than tennis. Glistening, expansive, built for cold air and ice. However, nothing about what was going to occur could be neatly categorized. A humanoid robot created by Beijing-based robotics company Galbot stood across the net. It had no coach in its corner. No warm-up. Just sensors, algorithms, and a racket held by a hand that would never tremble—no nerves at all. Depending on who you ask,…

The data presents an odd narrative. On August 19, 2026, Unitree Robotics, which is formally listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as Yushu Technology Co., Ltd., made its debut. The company’s shares ended the first day up more than 460%, closing at 845 yuan after being priced at just 150.80 yuan. Such an opening is the kind that makes headlines in three different countries and is widely shared in group chats related to finance. The company’s market value had increased by almost $20 billion by the next Wednesday. Then, rather quickly, the hype and reality started talking to each other.…

In the GD01’s reveal video, Unitree founder Wang Xingxing reaches up and takes the robot’s hand in a brief but nearly undetectable moment. A man and a machine that is almost two meters taller than him make this strange, oddly human gesture. For a moment, he holds it. Then he gets inside. What comes next is either the most impressive product demonstration of 2026 or proof that the classifications we’ve been using for the last ten years to comprehend robots are no longer entirely appropriate. With the pilot seated inside its open-frame torso, the GD01 advances on two articulated legs…