19 verified briefings on Robotics. Each story includes a plain-English summary, why it matters, and the concrete action engineering teams should take.
UCLA researchers built PhoneBot, a low-cost humanoid robot that uses old Android smartphones for its brain, sensors, and vision. The open-source project makes advanced robotics more accessible by repurposing common consumer electronics.
A former Nvidia robotics lead argues that Physical AI is still in its 'Lego era.' The basic hardware and software building blocks for robotics are not yet mature, challenging the idea that a single large AI model can solve everything.
The US military is testing laser technology that recharges drones in mid-air from thousands of feet away. This "power beaming" could solve the biggest limitation for autonomous systems: battery life, enabling near-perpetual flight.
Waymo released data showing its autonomous vehicles have fewer injury-causing crashes than human drivers. This provides a major safety benchmark for the AI and robotics industry as regulators consider the future of driverless cars.
Roboticist Barbara Mazzolai is pioneering a new field of robotics inspired by nature. Her work focuses on creating soft, flexible robots that mimic biological systems to perform complex tasks and potentially restore ecosystems.
The US Navy has launched its first aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, with a dedicated control center for unmanned aircraft. This marks a major step in integrating autonomous systems into complex, real-world operational environments.
An AI system named Hivemind has successfully commanded a swarm of unmanned boats on open water for the first time. The test in Taiwan demonstrates a major advance in autonomous, coordinated surveillance and defense capabilities.
Google DeepMind has released Gemini Robotics ER 2, a new AI model that allows robots to understand video, reason about tasks, and collaborate with each other. This could significantly accelerate automation in complex, real-world environments.
Nvidia's edge AI platform will power a lunar rover's navigation system starting in 2026. This collaboration with Lunar Outpost tests autonomous technology in one of the most extreme environments, paving the way for future space exploration.
Beijing has effectively banned the unauthorized sale, rental, and flight of drones. The new law requires government approval and training, signaling a major regulatory shift in the world's largest drone market.
A San Francisco startup is facing a lawsuit alleging it secretly tested its robots in Airbnb rentals, causing significant damage. The case highlights the ethical and legal risks of the 'move fast and break things' approach to research and development, serving as a cautionary tale for founders.
AI startup Shift is offering free home cleaning services. In exchange, the company will record its cleaners' actions to create a proprietary video dataset for training future household robots. Shift states the value of this data outweighs the cost of the service.
Nvidia has announced Cosmos 3, a new foundational model designed for physical AI reasoning and robotics. It aims to help developers create world and action models, enabling AI agents to understand and interact with the physical world more effectively. This release targets researchers and developers in embodied AI.
RealWorld has unveiled RLDX-1, a new foundation model designed to give five-fingered humanoid robot hands advanced dexterity. The model was developed and is operated entirely on NVIDIA's technology stack, from cloud-based H100 GPUs for training to Jetson Orin for edge deployment, demonstrating a comprehensive implementation.
A developer has released an open-source AI racing harness for AI Grand Prix contestants. Built with Rust and the Bevy engine, the tool provides a real-time flight software simulation that matches competition constraints, allowing teams to test their code while waiting for the official qualifier.
NASA has awarded contracts for the first components of a planned lunar base, a key step in its Artemis program. The initial awards cover two autonomous rovers designed to provide mobility for astronauts on the Moon's surface, signaling continued momentum for the ambitious long-term settlement initiative.
Hugging Face has released an open-source project for 3D-printable humanoid robot legs. The hardware and software stack costs around $2,500 to build, significantly lowering the barrier for researchers and developers to experiment with physical AI and robotics software in real-world environments.
A new startup, Human Archive, is paying gig workers in India to collect real-world data for AI and robotics. Workers wear camera-equipped caps and sensors, capturing physical interactions to create training datasets for embodied AI, addressing a critical data collection bottleneck for research labs.
Google DeepMind has enhanced its Genie world model by integrating it with Street View. This allows the AI to create interactive, explorable simulations of real-world environments, aiming to advance applications in robotics, gaming, and virtual travel by simulating various conditions and scenarios.