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What makes robots feel alive? Human-robot interaction expert Sarah Sebo explains

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As robots become more expressive and socially capable, the line between machines and living characters is starting to blur. From Disney’s lifelike Olaf robot (main image) to interactive droids inspired by Star Wars, recent developments highlight how far robotics has come in replicating human-like behavior and emotion.

But what actually makes a robot feel “alive” – and why do some machines feel natural while others fall into the so-called “uncanny valley”?

To explore these questions, Robotics & Automation News spoke with Sarah Sebo, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Chicago, whose research focuses on human-robot interaction and the social, cultural and technological impact of robots in everyday environments. [Read more…] about What makes robots feel alive? Human-robot interaction expert Sarah Sebo explains

AI-Driven Brute Force: Why Traditional Rate Limiting is Dead in 2026

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AI-driven brute force is a problem that’s only getting worse. According to a recent study, cyberattacks using AI and ML have risen by 89% year-over-year as of early 2026, with around 11,000 attacks taking place per second.

What’s more, the technology behind these attacks is only improving, and so, while the volume rises, so too does the effectiveness with which these attacks bypass security measures and exploit vulnerabilities. [Read more…] about AI-Driven Brute Force: Why Traditional Rate Limiting is Dead in 2026

OpenAI raises $122 billion as AI infrastructure race accelerates

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OpenAI says it has raised $122 billion in a new funding round, valuing the company at approximately $852 billion, as competition to build large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure intensifies.

The round was backed by a group of major technology and financial firms, including Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank, and Microsoft, alongside investment firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and TPG.

The company says the funding will be used to expand its infrastructure, develop new AI systems, and scale its products globally. [Read more…] about OpenAI raises $122 billion as AI infrastructure race accelerates

Emobility Application Development Services for Automated EV Ecosystems

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EV adoption is accelerating across logistics, public transport, and energy retail. Charging networks, fleet management systems, energy platforms, and partner APIs all run in parallel but rarely communicate.

Dispatchers manually coordinate sessions that should trigger automatically. Energy managers export spreadsheets that a platform should process in real time. At scale, these gaps become a ceiling on growth.

eMobility solutions built on purpose-designed emobility application development services replace that patchwork with connected, automated EV ecosystems. [Read more…] about Emobility Application Development Services for Automated EV Ecosystems

Image Annotation Outsourcing Services Philippines: The 3D Sensor Fusion Frontier

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Image annotation outsourcing services in the Philippines have evolved into high-precision “Spatial Engineering” hubs. 

By synchronizing 3D LiDAR point clouds with 2D RGB video feeds, specialized Philippine teams provide the centimeter-level ground truth and temporal consistency required for autonomous robots to navigate complex, unstructured human environments with 99.9% reliability. [Read more…] about Image Annotation Outsourcing Services Philippines: The 3D Sensor Fusion Frontier

Nebius teams with Nvidia to build cloud for robotics and physical AI

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Nebius, the AI cloud company, has announced it is collaborating with Nvidia to accelerate physical AI development with an end-to-end platform purpose-built for the full robotics lifecycle, from simulation and training to real-world deployment at scale.

Combining Nebius’s global AI cloud infrastructure with the Nvidia Physical AI Data Factory Blueprint, an open reference architecture for massive data generation and evaluation, Nebius will provide robotics developers and enterprises an agent-driven environment that addresses the two fundamental barriers to physical AI at scale: infrastructure and tooling fragmentation, and the lack of high-quality training data for rare, unpredictable scenarios that determine real-world success.

“Physical AI is going to be one of the defining technology shifts of this decade, and the teams building it today are being held back by infrastructure and tooling that was never designed for those workloads, ” said Evan Helda, head of physical AI at Nebius. [Read more…] about Nebius teams with Nvidia to build cloud for robotics and physical AI

Secure Your Online Privacy with a Free VPN for Mac

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Your Apple computer is built with strong safeguards. Yet, your daily internet use can still expose you.

Activities on public networks, hidden tracking codes, and regional content blocks create risks. These gaps in your digital privacy call for an extra tool. [Read more…] about Secure Your Online Privacy with a Free VPN for Mac

Kassow Robots launches real-time connector app for Bosch Rexroth ctrlX OS

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Kassow Robots, a Copenhagen-based manufacturer of high-performance seven-axis lightweight collaborative robots, has launched its new Kassow Robots Connector App for the operating system ctrlX OS from Bosch Rexroth.

The app enables seamless real-time integration of the company’s cobots into the ctrlX OS environment, significantly simplifying commissioning, control, and system integration for industrial automation solutions.

As part of Bosch Rexroth, Kassow Robots expands the capabilities of the open automation platform ctrlX Automation to include robotic applications with this new app-based interface. [Read more…] about Kassow Robots launches real-time connector app for Bosch Rexroth ctrlX OS

7 Best Dedicated IP VPNs for Industrial IoT Security: Static IP for OT Firewall Whitelisting

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Factories, utilities, and smart buildings rely on remote access – and so do attackers. The 2025 SANS State of ICS/OT Security survey found that unauthorized external access sparked 50 percent of last year’s industrial cyber incidents.

The usual fix is to “just use a VPN,” but consumer services rotate exit IPs, forcing firewalls to block you along with the bad actors.

A dedicated-IP VPN provides one unchanging address the plant can trust, so you can lock an allow-list and sleep at night. We tested seven options built for OT realities; here’s what we found. Ready? Let’s dig in. [Read more…] about 7 Best Dedicated IP VPNs for Industrial IoT Security: Static IP for OT Firewall Whitelisting

From industrial robot arms to humanoids: Nvidia tightens its grip on the future of robotics

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Nvidia is rapidly emerging as the central technology provider to the global robotics industry, with a growing list of partners spanning traditional industrial robot manufacturers, surgical robotics firms, and a new wave of humanoid startups.

In a sweeping set of announcements at its GTC conference, the company revealed that many of the world’s best-known robotics companies – including ABB, Fanuc, Yaskawa and Kuka – are now building on its platforms, alongside newer entrants such as Agility Robotics, Figure AI and 1X.

The breadth of that ecosystem suggests a shift that has been under way for several years: robotics is becoming an AI-driven industry, and Nvidia is positioning itself as the default supplier of the underlying compute, simulation and software infrastructure. [Read more…] about From industrial robot arms to humanoids: Nvidia tightens its grip on the future of robotics