Bosch Ventures has announced an investment in Asylon Robotics to accelerate the development and deployment of autonomous, AI-enabled robotic systems for security, inspection, and other mission-critical physical operations. [Read more…] about Bosch Ventures invests in Asylon Robotics
Autonomous robots
Skild AI unveils S1 robot foundation model that learns tasks from video demonstrations
Skild AI has unveiled S1, a robotics foundation model designed to enable robots to learn new manipulation tasks from a single video demonstration without task-specific fine-tuning or post-training.
The company says S1 uses in-context learning, an approach analogous to prompting in large language models, allowing an operator to demonstrate a task on video and have the robot interpret the demonstration and reproduce the intended behavior.
Skild says: “Show it a video of a task, short or long, seen or unseen, and it executes.” [Read more…] about Skild AI unveils S1 robot foundation model that learns tasks from video demonstrations
Faraday Future’s Chris Chen: ‘Robotics is a natural extension of the intelligent vehicle’
Faraday Future is best known as an electric vehicle company, but it increasingly sees its technology base as applicable to a much wider range of machines – particularly robots.
The company argues that many of the technologies developed for intelligent electric vehicles – including artificial intelligence, computer vision, sensor fusion, localization, connectivity, simulation and over-the-air software – can be transferred into humanoids, quadrupeds and other robotic platforms.
Faraday Future describes this approach as “One Brain, Multiple Forms”, with a common intelligence and software platform supporting vehicles and different types of robots. It is also developing what it calls a “Four-Core Full-Stack AI” strategy encompassing its EAI Brain, EAI Devices, Industry Productivity Solutions and Developer Platform, and EAI Data Factory. [Read more…] about Faraday Future’s Chris Chen: ‘Robotics is a natural extension of the intelligent vehicle’
Opinion: How robots are learning to navigate the building site
Saminda Wattuhewa, senior lecturer and course leader in cyber security, University of Portsmouth
A construction site is one of the worst places to rely on GPS. Concrete floors stack overhead, steel frames scatter the signal, and basements block it outright.
Yet this is exactly the environment where autonomous robots are increasingly expected to work precisely and navigate around moving crews, doing it without a satellite fix to tell them where they are.
The technology filling that gap is Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM). Rather than relying on a pre-loaded map or an external positioning signal, a SLAM-equipped robot builds its own map in real time using cameras or Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), often combined with inertial measurements for extra stability between readings. [Read more…] about Opinion: How robots are learning to navigate the building site
FORT Robotics to go public via business combination with Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp
FORT Robotics, a safety platform developing a “trust layer” for physical AI, and Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, have entered into a definitive business combination agreement that will result in the combined company becoming a publicly traded company.
Upon closing of the business combination, the combined company will be named FORT Robotics Holdings, Inc. and is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq) under the new ticker symbol “FROB”, subject to regulatory approvals.
The transaction values the combined company at a pro-forma enterprise value of $556.6 million (pre-money equity value of $500.0 million). [Read more…] about FORT Robotics to go public via business combination with Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp
LG to unveil new Nvidia-powered humanoid robot in early 2027
South Korean electronics giant LG is developing a next-generation bipedal humanoid robot built using Nvidia Isaac GR00T, Nvidia’s open reasoning humanoid foundation model, for a public unveiling in the first quarter of next year.
LG and Nvidia signed a memorandum of understanding on August 13 at Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, with chairman and CEO of LG Corp Kwang Mo Koo and Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang in attendance, marking a shift from strategic blueprints into full execution across robotics, AI factories and mobility.
Under the agreement, LG also plans to validate LG CLOiD wheel-based robots at LG Electronics’ washing machine manufacturing line in Tennessee, build AI factory reference sites using Nvidia DSX and Nvidia Vera Rubin, and develop a next-generation AI-defined vehicle platform using Nvidia DRIVE Hyperion. [Read more…] about LG to unveil new Nvidia-powered humanoid robot in early 2027
Northrop Grumman launches robotic spacecraft to repair and extend life of satellites
Northrop Grumman has launched a sophisticated robotic spacecraft designed to service satellites in orbit, potentially allowing expensive space assets to be repaired, upgraded, moved and kept operational long after their original fuel supplies have been depleted.
The company’s Mission Robotic Vehicle, or MRV, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 21 alongside three smaller Mission Extension Pods.
Equipped with two fully articulated robotic arms, the MRV is essentially a mobile robot mechanic for satellites operating thousands of miles above Earth. [Read more…] about Northrop Grumman launches robotic spacecraft to repair and extend life of satellites
Robot.com unveils R-dog quadruped robot for last-mile delivery and advertising
Robot.com, the company putting robots to work in the real world, has unveiled R-dog, its new concept for a four-legged delivery robot built for two distinct and essential roles in robotics: completing the last 100 meters where wheeled robots cannot operate, and turning those same locations into interactive advertising.
R-dog will run on REMI, Robot.com’s fleet management platform and the physical API layer that integrates, controls, and orchestrates every robot in the company’s fleet.
Every delivery eventually reaches the hard part: stairs, curbs, thresholds, uneven ground between a lobby and a door, and many other impediments. While wheeled robots stop there, R-dog was designed as a solution for those last few steps. [Read more…] about Robot.com unveils R-dog quadruped robot for last-mile delivery and advertising
Interview with the IEEE’s Dejan Milojicic: 30 technology megatrends for 2030
While generative AI has dominated much of the technology debate in recent years, the next major phase of development may increasingly involve AI systems that can perceive, interact with and act in the physical world.
The IEEE’s new Technology Megatrends 2030 report identifies physical AI and robotics as one of the areas with the greatest potential for significant technological advancement over the next four years.
The report examines 30 breakthrough technologies across five broad areas – artificial intelligence, energy, health and biotechnology, space technology, and physical AI – and considers how they could reshape industries and everyday life by 2030. [Read more…] about Interview with the IEEE’s Dejan Milojicic: 30 technology megatrends for 2030
Interview with Maximo’s Nick Hegeman: 180,000 robotic installations of solar panels and counting
While much of the current discussion around physical AI focuses on technologies still moving from prototype to commercial deployment, AES has already put robots to work on utility-scale solar construction sites.
The global energy company developed Maximo, an AI-powered robotic system designed to automate one of the most physically demanding stages of solar construction: lifting and installing photovoltaic modules.
Rather than operating in the predictable environment of a factory, Maximo works alongside construction crews on active sites, where terrain, weather, equipment and working conditions can change constantly. [Read more…] about Interview with Maximo’s Nick Hegeman: 180,000 robotic installations of solar panels and counting