Where Innovation Meets Imagination
Humanoid robotics companies have spent years producing carefully choreographed demonstrations and highly controlled prototypes. The real challenge, however, has always been manufacturing scale.
Building one impressive humanoid robot is difficult. Building hundreds reliably, repeatedly, and economically is something else entirely.
Figure AI now claims to be crossing that threshold. [Read more…] about Figure ramps up humanoid robot manufacturing at unprecedented speed
Figure AI has signed a commercial agreement with Catalyst Brands to deploy humanoid robots across the retailer’s distribution and logistics network.
The partnership will begin at Catalyst Brands’ distribution center in Reno, Nevada, where Figure’s humanoid robots will be used to automate physically demanding supply chain tasks.
Catalyst Brands operates several well-known retail chains, including JCPenney, Aéropostale, and Brooks Brothers. [Read more…] about Figure partners with Catalyst Brands to deploy humanoid robots in logistics operations
While conducting a scientific survey of vulnerable and unexplored deep-sea ecosystems along the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge, environmental campaign group Greenpeace deployed an underwater robot from 2,300 meters below the surface, in the deepest banner protest ever made from the seabed.
The words demanding global leaders do something were: “LISTEN TO THE SCIENCE!”
Dr Sandra Schöttner, chief scientist for the Deep Arctic Expedition, Greenpeace International, said: “This marks the deepest banner protest in history, to speak for ecosystems that have no voice of their own. [Read more…] about Greenpeace robot stages deepest-ever seabed protest
China is introducing a national digital identification system for humanoid robots as authorities seek to monitor safety risks and standardize management across the rapidly growing sector.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, the initiative will assign unique digital identity numbers to humanoid robots throughout their operational lifecycle, from manufacturing and deployment to recycling and disposal.
The system is intended to help regulators track products more effectively as China accelerates development of humanoid robotics for industrial, commercial, and domestic applications. [Read more…] about China to assign digital ID numbers to humanoid robots for lifecycle tracking
The program committee of the 2026 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision research events, has released the details of this year’s technical program.
Co-sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society (CS) and the Computer Vision Foundation (CVF), CVPR 2026 drew a record number of paper submissions – 16,092, a 24 percent increase over 2025. Through a rigorous peer-review process, about one-quarter were accepted to the program, resulting in 4,089 paper presentations.
“CVPR submissions have more than doubled over the past five years, but the acceptance rate has remained highly competitive, consistently in the low-to-mid 20 percent range,” said Alexander G. Schwing, associate professor, electrical and computer engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, CVPR 2026 program co-chair. [Read more…] about CVPR 2026 fields 16,000+ paper submissions on technical advances in AI
Soft robotics – machines made of flexible, muscle-like materials – can bend and stretch in fluid ways that put the rigid robots of old sci-fi movies to shame.
But the flexibility that lets them pick ripe tomatoes or navigate a search-and-rescue site comes at a cost: soft robotics are notoriously difficult to control.
Virginia Tech researchers are working to solve that problem using a new computing approach inspired by the complex architecture of neurons in the brain. [Read more…] about Virginia Tech researchers control soft robotics with ‘AI’s cousin’: ‘Reservoir computing’
Collaborative robots operate within strict payload and mounting constraints. Pneumatic gripper installations that rely on external valves, sensors, and wiring add weight, increase footprint, and complicate routing along compact cobot arms.
To address these constraints, Festo has introduced the HPPH two-finger pneumatic parallel gripper, a compact, lightweight design that integrates control, sensing, and collaborative safety functions directly into the gripper body.
By reducing external components, the HPPH preserves payload capacity and simplifies mounting and wiring on collaborative robot platforms. The HPPH is available through Festo and the Universal Robotics Marketplace. [Read more…] about Festo introduces two-finger pneumatic gripper for cobot applications
For decades, robotics was viewed as a niche engineering discipline inhabited largely by researchers, academics, and highly specialized industrial automation companies.
Development was expensive, fragmented, and slow. Even simple mobile robots often required years of work and highly customized software stacks.
Today, robotics sits at the center of one of the largest technology investment waves in modern industrial history. [Read more…] about The power of the open-source community in robotics: Collaboration and shared innovation
NūMove Robotics & Vision continues to play a strategic role in mixed palletizing, with more than 20 semi-automatic systems successfully deployed across the United States.
Since its first implementation in 2021, the solution has been steadily adopted by leading wholesale alcoholic beverage distributors. Today, 22 units are fully operational across nine states, with several facilities choosing to install multiple units to maximize throughput and flexibility.
Designed to address the growing demand for efficient order preparation, NūMove’s Semi-Automatic Mixed Load Palletizer combines automation and human collaboration in a highly optimized and scalable solution. [Read more…] about NūMove surpasses 20 semi-automatic mixed palletizer deployments
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and its industry partners are preparing for the launch of a robotic satellite servicing mission designed to demonstrate on-orbit maintenance and upgrade capabilities for spacecraft operating in geosynchronous orbit.
The mission, known as Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS), is scheduled for launch in summer 2026 and represents one of the most ambitious attempts so far to commercialize robotic satellite servicing technologies.
At the center of the mission is the Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV), a spacecraft equipped with a highly dexterous robotic servicing system capable of performing tasks such as satellite inspections, repairs, relocation, upgrades, and anomaly resolution while in orbit. [Read more…] about DARPA prepares robotic satellite servicing mission for launch in 2026
