OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a dedicated robotics division tasked with developing hardware, controls, and machine learning for humanoid robots, starting with skilled labor on infrastructure projects and scaling toward a personal robot for everyone.
PaXini Tech, a Chinese haptic technology and humanoid robotics company backed by BYD and JD.com, is considering a Hong Kong IPO and could submit a listing application in the coming months, following a Series B round that valued it at more than 10 billion yuan.
Australian startup Aquila has set two world records in laser power transfer – the highest power ever beamed by laser and the longest sustained delivery – by continuously powering a moving warehouse robot for 24 hours using 4 kWh of wirelessly transmitted energy.
ASUS has unveiled two AI-powered robots at Computex 2026 – the Kairo autonomous service robot for healthcare and commercial environments, and a next-generation companion robot for home elder care – both orchestrated by the company’s new Maestro AI platform.
KUKA has opened an immersive showroom at its Augsburg headquarters featuring two industrial robots moving a 65-inch display in synchronized choreography in front of a large-scale Samsung LED backdrop, combining robotics demonstration with commercial display technology.
Unitree Robotics passed its Shanghai STAR Market listing committee review on June 1, clearing the path to registration and issuance as it seeks to raise 4.2 billion yuan, with competitors Leju Robotics and Deep Robotics also advancing toward public listings.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a dedicated robotics division tasked with developing hardware, controls, and machine learning for humanoid robots, starting with skilled labor on infrastructure projects and scaling toward a personal robot for everyone.
NVIDIA has announced the Isaac GR00T Reference Humanoid Robot, an open hardware and software platform combining a Unitree H2 Plus chassis, Sharpa dexterous hands, and Jetson Thor onboard compute, targeting frontier humanoid robotics research at institutions including Stanford, ETH Zurich, and UC San Diego.
A San Francisco robotics startup valued at $2 billion is facing a lawsuit from an Airbnb host who alleges employees secretly tested household robots in his rental property across an 11-night stay, leaving it extensively damaged without disclosing the commercial purpose of the booking.
XPENG Chairman He Xiaopeng predicts 2027 will mark the commercialization of mass-produced humanoid robots, as the company convenes a 1,000-person production mobilization meeting and targets mass production by end of 2026 and retail store deployment by Q1 2027.
BMW is deploying two Hexagon Robotics Aeon humanoid robots at its Leipzig factory this summer for battery assembly and parts feeding tasks, marking the first use of humanoid robots in European automotive manufacturing and extending a program that has already built 30,000 cars in the U.S. with Figure robots.
Tesla is converting its Fremont Model S and Model X line to produce one million Optimus robots annually, but with no consumer sales until late 2027 at the earliest and a $20,000-$30,000 retail price, the company faces a significant unresolved demand question as its automotive gross margins turn negative.
China is developing an autonomous operation robot for its Chang’e-8 lunar mission, planned for around 2028, designed to deploy instruments, collect samples, and support infrastructure construction near the Moon’s south pole using a wheeled chassis with a humanoid torso and dual robotic arms.
