News Archives

By Laura Bennett May 20, 2026 • 3 mins read

News, Robots & Robotics

Elon Musk Predicts 100 Million Humanoid Robots in Next 5 Years

By Laura Bennett May 20, 2026 • 3 mins read

Elon Musk predicted at Forbes’ Innovator 250 Celebration that between 100 million and one billion humanoid robots will arrive within five years and that digital intelligence will surpass all human brainpower by 2031, as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang separately forecast AI driving global GDP to $500 trillion.

By Daniel Krauss May 19, 2026 • 3 mins read

Business & Markets, News, Robots & Robotics, Science & Tech

Boston Dynamics Reveals How Atlas Learned to Lift 100-Pound Industrial Loads Using Simulation Training

By Daniel Krauss May 19, 2026 • 3 mins read

Boston Dynamics has published a technical blog explaining how Atlas learned to lift and carry objects exceeding 100 pounds using reinforcement learning trained across millions of GPU-parallelized simulations, with the behavior developed within weeks of the robot’s public debut.

By Rachel Whitman May 19, 2026 • 3 mins read

Business & Markets, News, Robots & Robotics

Hyundai Motor Group Plans to Deploy 25,000 Atlas Robots Across Its Manufacturing Plants

By Rachel Whitman May 19, 2026 • 3 mins read

Hyundai Motor Group has outlined plans to deploy more than 25,000 Atlas humanoid robots across Hyundai and Kia manufacturing facilities, targeting 30,000-unit annual production capacity by 2028 and domestic U.S. actuator manufacturing at 300,000 units per year.

By Daniel Krauss May 18, 2026 • 3 mins read

News, Robots & Robotics, Science & Tech

Figure AI Intern Beats Figure 03 Robot in 10-Hour Sorting Contest, but CEO Calls It the Last Human Win

By Daniel Krauss May 18, 2026 • 3 mins read

Figure AI staged a 10-hour parcel sorting contest between an intern and its Figure 03 humanoid robot. The human won by 192 packages but finished with a near-broken forearm. Figure AI’s CEO Brett Adcock declared it the last time a human will win.

By Laura Bennett May 18, 2026 • 3 mins read

News, Robots & Robotics, Science & Tech

South Korea Launches $33.5 Million Public-Private Program to Build Domestic AI Humanoid Platform

By Laura Bennett May 18, 2026 • 3 mins read

South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT has launched a 50.4 billion won program to develop a domestic AI humanoid platform for medical and caregiving settings, with LG Electronics, KAIST, and ten other institutions participating under KIST’s leadership.

By Rachel Whitman May 12, 2026 • 3 mins read

News, Robots & Robotics

Unitree and EngineAI Robots Square Off in First Public Inter-Brand Robot Fight in San Francisco

By Rachel Whitman May 12, 2026 • 3 mins read

A video of a Unitree humanoid and an EngineAI robot trading punches and kicks in a San Francisco Bay Area storefront has gone viral, billed by organizers as the first public fight between robots from two different manufacturers.

By Laura Bennett May 12, 2026 • 2 mins read

News, Robots & Robotics, Science & Tech

Unitree Unveils GD01 Manned Mecha at $650,000, Claims World’s First Production-Ready Model

By Laura Bennett May 12, 2026 • 2 mins read

Unitree Robotics has unveiled the GD01, a manned mecha the company describes as the world’s first production-ready civilian mecha vehicle, weighing approximately 500 kilograms including the driver and starting at 3.9 million yuan ($650,000).

By Daniel Krauss May 12, 2026 • 4 mins read

News, Robots & Robotics, Science & Tech

EU-Funded PROBOSCIS Project Develops Elephant Trunk-Inspired Soft Robot Gripper

By Daniel Krauss May 12, 2026 • 4 mins read

Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology have developed a soft robotic arm modeled on the elephant trunk’s muscular architecture, capable of handling fragile objects and heavy loads with the same system, using 3D-printed pneumatic actuators and integrated optical sensing.

By Rachel Whitman May 11, 2026 • 2 mins read

Business & Markets, News, Robots & Robotics

UBTECH and Hitachi Partner to Deploy Walker S2 Humanoid Robots in Elevator and Smart Manufacturing

By Rachel Whitman May 11, 2026 • 2 mins read

UBTECH Robotics and Hitachi China have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to deploy Walker S2 humanoid robots across Hitachi’s manufacturing operations, with elevator production already in active testing at Hitachi Elevator’s facility.

By Daniel Krauss May 11, 2026 • 2 mins read

Business & Markets, News, Robots & Robotics

Unitree Launches UniStore, a Robot App Store for Its Humanoid and Quadruped Platforms

By Daniel Krauss May 11, 2026 • 2 mins read

Unitree Robotics has launched UniStore, described as the world’s first humanoid robot application store, allowing users to browse, download, and install motion and task packages onto Unitree robots with a single tap from a smartphone app.

By Laura Bennett May 11, 2026 • 3 mins read

Business & Markets, News, Robots & Robotics

Tesla Ends Model S and Model X Production at Fremont, Converting Line to Optimus Manufacturing

By Laura Bennett May 11, 2026 • 3 mins read

Tesla built its last Model S and Model X at Fremont on May 9, ending a combined 14-year production run as the company converts the assembly space to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots, targeting one million units per year.

By Daniel Krauss May 8, 2026 • 3 mins read

Business & Markets, News, Robots & Robotics

HD Hyundai Robotics Secures First U.S. Shipyard Order with ArcLift GO Welding System

By Daniel Krauss May 8, 2026 • 3 mins read

HD Hyundai Robotics has secured its first robotic welding order from a U.S. shipyard operator, supplying its ArcLift GO system to three Chouest Group facilities in North America and one in Brazil, as skilled welder shortages drive automation demand in American shipbuilding.

By Laura Bennett May 8, 2026 • 3 mins read

Artificial Intelligence (AI), News, Robots & Robotics, Science & Tech

Seoul Deploys AI and Robotics Across Six Nursing Facilities to Address Elder Care Labor Crisis

By Laura Bennett May 8, 2026 • 3 mins read

The Seoul Welfare Foundation has selected six nursing facilities to receive AI and robotics technology under a pilot program targeting the physical burden of caregiving, as South Korea’s demographic shift accelerates pressure on its senior care workforce.

By Daniel Krauss May 8, 2026 • 3 mins read

News, Robots & Robotics

South Korea’s Jogyesa Temple Ordains Unitree G1 Humanoid Robot as Buddhist Monk

By Daniel Krauss May 8, 2026 • 3 mins read

A Unitree G1 humanoid robot named Gabi was ordained as a Buddhist monk at Seoul’s Jogyesa Temple in a ceremony hosted by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, pledging devotion to the Buddha and committing to a set of vows adapted for an AI system.

By Rachel Whitman May 8, 2026 • 4 mins read

Business & Markets, News, Robots & Robotics, Science & Tech

The Gap Between Humanoid Robot Hype and Industrial Reality Is Wider Than It Looks

By Rachel Whitman May 8, 2026 • 4 mins read

Despite record investment, viral demonstrations, and bold commercial timelines, the gap between what humanoid robots can do on camera and what they can reliably deliver in real industrial environments remains significant – and is being increasingly acknowledged by the people building them.