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Robotics
AI moving out of chat windows and into physical machines — humanoids, warehouse systems, and autonomous vehicles.
14 published XAi stories on Robotics; the most recent is dated October 1, 2026.
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- Boston Dynamics skips the pinkie on new four-finger hand for its Atlas robotBoston Dynamics unveiled a new hand for its Atlas humanoid robot with four fingers and 13 degrees of freedom. The company says it left off the pinkie because the extra dexterity wasn't worth three more actuators and the added size, cost and power draw. Before finalizing the design, engineers taped their pinkie and ring fingers together for a day to see what they could no longer do.
- Robot dog maker ANYbotics launches Shift, software to run inspection robot fleetsSwiss company ANYbotics says it has launched Shift, a cloud platform that schedules its ANYmal four-legged robots on plant inspection rounds and turns their readings into maintenance work orders. The company says Shift is already used across more than 200 robot deployments and runs hundreds of thousands of inspections a month. It has four modules covering fleet scheduling, sensor analysis, plant mapping, and links into software like SAP, IBM Maximo and GE Vernova APM.
- Maven Robotics raises $100M to put two-armed warehouse robots on wheelsMaven Robotics, a Santa Clara, Calif. startup founded in 2024, told The Robot Report it has raised $100 million and moved from pilots to a production contract with its first customer. Its wheeled, two-armed robot starts with mixed-case palletizing and tote handling, and CEO Hamza Derbas says the company plans a couple hundred robots on production contracts over the next year.
- SoftBank puts $225M into ASI and forms venture for self-driving construction equipmentUtah-based Autonomous Solutions Inc. (ASI) and SoftBank Group announced a joint venture on Sept. 24, 2026 to develop and sell autonomous heavy equipment for large infrastructure jobs. SoftBank also invested $225 million in ASI itself. ASI's CEO says the company's Mobius software runs mixed fleets of haul trucks, dozers, loaders and compactors from any major brand.
- 5 million robots are now at work in factories worldwide, the IFR reportsThe IFR (International Federation of Robotics) reports that 5 million robots are now working in factories worldwide, according to The Robot Report. China still leads the world in industrial robot installations, and the U.S. and Germany are also significant markets.
- PlusAI is taking self-driving trucking software public through a SPAC dealPlusAI plans to go public through a SPAC transaction that values the company at about $800 million, The Robot Report says. The report notes its self-driving trucking software is already generating revenue.
- A robot-safety piece asks about attacks that change what a machine sees and decidesA Robot Report article argues that robot safety assurance has a missing layer: it has to account for attacks that can change how a machine sees, decides and acts.
- Pressure sensors can help robots grip more accurately, a Robot Report piece saysThe Robot Report says pressure sensors can improve robotic bin picking, from first contact through surface deformation and load distribution to a final stable hold.
- Startup opens pre-orders for $3,555 home robot it says you can train with a phoneFlourish Robots says it has started pre-orders for Flourish 1, a $3,555 wheeled home robot with two arms that owners teach by moving a smartphone while the robot copies the motion. The company says the first 50 units are for sale now, with deliveries starting in December 2026. The Robot Report says the robot runs on a Raspberry Pi and sends its heavier AI work to cloud computers.
- A robot-sensing startup just raised $165 millionLyte AI raised $165 million — its second funding round this year — to scale production of the perception hardware it says helps robots better sense their surroundings, according to The Robot Report.
- Tesla starts running robotaxis in Austin with no steering wheel at allTesla began operating its Cybercab — a two-seat, autonomous taxi with no steering wheel or pedals for a passenger to grab — in Austin, according to The Texas Tribune. It's unclear how soon the service will scale up or become available to the public.
- Medtronic puts $700 million into a surgical-robot partnerMedtronic is investing $700 million in Cornerstone Robotics, its surgical-robotics partner, to build out a multi-system portfolio anchored by the existing Hugo surgical robot and a new system called Sentire, according to The Robot Report.
- A humanoid-robot maker just crossed 1,000 robots built — and one automaker is already using themFigure AI says it has built its 1,000th Figure 03 humanoid at its BotQ factory, now producing about one robot per hour, and BMW has expanded its use of Figure's robots at its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant to a more complex parts-sequencing job.
- Robots by the billions are the stated planMusk says there will eventually be more robots than people — 10 billion plus, targeted around $20,000 each. That's the long game every big AI company is building toward.