Robotics news & company updates
Curated industry headlines from tier-1 robotics outlets and announcements straight from manufacturers.
Robot Talk Episode 155 – Making aerial robots smarter, with Melissa Greeff
Claire chatted to Melissa Greeff from Queen’s University about autonomous navigation and learning for drones. Melissa Greeff is an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen’s University. She leads Robora Lab and is also an Ingenuity Labs Robotics and AI Institute member. Her research interests include aerial robots, vision-based navigation, and safe learning-based […]
New understanding of insect flight points way to stable flapping-wing robots
By David Nutt The way bugs and birds flap their wings may look effortless, but the dynamics that keep them aloft are dizzyingly complex and difficult to quantify. Cornell researchers created a computational model that shows the effect of insects’ morphology on stabilizing their flight. The findings could lead to a new way to understand […]
Marc Lore says that AI will soon enable anyone to open a restaurant
Wonder wants to turn its robotic kitchens into AI-powered “restaurant factories,” letting anyone spin up a virtual food brand with a prompt.
Robotically assembled building blocks could make construction more efficient and sustainable
New research suggests constructing a simple building from interlocking subunits should be mechanically feasible and have a much smaller carbon footprint.
iRobot Founder Wants to Put a Robotic Familiar Into Your Home
Familiar Machines & Magic wants its robot to help you live your best life
DAIMON Robotics Wants to Give Robot Hands a Sense of Touch
A powerful embodied AI dataset will enable robots to perform dexterous manipulation
Video Friday: Figure, 1X Ramp Up Humanoid Robot Production
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Robot Talk Episode 154 – Visual navigation in insects and robots, with Andrew Philippides
Claire chatted to Andrew Philippides from the University of Sussex about what we can learn from ants and bees to improve robot navigation. Andrew Philippides is a Professor of Biorobotics at the University of Sussex, where he co-directs the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics and the be.AI Leverhulme Doctoral centre for Biomimetic Embodied AI. […]
Ultralightweight sonar plus AI lets tiny drones navigate like bats
This small drone is using sonar, similar to bats’ echolocation, to navigate through a grove of trees. Image credit: Nitin Sanket. By Nitin Sanket, Worcester Polytechnic Institute To help small aerial robots navigate in the dark and other low-visibility environments, my colleagues and I developed an ultrasound-based perception system inspired by bat echolocation. Current robots […]
A retrieval-augmented framework enabling VLM spatial awareness for object-centric robot manipulation | Science Robotics
The article discusses a new framework that enhances visual language models to improve spatial awareness in robots for object manipulation tasks.
Dexterous grasping with an active palm | Science Robotics
The article discusses advancements in robotic technology focused on creating dexterous grasping capabilities using an active palm mechanism.
Beyond alignment: Why robotic foundation models need context-aware safety | Science Robotics
The article discusses the importance of context-aware safety measures for robotic foundation models beyond just alignment.
How foundation models will revolutionize robot swarms | Science Robotics
The article discusses the potential impact of foundation models on the development and functionality of robot swarms.
Transfer learning in robotics: From promises to practice through the emerging role of foundation models | Science Robotics
The article discusses the application of transfer learning in robotics, focusing on how foundation models are bridging the gap between theoretical promises and practical use.
Gradient-based planning for world models at longer horizons
GRASP is a new gradient-based planner for learned dynamics (a “world model”) that makes long-horizon planning practical by (1) lifting the trajectory into virtual states so optimization is parallel across time, (2) adding stochasticity directly to the state iterates for exploration, and (3) reshaping gradients so actions get clean signals while we avoid brittle “state-input” gradients through high-dimensional vision models. Large, learned world models are becoming increasingly capable. They c…
Video Friday: Who Wins in Robot vs. Pro Ping-Pong Player?
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Robot Talk Episode 153 – Origami-inspired robots, with Chenying Liu
Claire chatted to Chenying Liu from University of Oxford about how a robot’s physical form can actively contribute to sensing, processing, decision-making, and movement. Chenying Liu is a Junior Research Fellow and an Associate Member of Faculty in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. She leads an independent research programme focused […]
This Roboticist-Turned-Teacher Built a Life-Size Replica of ENIAC
Tom Burick wants to ground his neurodivergent students’ learning in history
Sony AI table tennis robot outplays elite human players
Ace rotates its paddle as it prepares to return the ball back to its human opponent, Yamato Kawamata, during a match in December 2025. Credit: Sony AI. In an article published today in Nature, Sony AI introduce Ace, the first robot to beat elite human players in competitive physical sport. Although AI systems have shown […]
Object-centric task representation and transfer using diffused orientation fields | Science Robotics
A smooth object-centric representation for shape-invariant task encoding and transfer is presented.
From autonomy to alliance: Robotic foundation models must learn with us, not just for us | Science Robotics
Robotic foundation models should move from autonomy to alliance-aware multiagent learning.
Designing microrobots with embodied physical intelligence | Science Robotics
The article discusses the design of microrobots that utilize embodied physical intelligence to enhance their functionality and performance.
Robot farm elegy | Science Robotics
The 2025 novel Mechanize My Hands for War features humanoid robots for agriculture.
Proposed Chinese Robot Ban Is Latest U.S. Tech Sovereignty Move
The catch: American robot makers still need Chinese-made components
The USC Professor Who Pioneered Socially Assistive Robotics
Maja Matarić’s newest robot aids with students’ mental health
AI system learns to keep warehouse robot traffic running smoothly
This new approach adapts to decide which robots should get the right of way at every moment, avoiding congestion and increasing throughput.
Video Friday: Digit Learns to Deadlift
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Robot Talk Episode 152 – Dexterous robot hands, with Rich Walker
Claire chatted to Rich Walker from Shadow Robot Company about their advanced robotic hands for research and industry. Rich Walker has been at Shadow Robot since long before it was a company, working initially on software and systems engineering before “jumping the fence” into management. He led Shadow Robot’s engagement with a number of R&D […]
Demonstrate once, execute on many: Kinematic intelligence for cross-robot skill transfer | Science Robotics
The article discusses a method for enabling robots to transfer skills learned from one demonstration to multiple robots using kinematic intelligence.
A careful examination of large behavior models for multitask dexterous manipulation | Science Robotics
The article discusses an analysis of large behavior models used for multitask dexterous manipulation in robotics.
Boston Dynamics and Google DeepMind Teach Spot to Reason
The addition of Gemini Robotics brings embodied AI reasoning to inspection robots
What I’ve learned from 25 years of automated science, and what the future holds: an interview with Ross King
We’re excited to launch our new series, where we’ll be speaking with leading researchers to explore the breakthroughs driving AI and the reality of the future promises – to give you an inside perspective on the headlines. Our first interviewee is Ross King, who created the first robot scientist back in 2009. He spoke to […]
Video Friday: This Floor Lamp Will Do Your Chores
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Robot Talk Episode 151 – Robots to study the ocean, with Simona Aracri
Claire chatted to Simona Aracri from National Research Council of Italy about innovative robot designs for oceanography and environmental monitoring. Simona Aracri is a researcher in the Institute of Marine Engineering at the National Research Council of Italy. Previously, she was a Post Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Edinburgh, working on the award […]
GoZTASP: A Zero-Trust Platform for Governing Autonomous Systems at Mission Scale
Register now free-of-charge to explore this white paper A chip-to-cloud assurance architecture enabling secure, resilient, and safe autonomy across robots, sensors, and humans. ZTASP is a mission-scale assurance and governance platform designed for autonomous systems operating in real-world environments. It integrates heterogeneous systems—including drones, robots, sensors, and human operators—into a unified zero-trust architecture. Through Secure Runtime Assurance (SRTA) and Secure Spatio-Tempo
Generative AI improves a wireless vision system that sees through obstructions
With this new technique, a robot could more accurately detect hidden objects or understand an indoor scene using reflected Wi-Fi signals.
Resource-constrained image generation and visual understanding: an interview with Aniket Roy
In the latest in our series of interviews meeting the AAAI/SIGAI Doctoral Consortium participants, we caught up with Aniket Roy to find out more about his research on generative models for computer vision tasks. Tell us a bit about your PhD – where did you study, and what was the topic of your research? I […]
What Happened When We Set Up a Robotics Lab in a Mall
A thousand people got to drive Spot. Lessons were learned
Video Friday: Digit Learns to Dance—Virtually Overnight
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Humanoid Robots Hit a Turning Point as Their Brains Catch Up
The architect of the DARPA Robotics Challenge explains the problems we have yet to solve
Wi-Fi That Can Withstand a Nuclear Reactor
Six months in a nuclear reactor? This receiver chip can take it
Scientists Build Living Robots With Nervous Systems
“Neurobots” wire self-organizing circuits, pointing the way to programmable biological machines
Back to school: robots learn from factory workers
By Anthony King What if training a robot to handle dirty, dangerous work on the factory floor was as simple as showing it how? Czech startup RoboTwin is doing exactly that, helping factory workers teach robots new skills by demonstration. Instead of writing complex code, workers perform the job once and RoboTwin’s technology turns those […]
Resource-sharing boosts robotic resilience
The Mori3 modular origami robot. Image credit: EPFL. Reproduced under CC-BY-SA. By Celia Luterbacher If the goal of a robot is to perform a function, then minimizing the possibility of failure is a top priority when it comes to robotic design. But this minimization is at odds with the robotic raison d’être: systems with multiple […]
Video Friday: Beep! Beep! Roadrunner Bipedal Bot Breaks the Mold
Roadrunner moves in-line, on one wheel, or two to stay nimble and on the go. Plus NASA's SkyFall Mars helicopters and MoonFall mission are gearing up.
Robot Talk Episode 150 – House building robots, with Vikas Enti
Claire chatted to Vikas Enti from Reframe Systems about using robotics and automation to build climate-resilient, high-performance homes. Vikas Enti is the co-founder and CEO of Reframe Systems, a physical AI company rethinking how homes are built through automation and localized fabrication. He previously spent more than a decade at Amazon Robotics, where he helped […]
30 Years Ago, Robots Learned to Walk Without Falling
How did Honda's P2 robot change the future of humanoid robotics?
The Coming Drone-War Inflection in Ukraine
Autonomous drones are redefining the battlefield, but are we ready for the challenges they bring?
A history of RoboCup with Manuela Veloso
RoboCup is an international competition that promotes and advances robotics and AI through the challenges presented by its various leagues. We got the chance to sit down with Professor Manuela Veloso, one of RoboCup’s founders, to find out more about how it all started, how the community has grown over the years, and the vision […]
Video Friday: Humanoid Learns Tennis Skills Playing Humans
This humanoid robot is learning tennis the same way I did—by playing. Plus a robot horse for the Year of the Fire Horse in this week's robot videos.