Robotics news & what's new on Robolist

Hong Kong vies for role in robot boom with embodied AI hub launch

Hong Kong vies for role in robotics boom with launch of embodied AI hub

The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) opened the city’s first experimental hub for embodied artificial intelligence on Thursday with the participation of seven mainland and Hong Kong companies, including industry leaders Unitree Robotics and Galbot, as the city looks to carve out a role in the global robotics boom. Located at the HKPC Building in Kowloon Tong, the Embodied AI International Applications Hub, housed under the HKPC’s industrial AI and robotics centre, features simulated...

The Tesla Roadster flew, drove upside down, and hit 60mph in under a second

Elon Musk promised a flying car. And the Tesla Roadster did exactly that. Tesla demonstrated its next-generation Roadster at an event in Waco, Texas, where the electric supercar drove upside down, briefly flew, and accelerated to 60mph in under a second. It was an impressive demonstration of a car that likely will come with some […]

Instant Air Base: Sikorsky packs Nomad 100 VTOL drone squad in a box

Sikorsky has taken its Nomad 100 VTOL drone and tucked it into a neat package along with its support gear. Known as the Fast Pack, the system uses a standard 20-foot ISO intermodal shipping container to house four Nomad 100 aircraft – two of which can be prepped and launched in as little as 15 minutes. Continue Reading Category: Military , Engineering Tags: Sikorsky , Lockheed Martin , drones

After ten years of drone shows, Damo wants to build robot swarms that "can do real work"

Even those unfamiliar with the name Damozhu probably have seen its drone swarm performances—appearing 7 times on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala and multiple times on CCTV News, but so far Damozhu has rarely told its brand story externally. During the just-passed National Day holiday, Damozhu's drone performances across Nanchang, Yichang, Kunming and other cities went viral across the internet, continuing to advance its "low-altitude + cultural tourism + integrated media" low-altitude integrated media business operations, creating new content distribution platforms for urban development. But the performances themselves are not Damozhu's primary revenue driver. According to company disclosure, equipment sales account for approximately 70% of overall revenue, with R&D personnel comprising about 40%, and drone swarm equipment and technology systems are the core supporting its business. According to Leiphone, Damozhu's overseas equipment sales have increased forty-five fold over five years, and it is developing a second product line in the embodied AI direction; expanding business scenarios for C-end users; simultaneously advancing financing processes, with plans to file for IPO in 2027. Performances are just a calling card; equipment is the business. And right now, at its tenth anniversary milestone, it is preparing to tell a bigger story. Low-altitude integrated media: drone performances are becoming a traffic necessity. This year's four-city National Day project is a microcosm of Damozhu's performance business. According to official announcements cited by the company: the Nanchang event remained on Douyin's hot list for 7 consecutive days, with network-wide reach of 5 billion impressions, and non-local tourists accounted for over 50% on October 1st; the Yichang event drew approximately 700,000 live viewers; the Kunming event made no advance announcement, yet appeared on CCTV News the night of the performance. "Current traffic [text cuts off]

Directed-energy weapon that can neutralize threats in seconds integrated on unmanned ground vehicle

A San Francisco-based company has showcased that laser-based counter-drone weapon can easily offer aerial protection...

Liang Wenfeng’s Robot Focus: Will Large Models Replace Embodied AI Models?

Tesla reveals SpaceX-powered Roadster that flies and falls with style

The new car used thrusters to leap over a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, Model Y, and Model 3 at a demo in Texas.

Humanoid Robots Begin Entering Auto Production Lines, But Factories Want More Than Just Work Capacity

Robots can now continuously operate on automotive production lines, but factories care more about efficiency, cost, and whether they can truly be put to use.

Earliest account of a solar storm disrupting tech contained a serious typo

For most of human history, our Sun’s occasional tantrums have been of little concern to those of us living on Earth’s surface. At most, the emissions of plasma crashing into our atmosphere might paint the sky in pretty shades of green or pink. Continue Reading Category: History , Technology Tags: aurora , Trains , Telegraphy , geomagnetic

US Military drones tap 150,000 radios in push to beat battlefield jamming threats

L3Harris Technologies and Skydio are integrating military drones with tactical radio technology to help U.S....

The tech backlash is now in theaters

Though movies about disruptive tech founders are nothing new, 2026 has been unusually stacked with features that take a much more critical look at how Silicon Valley is reshaping our reality. Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning frames Mark Zuckerberg as a robotic villain whose ambitions are destabilizing society. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's You Can […]

GMEX Robotics Takes 30% Stake in MediaMeta.Ai to Develop Socially Intelligent Robots

GMEX Robotics has completed an initial investment in MediaMeta.Ai, taking a 30% fully diluted equity interest in the Singapore-based business as it works to add social intelligence to its robotics platform. The October 14 announcement marks a step toward robots that can respond more appropriately to people, although the relevant robotics capabilities remain in development. According to the transaction announcement, the consideration comprises 15% cash and 85% GMEX common shares, with the shares…

IBM Releases Modular Granite Switch 4.1 Models in 8B and 30B Sizes

IBM announced Granite Switch 4.1 on October 15, 2026, releasing two modular language models, at 8 billion and 30 billion parameters, that compose a base model, a general-purpose decision adapter, a safety adapter, and an embedded speech-to-text encoder into a single hosted endpoint. The IBM Granite blog post announcing the release was authored by Kate Soule, Subhajit Chaudhury, Hendrik Strobelt, and Luis A Lastras. The 4.1 Configuration The release comprises Granite-Switch-4.1-8B and…

Amazon devices chief Panos Panay on the importance of failure and bouncing back from it

Panay said that it's possible to recover and learn from all sorts of failures, even catastrophic ones, when building products.

Amazon devices chief Panos Panay sees a future where AI devices replace the need to use apps

Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt, Amazon devices chief Panos Panay described a future where ambient AI devices work in the background, anticipating users' needs instead of waiting for commands.

Wearable drone detection identifies threats over 3 miles away

Individual soldiers are getting their own drone protection as Danish defense company MyDefence rolls out Wingman Edge: a wearable that can detect drones by their control radio signals at a distance of up to 3.73 miles (6 km). Continue Reading Category: Military , Engineering Tags: drones

Cleaning a giant ship: Roomba-like robots walk on magnetic feet to scrub giant ships

Timothy Wong didn't suspect it at the time, but his dives off the coast of Rockport and the hours he spent studying the wheels and gears of robotics were leading to one mission: figuring out a way to get unwanted sea matter off giant ships in need of cleaning.

Sony made a $5,900 gold-plated Walkman MP3 player

Sony has announced a trio of new Walkman portable media players that start at an already absurd $1,899.99 for the NW-ZX900 and climb all the way up to $5,899 for the gold-plated NW-WM1ZM3. Sandwiched in between is the $2,999.99 Walkman NW-WM1AM3, which is nearly identical to the WM1ZM3, just minus the gaudy gold shell. All […]

You Can Now Vibe Code A Robot: Standard Bots

Sony’s WH-1000XM6 headphones are $130 off today only

If you missed out on Prime Day’s headphones deals, you’re in luck. Sony’s latest flagship headphones are selling for even less than they did during Amazon’s big fall sale. As part of B&H Photo’s Deals of the Day, you can currently pick up Sony’s WH-1000XM6 noise-canceling headphones in silver for just $328 at checkout ($130 […]

Stryker invests $400M into CMR Surgical

How ADI is helping robotics startups scale

Volvo will use Nvidia’s tech for hands-free, point-to-point driving

Volvo plans to launch hands-free, point-to-point driving by 2030, powered by Nvidia's latest AI technology. The Chinese-owned, Swedish-designed automaker said Thursday it would use Nvidia's autonomous driving stack to power a new partially automated driving system similar to Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised). Volvo says the new point-to-point system will be Level 2++, meaning it can […]

Heavy-Load Quadruped Mecha Leopard, Intelligent Mobile Platform... Yunzhu Zhexue Debuts at 2026 Industrial Expo, Domestic Cycloidal Joint Module Derivatives Draw Attention

From embroidered porcelain to AI exoskeletons | Yuanshan Intelligent three-product matrix showcased at the 140th Canton Fair, displaying Chinese smart manufacturing strength to the world

Shengton Intelligent Control embodied intelligent agent, the GPT moment for quadruped robots—cracking the challenges of high-risk maintenance in heavy industry, building a unified smart inspection system across all domains

3D eye in your palm: ChipMind exclusive solution deployed in Junhuo dexterous hand

CIIF 2026 | From Dexterous Hand to Industrial Dexterous Manipulation: Lingzhang Partners with Aubo Robotics to Showcase Dual-Arm Intelligent Sorting

How Can Senior Cafeterias Control Oil and Salt? Lenew Intelligent Cooking Robot Solves Meal Service Challenges

Reeman Intelligent Releases ECO62 Ultra-Compact Embedded Six-Axis Robotic Arm, Industry First "Arm in Machine" Smart Equipment

China International Industry Fair 2026 | Shishi Zhihang co-founder Chen Tongqing: from models to production lines, letting robots create real value in real scenarios

World Premier: Wanna NOVA21 Dexterous Hand Expands the Boundaries of Dexterous Manipulation Research

Old and new species clash: robot mini-stores 'consume' convenience store golden weeks

Yunji Technology Partners with Taobao Flash Deals, Smart Robots Enhance Apartment Building Services

Global debut: Waner NOVA21 dexterous hand, expanding boundaries of dexterous manipulation research

Daily Rental Falls to Hundreds of Yuan, The Humanoid Robot "Working Era" Has Arrived

Nvidia, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta gave Trump a combined $92 million for his ballroom

We knew that a number of big tech firms were helping to fund the construction of Trump's ballroom, but we didn't know just how much they were giving to the cause. Now the Washington Post published a list of all the major donors to the White House ballroom project, along with how much each contributed. […]

Ricoh USA to Deploy and Support Hyphen’s Automated Makeline

Ricoh USA, Inc. announced a partnership with food-service automation company Hyphen on October 15, 2026, with the stated goal of facilitating and scaling the adoption of robotics in the U.S. food service industry. The partnership provides deployment and ongoing support for Hyphen's Automated Makeline through RICOH Service Advantage, Ricoh's lifecycle management program. RICOH Service Advantage's Role The announcement describes RICOH Service Advantage as a lifecycle management solution that…

‘World-first’ counter-drone system targets swarms with an interception rate above 97%

Defense technology startup Skapion has unveiled a new air defense system designed to intercept large...

Amazon’s Bee Introduces Frontier, Eclipse, and a Pro Subscription

Amazon's Bee unit introduced two AI wearables: the $74.99 Bee Frontier, on sale now through Amazon, and the $99.99 Bee Eclipse, listed as coming soon. The devices arrive alongside Bee Pro, a new subscription tier priced at $11.99 per month or $99.99 per year. On Bee's homepage, the Frontier is marked new and the Eclipse is marked coming soon. Bee describes the Frontier as wearable AI that converts conversations into clear takeaways, summaries, insights, and to-dos, and the Eclipse as ambient…

Amazon’s Bee launches two new personal AI devices, starting at $75

Amazon-owned Bee has launched its first new AI devices since its acquisition, including an updated wearable and a credit-card-sized recorder that attaches to smartphones. The devices can summarize conversations, create to-do lists, and integrate with Alexa and Amazon shopping, with prices starting at $74.99.

Nyobolt Batteries to Power Agility Robotics’ Digit 5 Humanoid Robot

Agility chooses Nyobolt for ultra-fast charging for Digit 5 humanoid

Inside Boston Dynamics' push to build Atlas humanoids in just one hour

World premiere: Wanba NOVA21 dexterous hand, expanding the boundaries of dexterous manipulation research

On October 15, at the 2026 Hong Kong Autumn Electronics Fair, Wanna Robot globally debuted the NOVA21 dexterous hand. Targeting robotics research and development teams, the Wanna NOVA21 features a 21-degree-of-freedom fully active rotary direct-drive design that combines dexterity, strength, precision, and tactile sensing to provide execution and sensing capabilities for multi-finger coordination, object posture adjustment, and complex operation strategy research. 21 degrees of freedom with fully active rotary direct-drive supporting multi-finger coordination. The NOVA21 adopts an anthropomorphic layout with overall hand dimensions of 195×105×71mm, approximating human hand size. The thumb has 5 active degrees of freedom, while each of the remaining four fingers has 4 active degrees of freedom. All 21 active degrees of freedom in NOVA21 employ rotary direct-drive, supporting active control and posture adjustment of all hand fingers. Thumb root rotation, opposition, finger lateral swing, and backward tilt motions enrich grasping postures and contact modes, providing richer motion options for fine-tip micro-operations, multi-finger coordination, and post-grasp object posture adjustment research. Powerful grip and precise positioning, balancing strength with finesse. The NOVA21 achieves maximum fingertip force ≥20N per finger and maximum four-finger grip force ≥200N, supporting force control and back-drive capabilities for maintaining grasp, force adjustment post-contact, and interactive experiments, helping R&D teams study the relationship between force output and motion coordination across different tasks. The NOVA21 four-finger bending no-load angular velocity reaches 520°/s, with fingertip repeatability positioning accuracy of ±0.2mm, providing performance basis for continuous motion connection, motion sequence debugging, and repeated experimentation [text cut off].

"Robot's Eye" Revenue Remains Mysterious, Shareholders Cash Out ¥780 Million: Who's Paying for Orbbec's 278× P/E?

Net profit down 30 percent, institutional capital increase stakes down 24 percent—what are Orbbec's prospects for Hong Kong IPO listing?

From Profit to Loss, DEEP Robotics IPO Still Relies Entirely on Robot Dog

Severely unbalanced; humanoid robots have not yet ramped up in volume.

AI companies are paying workers worldwide to record their jobs so robots can learn to do them