The Week in Robotics
This week in robotics — sourced, verified, and put in context against our index of 4,174 robots.
New Iron
TECH
Via The Robot ReportAgility Robotics unveils Digit 5 humanoid with new legs, batteries, safety system
Agility Robotics unveiled Digit 5, a redesigned version of its humanoid robot, ahead of the company's planned SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp. XI. The robot features new human-like legs powered by cycloidal actuators, upgraded batteries, faster charging, and a safety architecture designed to let it work near people without physical barriers.
CEO Peggy Johnson said the market has responded to Digit 4's three years on customer production floors with more than $300 million in multi-year orders. Agility plans early access to Digit 5 in the first half of 2027 and general availability by the end of 2027, expanding commercial deployment outside North America for the first time, starting in the EU and UK.
According to recent SEC filings cited in the article, Agility generated $1.8 million in net sales in 2025, while the proposed SPAC deal values the company at $2.5 billion.
Via TechCrunchJoby Aviation flies autonomous aircraft 3,100 miles across the US, no pilot control
An aircraft equipped with Joby Aviation's autonomy technology flew more than 3,100 miles across the United States without a human pilot taking control, in what Joby called the first-ever autonomous flight across the U.S. The flight, using a converted Cessna Caravan, included autonomous taxiing, takeoffs, navigation, and landings, remotely supervised from Joby's California headquarters and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.
Joby said the demonstration shows its autonomy stack, designed to be retrofitted onto conventional aircraft, could support medical transport, disaster response, and defense logistics, extending the company's ambitions beyond its electric air taxi business. The effort has been backed by a $17 million Air Force contract with AFWERX, and in August Joby acquired defense sensor maker Resonant Sciences for $500 million in cash and stock.
Via ColombiaOne.comUBTECH Opens Smart Factory in China Capable of One Humanoid Robot Every 10 Minutes
UBTECH Robotics has opened a new smart factory in Liuzhou, Guangxi, that began operations on Sept. 12, 2026, designed to produce a humanoid robot every 10 minutes, with an annual capacity of more than 10,000 units.
The 14,000-square-meter, 13.8-meter-high facility uses a 'robots building robots' concept, with robotic systems handling materials and unmanned logistics vehicles moving components, coordinated through a digital production system built with Siemens Digital Industries Software technology.
The plant will primarily produce UBTECH's Walker S industrial robot line and Cruzr service robot line. UBTECH reported selling 921 full-size humanoid robots in the first half of 2026, up from 45 in the same period of 2025, with embodied-intelligence humanoid robot revenue reaching 590.3 million yuan.
Via The Robot ReportNeptune Medical gets FDA clearance for Triton 1 colonoscopy robot
Neptune Medical announced FDA clearance for its Triton 1 System, a robotic flexible endoscopy platform designed for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures throughout the colon, including EMRs and ESDs.
The company's first-in-human CARE 1 study showed the system met its primary endpoints with no adverse events and 100% cecal intubation, along with a 54.2% adenoma detection rate versus an industry threshold of 35%, and a 67% lower average physician burden compared to manual colonoscopy based on the NASA-TLX score.
Neptune Medical raised $97 million in Series D funding in 2024 and launched subsidiary Jupiter Endovascular to focus on its own technology platform.
Boots on the Ground
DEPLOYMENT
Via Unite.AIWaymo to Launch Robotaxi Service in Singapore in 2028 with Government Backing
Waymo announced on September 17, 2026 that it will expand to Singapore, working with the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority to launch a fully autonomous, all-electric ride-hailing service through the Waymo app in 2028.
The rollout follows a three-phase plan: an initial fleet of Jaguar I-PACE vehicles arrives in the coming months, a 2027 readiness phase has trained specialists manually driving and mapping local roads, and fully autonomous rides open to the public in 2028. Singapore's LTA confirmed Waymo as the country's newest autonomous vehicle operator, joining ComfortDelGro and Grab.
Waymo cited its existing operational scale to support the expansion, including its U.S. ride volume, safety record, and estimated weekly carbon savings from its electric fleet.
Via Interesting EngineeringAEVEX wins $92.2M contract to run drone sensors for SkyRange hypersonic tests
AEVEX Corp has been awarded a potential $92.2 million, three-year contract to support the U.S. military's SkyRange hypersonic test program, covering flight operations across Western U.S. and Pacific test corridors.
The program converts unmanned aircraft, including RQ-4 Global Hawks, into airborne test platforms called Range Hawks that carry sensors to track hypersonic vehicles in flight instead of relying solely on fixed ground stations or ships.
AEVEX will handle airborne telemetry relay, resilient communications architecture, distributed range networking, payload integration, and systems integration to connect the airborne platforms with test personnel analyzing flight data.
Follow the Money
INVESTMENT
Via TechCrunchMay Mobility to go public via $1.4B SPAC merger with ACP Holdings
Autonomous ride-hailing company May Mobility is merging with special purpose acquisition company ACP Holdings Acquisition Corp., a deal that could raise more than $300 million for the company at a $1.4 billion valuation.
May Mobility says it will become the first U.S. public company focused entirely on autonomous ride-hailing, distinguishing itself from Tesla, Rivian, Alphabet's Waymo, and trucking-focused Aurora and Kodiak.
The merger includes a $120 million private investment in public equity transaction and up to $217 million from a trust account maintained by ACP Holdings, though SPAC shareholder redemptions could reduce the final amount.
Via The Robot ReportAgility Robotics to go public via SPAC merger valuing it at $2.5B
Agility Robotics, maker of the Digit humanoid robot, plans to go public through a proposed SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp. XI, which values the company at $2.5 billion.
The announcement comes alongside the release of Digit 5, the fifth generation of Agility's bipedal humanoid, which the company says is its first commercially deployed and functionally safe humanoid robot able to work near people without defined safety zones.
Agility has grown from its origins in Oregon State University's Dynamic Robotics Lab to three offices, more than 400 employees, and a factory capable of building up to 10,000 robots annually.
On the Calendar
AHEADRobotics shows, conferences and competitions opening in the next eight weeks. Dates confirmed against each organiser’s own page.
- Sep 14–19on nowIMTS 2026 — International Manufacturing Technology Show
- Sep 22–24ROSCon Global 2026
- Sep 27 – Oct 1IROS 2026 — IEEE/RSJ Intelligent Robots and Systems
- Oct 6–8Motek 2026
- Oct 12–16CIIF 2026 — China International Industry Fair
- Oct 20–21RoboBusiness 2026
- Nov 3–6CeMAT ASIA 2026
- Nov 9–12CoRL 2026 — Conference on Robot Learning
The Number
DATAHalf the month’s rounds were under $15M; its three largest took 60% of the capital. Biggest: Hadrian at $1.37B.
Full capital index →This is funding we have recorded, not all robotics funding — we find more rounds partly because we read more news than we used to. Amounts are the disclosed round size, not a valuation. Months run to the last complete one.
133 of the 278 humanoids we track come from China-headquartered makers. Against 38 from United States-headquartered makers. Counted from the live index on the day this issue was assembled.