The Week in Robotics

NVIDIA debuts GR00T 2 world action model and Isaac Lab 3.0 at CoRL

NVIDIA introduced GR00T 2, an updated open frontier world action model, and Isaac Lab 3.0, its open-source robot learning framework, at the Conference on Robot Learning in Austin, Texas.

GR00T 2 was trained on diverse robot and human data, including NVIDIA's open-source egocentric dataset, to help robots learn dexterous manipulation skills. The company said the model ranks among the top three across several VLA and world action model benchmarks.

Isaac Lab 3.0 adds tighter integration with the Newton physics engine, letting researchers model deformable objects and complex articulated systems, and NVIDIA reported a throughput improvement over the prior version in a dexterous manipulation benchmark. Partners including Skild AI, Flexion, FieldAI, Dyna Robotics, Walden Robotics, Dexmate, and RLWRLD are already using the new tools.

GXO expands Agility Robotics' Digit humanoid deployment to two more US warehouses

GXO Logistics and Agility Robotics announced on 26 October 2026 that they are expanding humanoid robot deployments to two new e-commerce fulfilment centres: Statesville, North Carolina, and Lebanon, Tennessee, with operations starting in early 2027 using Digit 4.

The expansion builds on a pilot that began at GXO's Flowery Branch, Georgia warehouse in late 2023, which grew into a long-term robot-as-a-service agreement signed in June 2024. Digit robots at that site have moved more than 100,000 containers.

Agility Robotics, which unveiled Digit 5 in September 2026, says its RoboFab facility in Salem, Oregon was designed for an annual capacity of up to 10,000 robots, and that Digit units have logged more than 65,000 hours of work across its commercial customer base.

UBTECH to deliver 400 humanoid robots to dealership group Yongda by year-end

UBTECH signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Yongda, a listed luxury car dealership and services company, under which Yongda will purchase 400 units of UBTECH's humanoid robot U1 Pro.

UBTECH said it plans to deliver the robots within this year.

Axon invests $1.2B in Skydio, takes 20% stake, becomes exclusive U.S. public safety distributor

Axon Enterprise said it has invested $1.2 billion in drone maker Skydio, gaining 20% ownership of the company, which is now valued at $5.2 billion. Axon will become Skydio's exclusive distributor for public safety drones in the U.S. and Canada.

Skydio said it serves more than 1,500 public safety customers and expects about $1 billion in total bookings this fiscal year. Axon estimated the total addressable market for drone-as-first-responder programs at approximately $13 billion in the U.S. and Canada.

The investment includes a mix of cash and Axon stock, covering both new primary capital to Skydio and purchases of shares from existing shareholders. The transactions are expected to close in Q4 2026 and Q1 2027, subject to customary closing conditions.

Path Robotics Raises $300M Series E at $2.45B Valuation

Path Robotics announced on November 10, 2026 that it raised $300 million in Series E financing at a $2.45 billion post-money valuation, led by Georgian, an AI-focused growth-equity firm whose partner Emily Walsh will join Path's board.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company builds Obsidian, a physical AI welding model, and plans to use the new capital to expand beyond welding into other manufacturing tasks and robot form factors, including its quadruped-based mobile welding system Rove.

Path reports ARR grew 17-fold over 18 months with customers including HII, Lockheed Martin and Saronic, and cites an earlier $600 million performance-based production agreement with HII tied to a combined $900 million ceiling shared with GrayMatter Robotics for shipbuilding work over seven years.