Latest news and articles about industrial
Tesla's newly revealed crash data exposes an uncomfortable truth about autonomous vehicles: when things get tricky, humans take the wheel remotely. This isn't the self-driving future we were promised, and it raises serious questions about what 'autonomous' actually means.
While humanoids grab headlines and coding agents dominate the AI conversation, a quiet revolution is unfolding on factory floors. Mind Robotics' $400 million raise signals that the real money — and real innovation — is flowing toward general-purpose manufacturing automation.
Mind Robotics, spun out from Rivian by founder RJ Scaringe, raised $400 million to scale AI-powered general-purpose robots for manufacturing automation, bringing total funding to over $1 billion. The company is developing a full-stack platform combining foundation models, purpose-built robotics, and deployment infrastructure, with Rivian serving as its first customer and providing manufacturing environments for model training and data collection.
Mind Robotics just raised $400 million with foundation models at the core of its pitch. Microsoft is building foundation models for power grids. Material science is getting its own foundation model treatment. The robotics industry isn't just adopting AI—it's being reorganized around it.
Anthro Energy and EnPower signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop and manufacture high-performance lithium-ion battery cells in the U.S. for robotics, autonomous systems, and defense applications. The partnership combines Anthro's advanced polymer electrolyte technology with EnPower's domestic manufacturing capabilities to create a vertically integrated U.S. battery supply chain, with plans to scale production beyond 750 MWh for applications including drones, unmanned vehicles, and embodied AI systems.
Tesla has begun full-scale production of the Tesla Semi electric truck, nearly a decade after its 2017 announcement, with official specifications showing a base model with 548 kWh battery capacity and 320-mile range priced at $260,000. The company recently received a major order of 370 Tesla Semis from WattEV, an electric freight service company, signaling growing commercial adoption of electric heavy-duty vehicles in a sector that currently contributes 35% of road transport emissions despite representing only 8% of vehicles.
While the robotics industry obsesses over legs and navigation, a quiet revolution is happening at the end of the arm. New foundation models and research breakthroughs are finally treating dexterity as a first-class problem — and it's about time.
Omar Asali, CEO of Ranpak, will present at the Robotics Summit & Expo on how physical AI and warehouse automation can simultaneously improve sustainability and profitability. The presentation will showcase real-world results including 25% reduction in corrugate usage, 75% decrease in box SKUs, and 4-5x throughput increases, while emphasizing human-centered automation that upskills workers rather than replacing them.
Alva Industries will exhibit at the 2026 Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston, showcasing its SlimTorq frameless motor technology and proprietary FiberPrinting manufacturing process. The company will demonstrate its thin, lightweight frameless motors designed for robotic joints, collaborative arm actuators, exoskeletons, and precision positioning systems, with evaluation units available for engineers to assess.
OpenAI details its response to the TanStack "Mini Shai-Hulud" supply chain attack, outlines protections taken to secure systems and signing certificates, and explains why macOS users must update OpenA...
This article discusses GMSL (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link) diagnostics technology for autonomous and robotic vision systems, explaining how built-in diagnostic capabilities at the chip, link, and data layers enable early detection of sensor failures and signal degradation. The piece covers diagnostic requirements across the system lifecycle—from design and integration through production, runtime operation, and field service—to ensure robust and reliable perception systems in autonomous vehicles and robotics.
This article examines the evolution of vision connectivity technologies in robotics, tracing the progression from USB and Ethernet-based camera interfaces to Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link (GMSL). The piece discusses how GMSL, originally developed for automotive applications, offers advantages like deterministic low-latency transport, better scalability for multi-camera systems, and improved mechanical robustness compared to legacy interfaces, making it better suited for modern robotics applications requiring real-time perception and sensor fusion.
A wave of recent announcements reveals a fundamental shift in robotics development: companies aren't competing anymore—they're collaborating. From Comau-OMRON to Config's manufacturing backers, the industry is consolidating around shared infrastructure and expertise.
This article examines GMSL (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link) technology and its growing adoption in robotic vision systems for navigation and spatial awareness. GMSL, originally developed for automotive applications like ADAS and autonomous driving, is increasingly being deployed in production robots including warehouse AMRs, humanoid robots, and agricultural platforms to handle multi-camera synchronization, reduce cabling complexity, and provide deterministic latency—with roughly one-third of robotic opportunities now using or considering GMSL-based solutions.
This article discusses how perception systems are converging across autonomous vehicles, robots, drones, and humanoids, with all platforms adopting distributed sensor networks and real-time processing architectures similar to automotive systems. The piece emphasizes that perception has evolved from a supporting feature to critical infrastructure in modern robotics, requiring integrated solutions for vision, audio, and tactile sensing with deterministic connectivity, diagnostics, and reliability to operate safely in dynamic, unstructured environments.
While humanoids grab headlines, specialized service robots are quietly solving real labor shortages in automotive repair shops and tire centers. The unglamorous work of changing tires and inspecting vehicles is becoming the unexpected frontier of practical robotics deployment.
Comau and OMRON Robotics announced a strategic partnership to accelerate industrial automation adoption across electronics, semiconductors, medical manufacturing, and light industrial sectors. The collaboration will integrate their complementary robotics hardware, control technologies, and software platforms to deliver more flexible and easily deployable automation solutions for global manufacturers.
Automated Tire Inc. unveiled SmartBay, an AI-powered robotic platform that automates tire changes and vehicle inspections without removing wheels from vehicles. The system can reduce service times to 30 minutes while enabling one technician to manage three bays simultaneously, addressing labor shortages in automotive service by replacing manual, injury-prone work with computer vision and robotics.
Config's $27 million Series A from Samsung and other Korean manufacturers signals a strategic shift in how Asia approaches robotics development. While Western companies race to build better robots, Korea is betting that whoever controls the training data will control the industry.
Hello Robot announced Stretch 4, an upgraded version of its mobile manipulation platform now priced at $29,950, featuring twice the speed of Stretch 3, extended reach, and a comprehensive sensor array with dual 3D lidars and multiple cameras for improved safety and autonomy. The robot is designed for general-purpose physical AI applications in dynamic environments like homes, with enhanced sensing capabilities to detect obstacles and people while performing manipulation tasks.
Researchers at EPFL have developed Kinematic Intelligence, a novel framework that enables robots with different mechanical structures to learn and execute the same tasks from human demonstrations. The method converts human-demonstrated skills into general movement strategies and automatically adapts them to different robot designs while ensuring safe operation, demonstrated successfully with three different commercial robots performing an assembly line task.
Config, a Seoul and San Jose-based startup building data infrastructure for robotic foundation models, raised $27 million in Series A funding led by Samsung Venture Investment at a $200+ million valuation. The company positions itself as a TSMC-equivalent for robot data, supplying training data to manufacturers rather than building robots themselves, with backing from major Korean manufacturers including Hyundai, LG, and SKT.
While manufacturing has spent decades perfecting robotic automation, hospitals are emerging as the next frontier for intelligent logistics systems. A convergence of design expertise, improved navigation AI, and real-world deployment experience suggests healthcare robotics may soon surpass industrial applications in sophistication.
BlackBerry's QNX operating system is quietly becoming the foundation for safety-critical robotics across industries. As AI-driven robots move from labs to factories and hospitals, the choice of real-time OS matters more than most people realize.
A webinar announcement focusing on engineering robot tracks and 7th-axis linear motion systems for harsh, contaminated industrial environments such as welding cells, paint booths, and washdown areas. The session covers failure modes, design strategies, and preventive maintenance approaches to improve reliability and uptime in demanding real-world robotics applications.
From airport safety to factory floors to aerial navigation, robots are finally learning to see—and process—the world in real time. Multiple breakthroughs in vision-based AI this week suggest we're witnessing a fundamental shift in how autonomous systems perceive and react to their environments.
While humanoid robots and AI agents dominate headlines, a quieter revolution is happening in battery technology. Nyobolt's $60M raise signals that fast charging — not computing power or dexterity — may determine which robots actually make it out of the lab.
Cognex launched the In-Sight 3900, an AI-powered vision system for factory automation that delivers 4X faster processing and up to 25MP resolution while running deterministic, real-time inspections at full production speed. The system combines edge AI, advanced AI, and rule-based vision tools with Qualcomm Dragonwing processors to eliminate traditional tradeoffs between inspection depth and line speed in manufacturing applications like packaging, automotive, and electronics.
Researchers at MIT, led by Miana Smith, have developed MILAbot, an open-source inchworm robot capable of assembling building structures from modular voxel blocks without a traditional fixed base. The robot uses a unique locomotion approach where it anchors to completed structure sections while placing new blocks, offering potential advantages in embodied energy and labor costs compared to conventional construction methods, though current balloon-frame building remains more cost-effective.
Experts from Rovex Technologies, SKA Robotics, and ST Engineering Aethon will discuss design considerations for hospital robotics. The post Learn how to successfully design hospital logistics robots a...
Nyobolt, a Cambridge-based fast-charging battery company, has raised $60 million in funding at a $1 billion+ valuation to accelerate deployment of its power systems for autonomous mobile robots and physical AI applications. The company's batteries deliver significantly improved performance for warehouse robots and autonomous systems, with Symbotic leading the investment round and deploying Nyobolt's technology in its SymBot AMRs for 24/7 warehouse operations.
Two new approaches to robot training reveal a fundamental split in AI robotics: Genesis AI betting on human-shaped hands and simulation, while Tutor Intelligence deploys 100 real robots with remote human tutors. The answer to which path works better may define the next decade of robotics.
QNX, a BlackBerry division, will demonstrate its real-time operating system (RTOS) for robotics at the Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston on May 27-28, showcasing how its software enables safe, deterministic AI-driven control for industrial and collaborative robots. The company will present live demonstrations of robotic arm prototyping, digital factory automation with sensor fusion, and AI-based motion replication, while also launching a new benchmark report surveying 1,000 robotics developers on industry trends and challenges.
The Robot Report announced the 2026 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards, recognizing 50 leading robotics organizations globally for technology and business innovation. This year's honorees span industrial automation, AI advances, mobile manipulators, autonomous vehicles, and humanitarian robotics applications, with Physical Intelligence named Startup of the Year and Harvard University recognized for an application helping people with impaired arm motion.
Amazon engineers developed advanced optimization tools combining machine learning and Monte Carlo methods to design resilient middle-mile delivery networks that can adapt to uncertainty. The approach stress-tests network designs across hundreds of plausible scenarios rather than optimizing for a single forecast, enabling the company to handle disruptions like demand spikes and logistical delays while maintaining same-day and next-day delivery promises.
Brightpick CEO Jan Zizka will present at the Robotics Summit & Expo on May 27-28 in Boston, outlining a practical roadmap toward fully automated lights-out warehouse operations. The talk will address how hybrid human-robot systems are making incremental progress toward autonomous warehouses, where robots handle repetitive tasks while humans manage exceptions, with discussion of the technical and economic challenges of automating the final workflow edge cases.
Johnson & Johnson announced successful results from a clinical study of its OTTAVA robotic surgical system, a novel multi-arm surgical robot designed for soft-tissue procedures like gastric bypass. The system met its primary safety and performance endpoints in 30 patients and successfully performed all procedures robotically without conversion; J&J is now pursuing FDA De Novo classification to expand the system's use across multiple general surgery procedures.
Marc Lore's Wonder is using AI to automate restaurant creation and operations, enabling anyone to launch a restaurant brand in under a minute through an AI-powered platform that generates menus, branding, and recipes. The company operates 120 programmable kitchen locations with robotic cooking equipment like conveyor systems and robotic arms, and recently acquired Spice Robotics to further automate food preparation, with plans to scale to 400 locations by next year.
While headlines chase humanoid robots and AI chatbots, a quieter revolution is happening on factory floors and construction sites. From MIT's carbon-cutting voxel assembly to ABB's turnkey surface finishing cells, the future of making things isn't about replacing humans—it's about redesigning how we build from the ground up.
While enterprise software races to deploy AI agents for finance teams and office workflows, a quieter revolution is happening on construction sites and factory floors. Physical AI isn't just automating tasks—it's fundamentally redesigning how we build things.
Agentic mechanism enables Amazon and vendors to optimize supply chain management without disclosing private information.
Hiroshi Fujiwara and Robert Little have been named recipients of the 2026 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Awards for their contributions to robotics leadership and technology. Fujiwara, executive director of the Japan Robot Association, is recognized for strategic policy work and international collaboration, while Little, co-founder of ATI Industrial Automation, is honored for advancing robotic end-effector technology and practical automation adoption in manufacturing.
NORD Drivesystems released new decentralized motor starters and variable-frequency drives (NORDAC LINK and NORDAC FLEX) designed for industrial automation with plug-and-play integration and AS-Interface fieldbus connectivity. The products reduce installation time, cabling complexity, and maintenance costs while supporting flexible system upgrades and retrofits across a range of power ratings.
MIT researchers have developed a voxel-based robotic assembly system for construction that could reduce embodied carbon by up to 82% compared to traditional methods like 3D concrete printing and steel framing. The team created three new voxel designs and robotic assemblers called MILAbots that can efficiently place modular building blocks with snap-fit connections, with results published in Automation in Construction.
As robots become networked devices running on commodity operating systems, they inherit all the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of traditional computing—with vastly higher physical stakes. The recent Linux kernel exploit reveals how unprepared we are for this convergence.
ABB Robotics has launched the OmniVance Collaborative Surface Finishing Cell, a fully automated sanding and polishing system designed to address labor shortages and make industrial-grade robotics accessible to smaller manufacturers. The turnkey solution uses ABB's GoFa cobot with intuitive programming that requires no custom coding, positioning it as a bridge between expensive custom automation and basic entry-level tools.
Ouster's latest sensor breakthrough combines 3D spatial mapping with native color vision in a single unit—a technical achievement that could finally bridge the perception gap holding back autonomous systems in messy, unpredictable environments.
Ouster announced Rev8, a new family of lidar sensors featuring patented native-color lidar technology that combines 3D structural data with color vision in a single sensor. The sensors are powered by Ouster's L4 Silicon architecture and offer double the range and resolution of previous generations, positioning them for autonomous systems and industrial applications requiring advanced 3D perception.
The article discusses physical AI—the integration of neural networks with mechanical systems—as a transformative force in manufacturing and logistics rather than just digital AI. It highlights real-world applications including autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), collaborative robotics with force-sensitive control, and AI-integrated vision systems for quality assurance, while distinguishing between humanoid hype and practical industrial adoption of physical AI technologies.
While headlines obsess over humanoid robots in factories, a quieter revolution is happening in logistics hubs. From Tokyo's baggage handlers to California's autonomous trucks, the unglamorous work of moving stuff from point A to point B is where robotics is actually proving its commercial viability.
