BusinessSingle source
Can Safeworld convince people that gen AI robots won’t hurt them?
Safeworld is building digital humans to make sure robots don't hurt the real ones.
News
Wire
Every funding round, launch and paper, as it's reported.
BusinessSingle source
How robotics and physical AI can responsibly tackle key physical security challenges
Cyber and physical security threats are rapidly evolving, but robotics and AI can evolve to meet them, writes a columnist.
BusinessSingle source
The physical AI race will be won in the patent office
Patent protection is important for robotics startups, but they should be strategic in determining what IP is important, says Lightbringer.
Business
Video Friday: Albatross Falls, Spins, Self-Rights, and Sails Away
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months.
BusinessSingle source
Calling robotics startups: Submissions for the 2026 Robotics Startup Radar close soon
Submit now to be part of the Robotics Startup Radar, which brings together some of the most promising robotics startups.
BusinessSingle source
Top 10 robotics stories of September 2026
In September 2026, live events such as IMTS, ROSCon, and iROS brought a flood of robotics developments.
BusinessSingle source
Precision In Motion. Vishay Precision Group, Inc. (VPG) to Showcase Custom Sensing Capabilities for Humanoid Robotics at RoboBusiness 2026
As humanoid robots move from research labs into factories, warehouses, homes, and other shared spaces, accurate physical feedback becomes crucial.
BusinessSingle source
Your Robot’s Safety Functions Already Work. What If the Input Lies?
A robot can follow its safety rules and still act on manipulated information. See what this means for robot safety and how teams can strengthen their testing and evidence.
Business
Boston Dynamics drops the pinky on Atlas's new hand to make it cheaper to build and repair
Boston Dynamics has redesigned the hand on its Atlas humanoid with a thumb and three fingers, 13 degrees of freedom and direct-drive actuators packed into the joints instead of tendons or cables, IEEE Spectrum reported from the company's blog. Each actuator pack can be swapped as a single unit and can be back-driven so the hand yields on contact, choices the company said favour reliability, manufacturability and cost over a human-like look. Alberto Rodriguez, who directs robot behavior at Boston Dynamics, said the aim is a hand that can use tools such as drills and welding torches, be simulated cleanly and be trained from human demonstrations, with a production target of 100,000 hands a year.
BusinessSingle source
Destro AI exits stealth with $8M seed to coordinate robots, workers and trucks at cross-docks
Destro AI, founded by NYU Tandon robotics graduate Manthan Pawar, came out of stealth on Sept. 30 with an $8 million seed round led by Base10 Partners and Bonfire Ventures, with CoFound Partners also investing, TechCrunch reported. The startup sells software rather than robots: a vision system built on open-weight vision-language-action models and an orchestration layer that directs people, carts and trucks in cross-dock operations, currently paired with Miva Robotics cart movers. Customer Yusen Logistics grew a three-robot pilot at a Pacific Northwest site to 26 robots and has started a 17-robot pilot in Southern California. Pawar said the company expects to turn cash-flow positive by the end of 2026.
Business
Xiaomi-backed robot chip designer Amicro clears Hong Kong listing hearing as sales rise 42% and losses widen
Zhuhai-based Amicro, which designs robot-specific chips, sensors and navigation software for cleaning and service robots, published its post-hearing information pack on the Hong Kong exchange on 30 September 2026 and is seeking a Main Board listing under Chapter 18C. Revenue rose 42.3% to RMB406.7 million in 2025 on more than 3.5 million solution sets sold, while the net loss widened to RMB155.1 million.
BusinessSingle source
Flourish opens orders for $3,555 home robot that learns chores from a phone demonstration
Flourish, a San Francisco and Paris startup founded in January 2026 by Antoine Marcel, has opened sales of Flourish One, a six-wheeled, two-armed home robot priced at $3,555, The Robot Report reported. Owners teach a chore by moving their smartphone through the task, using the phone's motion sensors, and a cloud model is fine-tuned for that home in under 30 minutes; the robot runs on a Raspberry Pi rather than an onboard GPU, which Marcel said would double the cost. Each arm lifts 1.5 kg, the arms run for 12 hours per charge, and the first 50 hand-built units are due to ship before Christmas 2026.
BusinessSingle source
Asimov’s laws are not enough to keep robotics and AI safe
Asimov's fictional Three Laws of Robotics famously set safeguards, and tech observers today raise similar concerns about AI.
BusinessSingle source
From 14 cities to 15,000: What it will take to scale robotaxis?
While robotaxis prove their driving ability, scaling the industry globally requires solving the unglamorous challenge of fast, local vehicle servicing.
BusinessSingle source
Amazon picks Greenwood, Indiana, for a plant building equipment for its robotics and fulfillment network
Amazon plans to spend more than $100 million on a 585,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Greenwood, Indiana, scheduled to start operating in 2028 with 300 skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs. The site will produce equipment for Amazon's fulfillment and robotics network across North America, combining fabrication, robotic welding, automated powder coating and assembly supported by AWS and AI-based production systems, the company said. Amazon already runs a large robot manufacturing operation in Massachusetts that has built more than one million robots now deployed in over 300 facilities worldwide.
BusinessSingle source
General Robotics is betting on modular intelligence, not one robot brain
Rather than training one model to do everything, General Robotics composes specialized capabilities—helping robots adapt across tasks and form factors.
BusinessSingle source
Agility Robotics studies wheeled designs beyond its Digit humanoid, CEO says
Agility Robotics is looking at other robot designs, including wheeled ones, to serve different operating environments and customer needs, CEO Jonathan Hurst confirmed. Hurst said the effort has only just started, with no launch timeline and no decision on whether it would mean a wheeled Digit or an entirely new machine. The company holds more than $300 million in multi-year Digit v5 orders from a single unnamed customer and is going public through a SPAC deal valued at $2.5 billion that is expected to raise more than $620 million in gross proceeds. Agility posted 2025 revenue of $1.8 million and an operating loss of $140 million.
BusinessSingle source
Farmers are facing more pressure; CNH says robotics can help
Labor availability, costs, productivity, and efficiency are common concerns of farmers that technology can address, according to CNH.
BusinessSingle source
IFR counts 5 million industrial robots in service as China takes 59% of 2025 installations
The global stock of operational industrial robots reached 5 million units in 2025, up 9% on the year, according to statistics the International Federation of Robotics released on Sept. 24. Annual installations rose 11% to more than 600,000 units, of which China accounted for 354,000, or 59%, with Chinese manufacturers supplying 195,000 of those robots. The United States ranked second with 38,500 installations, while Japan fell 19% to 36,219 units and dropped to third, ahead of South Korea at 30,000 and Germany at under 25,000. The IFR forecasts installations of 655,000 units in 2026 and 806,000 units in 2029.
BusinessSingle source
Feather Robotics sells a $30,000 modular humanoid to developers and tops $1 million in revenue
Feather Robotics, founded in 2025 by Hoa Mai, who previously worked at 1X, and former Tesla Model 3 engineer Parsa Bakhtiari, sells a modular humanoid platform whose hardware, such as arm length, customers can configure. The robot is priced at $30,000, about half the cost of Unitree's H2 Edu, and can run AI models from Nvidia, Skild and Physical Intelligence. The startup has raised a $7.6 million pre-seed round led by Gradient Ventures and has passed $1 million in revenue, with robots already working in restaurant kitchens and cleaning science labs, according to the company.