Robotics AI company

The Yuelu Conference 2026 opened in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, on September 23–24, drawing artificial intelligence companies, robotics developers, researchers and investors. The event featured an opening ceremony and ten "AI+" themed forums, positioning the city as a hub for China's growing AI and robotics sectors. Attendees discussed applications of artificial intelligence across industries and investment opportunities in the field.

Chinese state media reports that the country's embodied AI sector is shifting from research settings into practical deployment, with robots taking on actual jobs in industry and services. The report highlights China's push to turn embodied artificial intelligence from a laboratory technology into a working part of the economy, as companies and institutions expand real-world applications.

Pharmaceutical company Roche has outlined plans to move towards autonomous, AI-driven laboratories. According to a Reuters report, the Swiss drugmaker intends to use artificial intelligence and robotics to automate research workflows, accelerating drug discovery and reducing the need for manual lab work. The announcement highlights how major pharma firms are adopting AI to speed up experimentation and research.

Robotics startups are stepping up efforts to recruit academic researchers, and Microagi is the latest example, hiring eight university researchers at once. The move reflects intensifying competition for robotics talent as startups race to build advanced systems, increasingly pulling specialists away from university labs and into private industry.

Gecko Robotics and Nvidia have announced a partnership to develop guardrails for artificial intelligence systems. Gecko Robotics, a company known for using robots to inspect critical infrastructure such as power plants and pipelines, will work with the chipmaker on safety measures for AI deployment. The collaboration highlights growing industry efforts to make AI systems more reliable in industrial settings.

Gecko Robotics' chief executive is arguing that humans must remain in control as artificial intelligence moves into the physical world through robots and industrial automation. The company builds robots used to inspect critical infrastructure such as bridges, power plants and pipelines. The intervention adds a robotics industry voice to the ongoing debate over how much autonomy should be granted to AI-driven machines in safety-critical settings.

Generalist AI is pursuing an approach in which robots acquire skills the way modern AI models learn, rather than through hand-coded behaviours. The company argues that scaling data and training methods, as done in language and image models, can be applied to robotics. The idea is drawing attention because it could reshape how robots are built and commercialised, though questions remain over data availability and real-world reliability.

Niantic Spatial is adapting the spatial mapping technology behind Pokémon GO into spatial AI designed for robots, according to a report by South Korea's Chosun Ilbo. The move signals the company's push beyond mobile gaming into robotics, leveraging years of real-world 3D mapping data collected from players. The announcement is drawing attention in robotics circles as spatial intelligence becomes a key area of competition.

Qualcomm has announced an agreement to acquire PickNik, a robotics software company, in a move aimed at strengthening its AI-driven robotics capabilities. The deal signals Qualcomm's push to expand beyond mobile chips into robotics and edge AI. Details such as the purchase price and closing timeline have not been widely reported, and reaction so far appears limited to trade press coverage.

South Korean robotics company Angel Robotics has launched PHAI-X1, a wearable robot platform aimed at physical AI research. The system is intended to give researchers a hardware base for developing and testing AI that interacts with the physical world, such as exoskeleton control and human-assistance applications. Details on pricing and availability were not included in the initial announcement.

Embodied AI company Knowin published a technical report on September 24 for GLOW, a framework designed to let household robots learn a new task from a single complete human demonstration. The approach aims to reduce the training data normally required for robot skills, drawing attention from robotics observers following the Pandaily coverage.

Faraday Future has announced a strategic transformation into a robotaxi and EAI cabin technology operator and a physical AI investment holding company. The company plans to combine its robotics business at an approximate $200 million valuation with AIxC, to be renamed FFR, for a standalone listing. The move marks a major shift in strategy for the struggling electric vehicle maker as it seeks new growth in artificial intelligence.

Gecko Robotics is working with NVIDIA to add security and control features for AI agents, according to The Robot Report. Gecko builds inspection robots used in heavy industry, and the tie-up suggests its robotic systems will incorporate NVIDIA technology to govern how autonomous agents operate. Details on the scope and timeline of the collaboration were not provided.

Retail investors are turning their attention to three AI robotics stocks following a deal involving World Labs, the venture founded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li focused on spatial intelligence. Yahoo Finance highlights the companies drawing the most interest from individual traders, as excitement around World Labs' funding news spills over into the broader robotics and AI investment space.

Black Forest Labs, the German startup best known for image generation, has taken the top spot on Nvidia's robotics leaderboard with FLUX 3 Action, a 7-billion-parameter model scoring 42.9%. The result is notable because it outperforms entries on Nvidia's own benchmark for robot foundation models, signaling that image-generation specialists are now competing directly in embodied AI and robot learning.

Boston Dynamics has announced a robotic hand designed for modern AI systems and real-world work, claiming dexterity and strength beyond the average human hand. The announcement, published on the company's blog, has drawn surprised reactions online, with commenters noting the milestone as a significant step toward robots capable of fine manual labour.

Boston Dynamics has published a new blog post detailing robotic hands built to work with modern AI systems and perform practical tasks. The announcement highlights dexterous grippers aimed at bringing robots beyond controlled demonstrations and into real-world labor. Readers on Hacker News are discussing the engineering challenges of robotic dexterity and what it means for the future of automation.

The Robot Report argues that the competition to lead physical AI — robots and embodied intelligence — will ultimately be decided not just in labs or on factory floors, but in patent offices, where companies secure the intellectual property that underpins hardware, sensors and control systems. Whoever locks in foundational patents first may hold the decisive advantage in this emerging field.

Boston Dynamics has published a blog post introducing new robotic hand technology designed for modern AI systems and practical, real-world tasks. The announcement pairs dexterous manipulation with the company's robotics platform, and it is being shared among tech and robotics communities who are weighing what the advance means for humanoid robots entering genuine labor.

Robotics company Figure AI has announced the decommission of its F.02 humanoid robot. The notice, published on the company's news page, marks the end of the line for the bot that served as Figure's flagship humanoid platform. The story is drawing attention in technology and robotics circles as readers watch how Figure phases out hardware ahead of its newer generations.

A claim circulating online asserts that humaniform robots and androids will be available soon, with the poster timestamping the remark as a marker for the future. The statement offers no specific company, product, or date, but it fits ongoing debate about how quickly humanoid robotics is advancing and when such machines might become practical.

Meta has reportedly acquired a robotics AI company in a move aimed at accelerating its development of humanoid robots. The deal signals Meta's intent to push deeper into embodied AI beyond its social media and virtual reality businesses, joining other major technology firms racing to build intelligent robots.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries has announced plans to develop a fully autonomous humanoid AI robot by 2030. The Japanese industrial group, better known for motorcycles, trains and heavy machinery, is setting a decade-plus deadline for a machine able to operate without human control. The announcement puts Kawasaki in a growing field of companies racing to bring general-purpose humanoid robots into factories and workplaces.

Figure AI has announced the decommission of its F.02 humanoid robot, marking the end of the program and pointing to a successor or revised hardware direction. The company has not detailed in the announcement what specifically prompted the retirement or what will replace the robot. Robotics watchers are weighing whether the move signals a design pivot or an accelerated roadmap.

FieldAI, a California startup that develops software to control robots built by other manufacturers, is raising $700 million at a $10 billion valuation — roughly five times its value from just over a year ago. The company sells to construction firms, data centre operators and defence companies. The rapid valuation jump reflects surging investor appetite for robotics and AI infrastructure plays.

Figure AI is retiring its humanoid robots by having them flip into a vat of molten steel, a dramatic end-of-life ritual for the machines. The spectacle has drawn wide attention online, with viewers debating whether it is a practical disposal method for retired hardware or a staged marketing stunt by the robotics company.

Apollo Global Management has published a commentary arguing that robots and automation are not about to displace workers en masse, pushing back against fears of widespread job losses from robotics and AI. The piece has drawn attention as companies continue to invest heavily in automation while workers worry about their futures, with the asset manager's economists arguing the threat is overstated.

Runway has introduced Praxis-1, a new world action model designed for robotics. Announced via The Robot Report, the model marks the AI video company's move into robotics, suggesting a system aimed at helping robots understand and act in physical environments. Details on capabilities and partners were not immediately available.

Japanese entertainment robots are diversifying with artificial intelligence capabilities, moving beyond simple performance to provide emotional comfort to users. Companies in Japan are equipping the machines with AI so they can interact more naturally and respond to people's feelings. The development reflects a broader push in Japan's robotics industry toward companion-style robots as the population ages and demand grows for technology that offers companionship.