https://digestai.news/category/roboticsRobotics & Physical AI stories from Digest AI, with sources.enhttps://digestai.news/story/claude-sonnet-5-autonomously-picks-gene-therapy-and-performs-mouse-brahttps://digestai.news/story/claude-sonnet-5-autonomously-picks-gene-therapy-and-performs-mouse-braFri, 30 Oct 2026 19:42:59 GMTA Claude Sonnet 5 model chose a gene therapy, brain region, and injection coordinates for surgery on a mouse model of epilepsy, then controlled the procedure using a motorized surgical rig. According to Gabriel Ocana-Santero of Exin Therapeutics, this marks the first time an AI agent has both selected a treatment and delivered it to a living mammal without human intervention. The agent analyzed…https://digestai.news/story/percepto-unveils-axion-ai-platform-for-cross-drone-inspection-data-anahttps://digestai.news/story/percepto-unveils-axion-ai-platform-for-cross-drone-inspection-data-anaFri, 30 Oct 2026 19:05:34 GMTPercepto, an autonomous drone inspection provider based in Israel and Texas, launched Axion, a software-first AI platform designed to unify data from third-party drones and sensors. The move follows leadership changes led by Julien Bellanger, who succeeded Dor Abuhasira, shifting the company’s focus from hardware to AI-driven analytics for critical infrastructure like oil and gas, power grids,…https://digestai.news/story/rai-robot-demonstrates-whole-body-manipulation-in-complex-taskshttps://digestai.news/story/rai-robot-demonstrates-whole-body-manipulation-in-complex-tasksFri, 30 Oct 2026 16:30:03 GMTResearchers at ETH Zurich’s Robotic Systems Lab showcased a humanoid robot named RAI performing whole-body manipulation in a video featured by IEEE Spectrum. The robot uses a contact-centric learning framework combining motion imitation and reinforcement learning, trained on human motion data to adapt to new environments. It can handle objects like tires but may also shift focus to other items…https://digestai.news/story/agility-robotics-plans-465m-capital-raise-ahead-of-spac-dealhttps://digestai.news/story/agility-robotics-plans-465m-capital-raise-ahead-of-spac-dealFri, 30 Oct 2026 14:39:01 GMTAgility Robotics and Churchill Capital Corp XI announced on October 30, 2026, that Agility expects to raise approximately $465 million in gross capital before transaction expenses as part of their proposed business combination. The funding will come from three sources: $164 million from Churchill XI’s trust account, $201 million from a PIPE financing led by Foxconn at $10 per share, and $100…https://digestai.news/story/empiric-earths-jen-vescio-leads-physical-ais-real-world-data-pushhttps://digestai.news/story/empiric-earths-jen-vescio-leads-physical-ais-real-world-data-pushFri, 30 Oct 2026 16:12:07 GMTJen Vescio, president of Empiric Earth, discusses how the company—formed by the merger of Nexar and Nauto—bridges the gap between simulated and real-world testing for physical AI. With over 10 billion miles of driving data and 60 million edge cases, Empiric Earth provides developers, fleets, and operators with independent validation to assess performance, manage risk, and build trust in…https://digestai.news/story/schneider-nvidia-and-hpe-launch-ai-agents-for-process-plantshttps://digestai.news/story/schneider-nvidia-and-hpe-launch-ai-agents-for-process-plantsFri, 30 Oct 2026 06:12:00 GMTSchneider Electric, NVIDIA and HPE announced a collaboration to deploy Industrial AI Agents at the Edge in process industries like oil refining, brewing and paper manufacturing. These agents monitor equipment, recommend or take action, and verify outcomes—all on-site to reduce latency. Three agents will launch first: one for operational technology (OT) monitoring, another for cybersecurity, and…https://digestai.news/story/robobusiness-2026-marks-final-event-under-its-name-before-rebrandinghttps://digestai.news/story/robobusiness-2026-marks-final-event-under-its-name-before-rebrandingFri, 30 Oct 2026 12:30:02 GMTThe Robot Report podcast recapped the 20th-anniversary edition of RoboBusiness, held October 20–21 in Santa Clara with over 2,000 attendees. Highlights included keynotes on humanoid robots and indoor navigation, a RaaS Playbook panel, and the Women in Robotics lunch. The event concluded as the brand rebrands to Robotics Summit West for October 2027, per organizers. The Robot Operations Group…https://digestai.news/story/bedrock-robotics-raises-600m-series-c-at-4-1b-valuation-for-autonomoushttps://digestai.news/story/bedrock-robotics-raises-600m-series-c-at-4-1b-valuation-for-autonomousThu, 29 Oct 2026 14:30:00 GMTThe round valued the company at $4.1B, more than doubling its $1.75B valuation from February, according to Bloomberg. The startup specializes in autonomy kits for excavators, enabling them to operate without human drivers in the cab—already deployed at a Nevada water-treatment plant, a Texas earthmoving job, and a project with an unnamed client since August. Bedrock Robotics aims to expand…https://digestai.news/story/pudu-robotics-opens-european-headquarters-in-neuss-germanyhttps://digestai.news/story/pudu-robotics-opens-european-headquarters-in-neuss-germanyFri, 30 Oct 2026 10:09:11 GMTPudu Robotics announced on October 30, 2026 that its new European headquarters in Neuss, Germany is fully operational. The facility consolidates sales, product demonstrations, training, warehousing, and after-sales service and repair. Bella Sun, Vice President and General Manager for Europe, said the hub strengthens the company's ability to work with partners and customers across the region.…https://digestai.news/story/trump-targets-foreign-robot-imports-as-national-security-threathttps://digestai.news/story/trump-targets-foreign-robot-imports-as-national-security-threatThu, 29 Oct 2026 19:07:53 GMTPresident Donald Trump issued a proclamation on October 28 declaring foreign-made industrial robots a national security risk. The move orders new US trade negotiations and threatens future tariffs on such imports, potentially disrupting major US manufacturers like General Motors, Ford, Tesla, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin, which rely on these robots for production. Trump’s proclamation cites a…https://digestai.news/story/hugging-faces-jam-model-cuts-robotics-training-costs-by-73-without-vidhttps://digestai.news/story/hugging-faces-jam-model-cuts-robotics-training-costs-by-73-without-vidTue, 27 Oct 2026 21:58:00 GMTHugging Face released a paper titled Vision-Language-Action or World-Action? Just Action Models, proposing a new approach called JAM that eliminates video generation during robotics training. The method uses a pretrained visual backbone and an action expert, trained via a foresight loss that predicts frozen future frame encodings—without retaining the generation branch at inference. 65.27%). The…https://digestai.news/story/robotics-handbook-highlights-ai-driven-humanoid-and-construction-automhttps://digestai.news/story/robotics-handbook-highlights-ai-driven-humanoid-and-construction-automThu, 29 Oct 2026 19:36:12 GMTThe 2026 Robotics Handbook from The Robot Report examines how AI is reshaping robotics design, deployment, and market demand. Labor shortages and post-pandemic recovery have spurred growth in robotics orders, per the International Federation of Robotics and A3. The report explores humanoid robots—still in trials—where competition among startups and tech giants drives innovation in form factors…https://digestai.news/story/epic-games-uses-ai-tools-to-develop-code-for-unreal-engine-6https://digestai.news/story/epic-games-uses-ai-tools-to-develop-code-for-unreal-engine-6Thu, 29 Oct 2026 10:35:01 GMTEpic Games is using AI tools like Claude Code and Codex to generate code for Unreal Engine, including potential updates for version 5.9, according to Marcus Wassmer, the company’s executive vice president of development. The AI assistance has already helped reduce long-standing non-deterministic cooking bugs, which previously caused inconsistent results across different runs. Wassmer noted that…https://digestai.news/story/spawn-uses-fable-powered-agents-to-autonomously-build-game-worldhttps://digestai.news/story/spawn-uses-fable-powered-agents-to-autonomously-build-game-worldThu, 29 Oct 2026 17:00:26 GMTA team at Spawn is developing a multiplayer game environment where players use prompts to modify the world in real time. The project relies on a swarm of autonomous agents powered by Fable models, which autonomously update live code and ship changes hourly. Agents handle bug reports, errors, and feature requests, with 60% of work originating from production issues or user prompts. The system…https://digestai.news/story/openai-aims-to-use-robots-to-build-data-centers-by-2027https://digestai.news/story/openai-aims-to-use-robots-to-build-data-centers-by-2027Thu, 29 Oct 2026 07:35:00 GMTOpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company is developing AI-controlled robots to construct its own data centers, with a goal of self-replicating infrastructure ‘within grasp.’ The effort includes a humanoid robot demo planned for 2027, though Altman emphasized AI models as the ‘brain’ behind the physical systems. OpenAI revived its robotics labs in 2025, expanding its San Francisco facility to 100…https://digestai.news/story/agibot-introduces-worken-framework-to-measure-robot-productivity-in-rehttps://digestai.news/story/agibot-introduces-worken-framework-to-measure-robot-productivity-in-reThu, 29 Oct 2026 10:05:02 GMTAGIBOT unveiled Worken, a proposed framework for quantifying how much useful work robots perform in real-world environments at its Innovation Day 2026 in Shanghai on October 29, 2026. The framework calculates Effective Intelligent Work Hours by multiplying active robots, autonomous working hours, and an output efficiency ratio compared to human benchmarks. Peng Zhihui, AGIBOT’s co-founder and…https://digestai.news/story/a3-reports-north-american-robot-orders-rise-24-8-in-q3-2026https://digestai.news/story/a3-reports-north-american-robot-orders-rise-24-8-in-q3-2026Wed, 28 Oct 2026 18:59:30 GMTNorth American companies ordered 10,989 robots worth $723.5 million in the third quarter of 2026, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). That represents a 24.8% increase in units and a 26.1% rise in value compared with Q3 2025, making the quarter the strongest of the year so far. Over the first nine months, total orders reached 28,984 robots valued at roughly $1.89 billion,…https://digestai.news/story/warp-sciences-launches-u-s-based-cro-for-ai-driven-drug-researchhttps://digestai.news/story/warp-sciences-launches-u-s-based-cro-for-ai-driven-drug-researchWed, 28 Oct 2026 16:28:48 GMTThe startup combines robotics and AI to accelerate drug discovery by automating lab experiments and generating real-world data for training AI models. Founded by Kevin Weil, Solomon Reisberg, Manohar Paluri, and DJ Patil, Warp aims to shorten the cycle from molecular design to testing while ensuring IP protection and sovereign biotechnology for customers. Its initial focus is on lead…https://digestai.news/story/claude-opus-5-5-creates-fun-games-with-minimal-promptshttps://digestai.news/story/claude-opus-5-5-creates-fun-games-with-minimal-promptsWed, 28 Oct 2026 13:55:15 GMTSimon Willison reports that Claude Opus 5.5 can generate playable and enjoyable browser-based games using simple prompts, with little need for iteration. He built four games in HTML and JavaScript, including a real-time strategy title called Battle Drones and a farming simulator named Pumpkin Farmer, which he played and found genuinely fun. Willison notes that Opus 5.5 shows stronger game design…https://digestai.news/story/guide-explains-vision-language-action-models-five-stage-operating-maphttps://digestai.news/story/guide-explains-vision-language-action-models-five-stage-operating-mapWed, 28 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMTA guide from an unnamed source breaks down vision-language-action models, a type of AI that connects visual perception, language instructions, and physical actions for robots. The article defines the concept as a system with three key commitments: an identifiable input, a characteristic transformation, and an observable outcome tied to a stated objective. It warns that treating the term as a…https://digestai.news/story/taiwan-tests-autonomous-drone-swarms-for-maritime-surveillance-againsthttps://digestai.news/story/taiwan-tests-autonomous-drone-swarms-for-maritime-surveillance-againstWed, 28 Oct 2026 11:30:00 GMTTaiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council is developing an autonomous drone system to counter China’s grey-zone military activities in its waters. The project, led with National Cheng Kung University, has already completed flight simulations of two coordinated fleets, each with 10 drones. These simulations mark the second phase, shifting from individual drone control to multi-drone coordination, with a…https://digestai.news/story/researchers-release-omnibrain-0-a-unified-agent-for-robotics-taskshttps://digestai.news/story/researchers-release-omnibrain-0-a-unified-agent-for-robotics-tasksWed, 28 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMTResearchers introduced OmniBrain-0, a lightweight unified agent designed for embodied intelligence in robots. The model coordinates manipulation and navigation through a shared decision-making framework, integrating task understanding, planning, progress tracking, and failure recovery. It was trained using a progressive framework combining embodied pretraining, domain-specific distillation, and…https://digestai.news/story/tensor-and-mtz-plan-to-deploy-up-to-500-autonomous-taxis-in-germanyhttps://digestai.news/story/tensor-and-mtz-plan-to-deploy-up-to-500-autonomous-taxis-in-germanyTue, 27 Oct 2026 21:21:01 GMTTensor Auto and Munich taxi operator Münchner Taxi Zentrum (MTZ) signed a letter of intent on October 27, 2026, to deploy up to 500 autonomous taxis in German cities. The agreement, announced at the Madrid Autonomous Mobility Summit, outlines an operator-led model where MTZ retains control of customer relationships, branding, and data while Tensor supplies the Robocar vehicles and autonomous…https://digestai.news/story/vicone-warns-robot-safety-systems-may-fail-with-manipulated-inputshttps://digestai.news/story/vicone-warns-robot-safety-systems-may-fail-with-manipulated-inputsTue, 27 Oct 2026 16:14:39 GMTVicOne LAB R7 tested how false or malicious data can alter robot behavior, undermining safety protocols. In experiments, adversarial images, audio, and fabricated sensor messages caused robots to misinterpret instructions or bypass protective controls. For example, a robot-dog using Gemma 4 E4B followed text on a poster as an instruction, while a hospital-service robot simulated in NVIDIA Jetson…https://digestai.news/story/google-releases-genie-3-world-model-with-720p-24fps-limitshttps://digestai.news/story/google-releases-genie-3-world-model-with-720p-24fps-limitsTue, 27 Oct 2026 09:06:00 GMTGoogle upgraded its Genie 3 world model, a 3D environment generator that simulates physics in real time from text or image prompts. The model runs at up to 720p resolution and 24 frames per second, far below gaming standards. It powers Project Genie, a consumer product launched in January 2026 for Google AI Ultra subscribers, initially in the US only. The announcement triggered a short-lived…https://digestai.news/story/anybotics-ships-anymal-x-for-hazardous-zone-inspections-in-oil-gas-chehttps://digestai.news/story/anybotics-ships-anymal-x-for-hazardous-zone-inspections-in-oil-gas-cheTue, 27 Oct 2026 13:17:12 GMTANYbotics launched ANYmal X, a legged robot certified for explosive atmospheres in Zones 1 and 2, now shipping to oil, gas, and chemical customers including Equinor and DSM-Firmenich. The Zurich-based company claims it is the world’s first such robot, designed to automate routine inspections in hazardous areas where standard robots are banned. Early testing since 2023 involved BP, Shell,…https://digestai.news/story/machenta-raises-40m-seed-to-cut-robot-training-time-with-one-demonstrahttps://digestai.news/story/machenta-raises-40m-seed-to-cut-robot-training-time-with-one-demonstraTue, 27 Oct 2026 13:58:12 GMTMachenta, a London-based robotics startup, announced a $40 million seed round on October 27, co-led by Creandum and Union Square Ventures. The company aims to reduce the time and effort needed to teach robots new tasks by enabling them to learn from a single demonstration, without additional training data collection or model updates. Its approach, called instant robot learning, targets workflows…https://digestai.news/story/agibot-demonstrates-110-robot-synchronized-routine-showing-fleet-schedhttps://digestai.news/story/agibot-demonstrates-110-robot-synchronized-routine-showing-fleet-schedSun, 25 Oct 2026 13:57:58 GMTAgiBot demonstrated 110 of its Expedition A3 humanoids performing a synchronized dance routine in Jinan, China, reportedly earning a Guinness World Records title for the most humanoid robots dancing simultaneously. The display lasted nearly six minutes, featuring jumps, flips, and formation changes, all coordinated via the company’s LinkBots control system and ultra-wideband positioning. AgiBot…https://digestai.news/story/blackberrys-qnx-backlog-hits-1-2b-as-ceo-bets-on-physical-aihttps://digestai.news/story/blackberrys-qnx-backlog-hits-1-2b-as-ceo-bets-on-physical-aiMon, 26 Oct 2026 22:34:19 GMTBlackBerry’s CEO, John Giamatteo, highlighted the company’s shift toward physical AI and robotics, positioning its QNX operating system as a key enabler for real-world machine interactions. QNX, already embedded in over 275 million vehicles globally, now powers applications in robotics, medical devices, and supply chain automation. The company reported a $1.2 billion backlog for QNX royalties, a…https://digestai.news/story/bedrock-robotics-raises-600m-series-c-at-4-1b-valuation-to-scale-autonhttps://digestai.news/story/bedrock-robotics-raises-600m-series-c-at-4-1b-valuation-to-scale-autonMon, 26 Oct 2026 21:15:00 GMTBedrock Robotics, a San Francisco-based company, secured $600 million in Series C funding, co-led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital, valuing the firm at $4.1 billion. The round brings its total funding to nearly $1 billion, according to the company’s own figures. The capital will accelerate deployment of its fully autonomous heavy equipment across U.S. construction sites, addressing labor…https://digestai.news/story/omron-to-acquire-onlogic-for-675-million-to-expand-edge-ai-computinghttps://digestai.news/story/omron-to-acquire-onlogic-for-675-million-to-expand-edge-ai-computingMon, 26 Oct 2026 20:13:13 GMTOMRON Corp. announced it will acquire OnLogic for $675 million to merge its automation expertise with OnLogic’s edge computing capabilities. The deal aims to strengthen OMRON’s position in North America and support its SF2030 vision and GEMBA DX initiatives, which focus on data-driven, intelligent manufacturing. OMRON, a Kyoto-based automation leader with 30,000 employees across 110 countries,…https://digestai.news/story/boston-dynamics-staff-petition-to-cancel-1-3m-spot-robot-sale-to-icehttps://digestai.news/story/boston-dynamics-staff-petition-to-cancel-1-3m-spot-robot-sale-to-iceSat, 24 Oct 2026 10:59:13 GMTHundreds of Boston Dynamics employees have petitioned company leadership to cancel a $1.3 million contract supplying four AI-powered Spot robot dogs to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a petition obtained by WBUR and reported by The Boston Globe. The petition, sent to executives in early September, gathered roughly 300 signatures, though a Boston Dynamics spokesperson said…https://digestai.news/story/ff-eai-robotics-buys-faraday-futures-robotics-unit-for-200m-in-stockhttps://digestai.news/story/ff-eai-robotics-buys-faraday-futures-robotics-unit-for-200m-in-stockMon, 26 Oct 2026 15:51:13 GMTFF EAI Robotics Ecosystem Inc. completed its acquisition of Faraday Future’s robotics business on October 23, 2026, finalizing the deal on October 26. The transaction valued the robotics unit at approximately $200 million and $60 million for FF EAI Robotics itself, with Faraday Future receiving 1,315,313 common shares and 65,475 Series C Non-Voting Convertible Preferred Stock in exchange. No…https://digestai.news/story/gxo-and-agility-robotics-expand-digit-humanoid-deployments-to-us-siteshttps://digestai.news/story/gxo-and-agility-robotics-expand-digit-humanoid-deployments-to-us-sitesMon, 26 Oct 2026 11:19:14 GMTGXO Logistics and Agility Robotics announced on October 26, 2026, that they are expanding their partnership to deploy Agility’s Digit humanoid robots at two additional US logistics sites: GXO’s Statesville facility in North Carolina and Lebanon site in Tennessee. Deployments are set to begin in early 2027 using the Digit 4 model, with a transition to Digit 5 once commercially available. The…https://digestai.news/story/researchers-use-claude-opus-4-8-to-auto-design-sub-thz-transmitter-withttps://digestai.news/story/researchers-use-claude-opus-4-8-to-auto-design-sub-thz-transmitter-witMon, 26 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMTResearchers at an unnamed lab introduced TACS-RF, a framework where a Claude Opus 4.8 LLM agent automates RF and mmWave module design by directly controlling industry-standard tools like Cadence Virtuoso/Spectre and Ansys HFSS. The agent designed a 240–251 GHz sub-THz transmitter in a 90 nm SiGe BiCMOS process, including a 60 GHz push-push Colpitts VCO, power drivers, a frequency doubler, and a…https://digestai.news/story/unitree-h2-x-humanoid-robot-loses-leg-during-live-flip-in-hangzhouhttps://digestai.news/story/unitree-h2-x-humanoid-robot-loses-leg-during-live-flip-in-hangzhouMon, 26 Oct 2026 01:30:16 GMTUnitree's H2-X humanoid robot fell and detached a lower leg during a live kung fu side-flip demonstration at the 2026 World Physical AI Conference in Hangzhou on October 24. The robot, branded the H2-X "Kung Fu Legend Guardian" and unveiled three days prior on October 21, is marketed for security patrol and emergency rescue operations. Video on Chinese social media showed the leg separating at…https://digestai.news/story/teradyne-robotics-partners-with-sereact-to-scale-physical-ai-in-retailhttps://digestai.news/story/teradyne-robotics-partners-with-sereact-to-scale-physical-ai-in-retailSun, 25 Oct 2026 12:35:33 GMTTeradyne Robotics, the parent company of Universal Robots, has partnered with Sereact to deploy physical AI solutions in retail, logistics, and manufacturing. The collaboration integrates Sereact’s Cortex software with Universal Robots hardware to automate unstructured tasks such as piece picking and returns handling. The companies have already shipped hundreds of dual-arm robot systems to live…https://digestai.news/story/nvidia-says-robotaxi-leaders-use-its-stack-for-400b-markethttps://digestai.news/story/nvidia-says-robotaxi-leaders-use-its-stack-for-400b-marketSat, 24 Oct 2026 02:37:00 GMTNVIDIA reports that its modular full-stack robotaxi pipeline, known as the "three-computer solution," is being adopted by major global robotaxi programs. The company projects the robotaxi market will reach $400 billion by 2035, with over 6 million commercial vehicles in operation. This growth requires significant computing power for data preparation, model training, simulation, and real-time…https://digestai.news/story/apollo-hospitals-deploys-intuitive-s-da-vinci-5-robot-in-bengaluruhttps://digestai.news/story/apollo-hospitals-deploys-intuitive-s-da-vinci-5-robot-in-bengaluruSun, 25 Oct 2026 01:21:00 GMTApollo Hospitals has begun using Intuitive's da Vinci 5 robotic-assisted surgical system at its Bannerghatta Road facility in Bengaluru. The hospital group announced on October 23, 2026, that the system is now active in five specialties: cardiac, oncology, gynaecological, gastrointestinal, and urology surgery. The primary technical feature highlighted is Force Feedback technology. When used with…https://digestai.news/story/enact-intelligence-raises-30m-pre-seed-for-force-and-touch-robotshttps://digestai.news/story/enact-intelligence-raises-30m-pre-seed-for-force-and-touch-robotsThu, 22 Oct 2026 13:14:10 GMTEka Robotics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup founded in 2024, announced it has raised $150 million in Series A funding. The company stated the capital will support scaling its technology and customer deployments. Eka is developing a vision-force-action (VFA) model designed to give robots an "intuition" for physics through reinforcement learning at scale, rather than relying on…