Christopher Livingston’s monthly robotics column, Clanker Watch, highlights July’s most notable robot malfunctions and innovations. The standout incident occurred at Computex, where a Neura Robotics 4NE1 humanoid robot collapsed during a Qualcomm presentation. After delivering an IQ10 processor, the unit twitched and fell face-first, requiring staff to cover it with a tablecloth. Livingston notes the irony of needing human intervention to manage robot failures, questioning their labor-saving potential. Other July sightings included robots punching walls, falling apart, [...]

Episode 255 of The Robot Report Podcast features Derik Pridmore, co-founder and CEO of OSARO, discussing the evolution of warehouse robotics. Pridmore explains the shift from limited perception systems to adaptable AI-driven automation, emphasizing hardware-agnostic design, continuous learning, and real-world monitoring over flashy demonstrations. He argues that significant breakthroughs in robotics depend on balancing specificity, reliability, and safety. Pridmore co-founded OSARO in 2015 to provide integrated perception and control software for industrial-scale robotic deployment. With over a [...]

July 2026 marked a pivotal month for robotics, defined by substantial funding, technological breakthroughs, and significant U.S. policy shifts. AI² Robotics secured $735 million, reaching a $2.8 billion valuation, while Walden Robotics emerged from stealth with $300 million at a $1.1 billion valuation. London-based Humanoid introduced KinetIQ Ascend for high-reliability manipulation, and AMD unveiled its Kria module for real-time control. Apptronik launched Apollo 2 and expanded its Austin training facility. Weave Robotics released Isaac 1, a consumer [...]

Unitree Robotics, a leading Chinese embodied‑AI startup based in Hangzhou, received approval from China’s securities regulator on July 1 to register for an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market. The approval clears a regulatory hurdle but does not set the offering price, subscription window, or trading date. The company’s prospectus seeks to raise roughly RMB 4.2 billion, earmarking funds for AI model research, robot‑body development, new product launches, and a smart‑robot manufacturing base. Unitree specializes in quadruped and humanoid robots and [...]

In November 2025, a Figure 03 humanoid completed an eleven‑month stint at BMW’s Spartanburg plant, working ten‑hour shifts, moving over 90,000 sheet‑metal parts, and helping assemble more than 30,000 X3 crossovers—data confirmed by Figure AI and unchallenged by BMW. On July 22, 2026, Tesla’s Q2 earnings call revealed no Optimus units had entered production, despite Musk’s earlier claims of thousands by 2025; the company cited supply‑chain challenges and the difficulty of scaling a wholly new product. Meanwhile, Unitree Robotics’ IPO [...]

Google DeepMind has launched Gemini Robotics 2, a trio of AI models that grant humanoid and other robots enhanced whole‑body autonomy, dexterity, and multi‑robot collaboration. Demonstrated on Apptronik’s Apollo 2, the system enables the robot to walk, crouch, bend, and manipulate objects while reasoning through tasks in real time. Gemini Robotics 2 extends prior work by coordinating movements from feet to fingertips, supporting five‑fingered SharpaWave hands and industrial grippers, and allowing different robot types to communicate on complex workflows. The platform can [...]

RoshAi, founded in 2021 by former TCS robotics head Roshy John and CTO Rajaram Moorthy, offers retrofit drive‑by‑wire kits and a Level‑4 autonomy software stack that can convert existing diesel or electric trucks into self‑driving units for closed environments such as ports, mines and factory yards. The company’s “Android for autonomy” model licenses the software to OEMs and fleet operators while the hardware attaches to vehicles already in service, avoiding the cost of new chassis. RoshAi claims [...]