Robotics & Automation

Honor's humanoid Lightning robot finished Beijing's half marathon in 50:26, beating the human world record and underscoring how quickly China's bipedal robotics field is improving.

STMicroelectronics is pairing a new Nvidia physical-AI partnership with plans to deploy more than 100 humanoid robots across its manufacturing footprint and retrain workers for higher-value roles.

Skild AI has bought Zebra Technologies' robotics automation unit, combining its hardware-agnostic Skild Brain with Zebra's Symmetry Fulfillment orchestration platform to pursue a unified software layer for warehouses.

Select Uber employees in San Francisco can now hail Nuro-equipped Lucid Gravity SUVs through the rideshare app, a critical deployment milestone ahead of a public robotaxi launch planned for later in 2026.

A PNAS paper from Harvard's Mahadevan lab shows that adding tuned noise to robot movement prevents gridlock in dense swarms, with physical validation at Eindhoven University of Technology.

The second Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half Marathon on April 19 will field over 300 robots from 100-plus teams, up from 20 in 2025, with a new autonomous navigation category.

Volkswagen subsidiary MOIA America and Uber begin testing autonomous ID. Buzz minivans in Los Angeles, targeting commercial robotaxi service by late 2026 and fully driverless operations with 500-plus vehicles by mid-2027.

Kodiak AI completes its first autonomous trucking demonstrations outside the Sun Belt on Interstate 70 in Ohio and Indiana, as the Level 4 autonomous trucking market accelerates toward a projected $7.8 billion by 2036.

Canadian startup Upside Robotics closes a $7.5 million seed round to expand solar-powered autonomous robots that micro-dose fertilizer in corn fields, claiming 70 percent input reduction across 1,300 acres.

Austin-based ICON begins selling its Titan robotic construction platform directly to builders, claiming a 40 percent cost reduction for wall systems.

Ukraine's 147th Artillery Brigade is the first known military unit to field-test commercial exoskeletons in active combat, using $1,000 Hypershell devices to help gunners handle over a metric ton of ammunition daily.

A fleet of 100 autonomous electric trucks at China's Yimin coal mine has exceeded productivity benchmarks by 20 percent after nearly a year, replacing 300 diesel trucks and 1,200 drivers.