WorldArena, the benchmark that has become a reference point for world models, opened its 2.0 challenge at IROS 2026 with two new tracks built to test one thing the field dodges: can the model actually drive a robot, or only generate a pretty video? WorldArena 2.0 adds real-robot and reinforcement tracks to test whether world … Read more
In 2026 the business of robot “skin” began to fork. At IROS 2026, Sharpa launched the D01 robot, the W02 dexterous hand and the AE01 exoskeleton data glove at once. The glove logs an operator’s finger-joint motion with 22 encoders and feeds contact back through five fingertip vibration motors, so one device both teleoperates a … Read more
Shutu Tech has closed a Pre-A round of nearly RMB 100 million, its third raise in a single month, led by CDH Investments’ Baifu arm and the Kunpeng Fund, a national-level big-data vehicle, with Guangzhou Industrial Investment and Yihe Capital joining and existing backer Trend Investment topping up. The money goes straight at the hardest … Read more
On 21 September, word that Tesla’s robot team had flown to Ningbo to audit factories lit another fire under China’s embodied-AI race. The visit was not a courtesy call. Suppliers including Tuopu Group, Sanhua Intelligent and Joyson Electronics had already taken humanoid-robot orders for joint modules, actuators and precision structures, and the audit was a … Read more
LeiPhone WhaleX has learned that Jianxiong Li, the first doctoral graduate of Tsinghua’s Institute for AI Industry (AIR), has founded embodied intelligence company BASAL Intelligence, with a round led by FiveYuan Capital and participation from IVC, Linear Capital and WestSummit Capital. AIR associate professor Xianyuan Zhan serves as chief scientist, with a core team of … Read more
Could a robot build the parts needed to assemble a robot? That is the hardest real world test for embodied intelligence. A robot’s joints, chucks and precision structs are cut by CNC lathes and mills. If a robot can tend those machines, grabbing, loading, inserting and removing workpieces, robot production feeds itself: more robots, lower … Read more
In September, Faraday Future (FFAI) and FFR sold and shipped 265 EAI robot units, a single month record. In the third quarter the robot business moved 575 units, and since late February the cumulative total has reached 817. On 14 October US time, FFAI and FFR plan to launch an education ecosystem brain, Skills products … Read more
Ashish Kumar, the engineer who led artificial intelligence for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid, is building a new robotics team, and this time he has chosen a non-humanoid path. Ex-Tesla Optimus AI Lead Ashish Kumar Builds Non-Humanoid Ro (Generated editorial image, Robot Belt) According to Sina Finance on 7 October, Kumar’s co-founded startup Intelligent Machines is based … Read more
UBTECH will build its first robot manufacturing base outside China in Almaty, Kazakhstan. During the Kazakhstan-China Investment Forum, Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met UBTECH vice president Yong Zhong in Almaty and voiced support for the plant, which will become UBTECH’s first production base outside Chinese territory. UBTECH to Build Its First Robot Base Outside China, … Read more
Xiaomi’s next-generation humanoid robot has had its specifications leaked. According to a 19 August report by the National Business Daily, carried via the outlet Farsight, the robot stands about 1.70 metres tall, weighs 66 kg, and carries 66 degrees of freedom, with half of them concentrated in its hands. Xiaomi’s next humanoid surfaces: 1.7 metres … Read more