Robots

Less than two years since it was founded, San Francisco-based startup Weave Robotics is accepting pre-orders for its first home robot, which promises to do one thing well: fold your laundry. But it might still need remote human help.

Researchers have developed an electronic skin that allows humanoid robots to distinguish everyday touch from damaging force. That ability, once reserved for living nervous systems, could reshape how robots interact with the physical world and with humans.

Shanghai robotics startup DroidUp has launched what it calls "a beautifully designed and expressive bionic robot" that is touted as "the world's first highly bionic robot that deeply integrates human aesthetics and advanced humanoid movement."

What was announced as a 2050 pipe dream by Kawasaki, the company's hydrogen-powered, four-hooved, all-terrain robot horse vehicle Corleo is actually going into production and is now expected to be commercially available within a few years.

LG has debuted a home robot that's designed to cook, clean, and manage chores using advanced Physical AI. Part of LG's "Zero Labor Home" vision, the wheeled humanoid features dexterous hands and visual learning to automate daily household tasks.

EngineAI's T800 humanoid robot, backed by 1-billion yuan in funding, boasts acrobatic combat skills, human-like agility, modular batteries, and advanced AI. Mass production begins in 2026, aiming to revolutionize industrial applications worldwide.

Hangzhou is the latest city in China to take traffic control to a new level, rolling out its AI-powered robot police officer to direct vehicles and pedestrians at major intersections and issue polite warnings to law-breakers.

A startup founded by MIT alumni wants robots to do some heavy lifting, literally. Pickle Robot Company's systems feature AI smarts and single-armed machines to quickly unload shipping containers filled with cases weighing up to 50 lb each.

When the Iron humanoid was unveiled to the public, strutting fluidly down the runway before a gobsmacked crowd, it made headlines – but not for the reasons its creators hoped. The robot moved so humanlike that people were sure there was someone inside it.

In a first, scientists believe they have confirmed we have another sense – a “remote touch” that we share with others in the animal kingdom, like some shorebird species that can sense prey beneath sand without seeing or touching it first.

Blurring the line between biology and robotics, Chinese scientists are taking biomimicry to new depths with a small, low-energy bionic jellyfish that's so lifelike in form and movement it’s almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

After about a decade in the works, 1X is nearly ready with its Neo humanoid, which is designed to help you with housework and other tasks around the home. It'll ship in 2026, and you can pre-order one in the US right away.