Sharpa unveiled three major proprietary new products at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS): D01, the first integrated tactile-sensing robot built for dexterous manipulation; W02, a next-generation fully tactile, ultra-compact, lightweight dexterous hand; and AE01, a high-fidelity haptic exoskeleton data glove. Designed respectively for whole-body task execution, fine manipulation, and high-quality data capture, the three products address three critical aspects of robotics: how robots move, how they make contact with and manipulate objects, and how natural human motion can enable teleoperation and data collection. Together, Sharpa provide a complete hardware stack for complex, contact-rich manipulation in real-world environments. D01: the first integrated tactile-sensing robot built for dexterous manipulation. As Sharpa’s first integrated tactile-sensing dexterous manipulation robot,...
LimX Dynamics and Kyland Technology on Monday unveiled what they called China’s first humanoid robot equipped with a domestically developed electronic architecture, marking the first end-to-end integration of domestic industrial-grade real-time communications in a complex humanoid robot system. The launch event was held in Yichang, Hubei province. The companies said it was the first time a domestic electronic architecture had entered a complete humanoid robot system, calling it a milestone in the development of embodied intelligence. Humanoid robots need to transmit large volumes of data and commands among perception, decision-making and motion-control systems in real time to operate autonomously in complex real-world settings. Communication latency, jitter and system coordination efficiency can directly affect control precision, dynamic stability and task safety,...
SHANGHAI, Sept 23 – Maniformer Chairman and CEO Yao Maoqing launched Mifengpai, which the company calls the world’s first full-category, high-quality physical AI data crowdsourcing service platform, at a global launch event in Shanghai. Mifengpai opens physical AI data collection tasks to the public. Users take tasks through the Mifengpai app, wear MEgo devices to perform designated operations in real scenarios such as retail, warehousing, manufacturing and homes, and receive payment based on the duration of validated effective data, becoming “robot trainers.” “The best teacher of physical AI is everyone who lives life earnestly,” Yao said. Mifengpai aims to turn real operating experience scattered across daily life and industries into data that robots can learn, train on and reuse, he...
During the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo, Shenzhen-based embodied intelligence firm ASTRALL Dynamics emerged as one of the most talked-about exhibitors in the artificial intelligence pavilion. The company globally launched its new general-purpose medium-sized intelligent quadruped robot, the Hypertron-SW01, alongside an upgraded integrated solution combining robot hardware, self-developed AI software and ecosystem support. With a delivery standard of “deploy out of the box and operate upon site setup”, ASTRALL demonstrated a new commercial paradigm for Chinese embodied AI enterprises, moving beyond product exports toward full solution exports. Expanded product portfolio unlocks broad cross-industry potential The newly launched Hypertron-SW01 is positioned as a medium-sized intelligent quadruped robot with class-leading power performance. It delivers a 40-kilogram all-terrain payload and up to six hours of...
Toyota Motor Corp is launching a sweeping global factory upgrade that will put 400,000 robots to work, including a semi-humanoid model designed to learn tasks alongside humans, as the automaker seeks to build plants where people and machines coexist. The push includes ELEY, short for Embodied Learning robot for Enhanced Yield, a Toyota-developed semi-humanoid robot. ELEY has two fingers on each robotic hand, weighs about 50 kg, runs on battery or external power and moves on a wheeled base, according to Toyota’s website. Toyota said ELEY’s joints are designed on the same principles as human joints, with all dimensions based on the average Japanese adult male. The aim is to use large-model-based physical AI to let the robot directly imitate...
Figure, the U.S. humanoid robot developer, has released Helix 2.5, its most advanced neural network model to date, and said it enabled zero-shot whole-body autonomy in 30 real homes. Figure called it the first demonstration at that scale of zero-shot whole-body behaviour generalisation for a humanoid robot. The company said a single pre-trained foundation model was applied to three types of behaviour: locomotion; manipulation of rigid and deformable objects; and bimanual coordination, as well as active perception. Figure said that, with task-specific data, architecture, training method and evaluation unchanged, pre-training on Index alone raised zero-shot recognition success to 56% from 9%. Index is Figure’s robot dataset project built for global scale. The model also validated a Human-to-Humanoid Robot Transfer Scaling...
AGIBOT released a video showcasing real-world commercial deployments of its Expedition A3 Ultra humanoid robot across 4S dealerships, hotels and convenience stores, highlighting multi-robot and human-robot collaboration and autonomous operations as the full-size humanoid moves from technical validation toward scaled commercial use. At 4S dealerships, multiple A3 Ultra units work in coordination to handle greeting, beverage delivery, vehicle walkthroughs and delivery ceremonies, as well as flower presentation, photo sessions, confetti launches, daily report generation and livestream sales, providing intelligent services spanning store visits, purchasing, delivery and marketing operations. At hotels, the robots coordinate on bed-making, room tidying, towel folding, check-in, elevator guidance and nighttime patrols. At retail convenience stores, they perform shelf stocking, patrols, replenishment, bulky-item handling and customer service,...
Agility Robotics unveiled Digit 5, its latest humanoid robot, as the firm advances plans to go public via a proposed SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp. XI. Digit 5 features new legs, upgraded batteries and a more comprehensive safety architecture, and can work in close proximity to people without physical safety barriers, Agility said. CEO Peggy Johnson said“a major barrier to scaling humanoid robots in industrial environments,” adding that the market has responded with more than $300 million in multi-year orders across manufacturing, warehousing and logistics. Agility reported $1.8 million in net sales in 2025, according to a recent SEC filing. The company expects early access to Digit 5 in the first half of 2027 and general availability for manufacturing,...
Maniformer will hold its largest launch event since its founding in Shanghai on Sept 23, unveiling “Maniformer Pai” globally and formally launching a body-free embodied data crowdsourcing platform for the general public. Maniformer Pai converts everyday human actions into training data for robots, the company said, allowing ordinary people without professional backgrounds to use spare time to participate in embodied intelligence data collection and earn income. The platform is intended to move robot training data collection from specialized work to broader social collaboration, the company said.
BlueWorm Embodied Intelligence, a technology commercialization enterprise of Xi’an Jiaotong University, today unveiled its next-generation modular humanoid robot, the Mantis Standard “Xiaobai,” priced from 9,800 yuan. The company said the product is not merely a “humanoid robot,” but an embodied intelligence platform that can transform into various forms. The Mantis Standard “Xiaobai” features standard modules for its chassis, arms, waist and head, with mechanical and electrical connections completed between modules via quick-install interfaces. In terms of specifications, the robot has 22 total degrees of freedom, a single-arm payload of 7kg, an arm span of 663mm and teleoperation latency of less than 10ms; its waist has a lifting range of 550mm, while the chassis supports 3-DOF omnidirectional movement, a forward speed...
Water smart hardware brand MIRAVA raises nearly 50 mln yuan in angel round
MIRAVA, a water-surface smart consumer hardware brand under Shaanxi-based embodied intelligence company ORCAUBOAT, said it has raised nearly 50 million yuan in an angel round led by Jiuhe Venture Capital, with Chuxin Capital and Eversnow participating.
The proceeds will mainly fund mass production of smart yacht products, first customer deliveries and European market expansion.
MIRAVA focuses on the water consumer market and aims to integrate smart technology into water lifestyles. In September, it made its debut at the Cannes Yachting Festival, presenting its M800 to the European market for the first time.
Shenzhen ABROBOT raises tens of mln yuan in Series A+ round
Shenzhen ABROBOT Medical Robot Co., Ltd. said it has raised tens of millions of yuan in a Series A+ funding round led by Puhe Capital, with Longgang Financial Holdings participating.
Founded in June 2020 by Professor Guo Shuxiang, a foreign member of the Engineering Academy of Japan and an IEEE Fellow, and his team, ABROBOT focuses on the development and commercialization of vascular interventional surgical robots.
Its products cover neurological, coronary, peripheral and oncological interventions. The company's first-generation PANVIS-A cerebrovascular interventional surgical assistance system received a Class III registration certificate from China's National Medical Products Administration in August 2024.
ACE Robotics, PetroChina Shanghai Sales unit partner on embodied AI convenience store pilot
ACE Robotics and PetroChina Shanghai Sales Company have formed a strategic partnership to launch a pilot fully closed-loop embodied AI robot project in a gas station convenience store, the companies said.
The partners will combine PetroChina Shanghai Sales' digital platform, supply chain system and offline convenience store network with ACE Robotics' capabilities in the Kaiwu world model, robot hardware and embodied intelligence technology. They aim to explore a four-in-one embodied retail co-creation model—"scenarios set the tasks, platforms coordinate, models drive, and robots execute"—and build a warehouse-store integrated smart retail paradigm for real business scenarios.
Jiangte Electric to invest 100 mln yuan in robot startup Vita Dynamics
Jiangte Electric (002176.SZ) said it plans to invest 100 million yuan alongside affiliated investors in Vita Dynamics' Pre-A+++ funding round, with a total capital increase of 300 million yuan.
The affiliated investors will contribute 200 million yuan. The deal gives Vita Dynamics a pre-money valuation of 3 billion yuan. After the capital increase, Jiangte Electric and the affiliated investors are expected to hold 3.0303% and 6.0606%, respectively.
Jiangte also said it has started joint development of dexterous hand motors and key components with Vita Dynamics, and the products are planned to be supplied to third-party robot OEMs.
DeepSeek to lead funding in robotics AI startup Winverse AI
DeepSeek plans to lead a funding round of tens of millions of dollars in robotics AI company Winverse AI, people familiar with the matter said. Meituan's Longzhu Capital and others have also committed, valuing Winverse at about $400 million (2.7 billion yuan). The deal is not final and details could change.
If completed, it would be one of DeepSeek's largest startup investments since its 2023 founding. DeepSeek previously invested in Unitree Robotics, holding 0.2308%, or 933,399 shares, to co-develop embodied intelligence models.
Founded in 2026, Winverse focuses on robot AI models. Founder Hu Han earned a bachelor's degree from Tsinghua in 2008 and a PhD there in 2014. He was previously a Tencent Distinguished Scientist leading Hunyuan vision-language and embodied foundation model teams, and worked at Microsoft Research Asia and Baidu.
D-Robotics debuts at CIIF with full-stack AI for industrial robots
D-Robotics made its debut at the 26th China International Industry Fair (CIIF), which opened at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) on Oct. 12, showcasing full-stack AI capabilities for visual inspection, industrial data collection and industrial embodied intelligence.
The company presented its Sunrise intelligent computing chips, RDK robot developer kits and RoboGo software platform. For industrial customers, D-Robotics combines edge computing, supporting algorithms and cloud-based development tools.
NTU Singapore team wins IROS 2026 legged robot challenge with GENISOM AI M1
A team from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore won the IROS 2026 Legged Robot Challenge, using GENISOM AI's quadruped robot Tongchui M1, the event concluded at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.
During the event, the M1 achieved fully autonomous operation throughout the entire course for the first time. It autonomously perceived the arena environment, dynamically planned its route to complete autonomous navigation, and after reaching the target position autonomously drove its robotic arm to carry out manipulation tasks. The whole process ran fully autonomously, without manual remote-control intervention.
Unitree Founder: Embodied AI's "ChatGPT Moment" Could Come Within One to Two Years
At the 2026 China International Industry Fair, Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree Robotics, said that with breakthroughs in models such as GPT-6, the tipping point for embodied intelligence—its "ChatGPT moment"—could arrive "in as soon as one or two years." He also predicted that next year's GPT-7 may "directly crack the embodied intelligence problem."
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