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by Diana Wolf Torres
The droids newsletter podcast covers breaking robotics news and deep dives into the issues driving the industry today. droids.substack.com
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A damaged C-17 recently returned to the air with a RoboFormed structural repair part. Machina Labs made it directly from a digital design, using robots instead of dedicated tooling.“Qualifying a part from a new manufacturing process for flight can take years, time these critical programs don’t have time to spare,” Mehr said in the company’s August 18 announcement.A conventional factory usually begins with a decision: What will this factory make?That choice determines nearly everything that follows, from the machinery and tooling to the layout of the building. Once the investment is made, the factory becomes very good at producing the same thing, over and over.Mehr wants to loosen that connection between the factory and the product.“Our goal is to create a platform that can make car parts in the morning,” he told me. “But then in the afternoon, without any major physical change in the platform, it can start doing aircraft. And at night, autonomously, it can do missile components.”Machina calls its system RoboCraftsman. It is a general-purpose manufacturing platform designed to perform different jobs through software rather than through a physical rebuild of the factory.The company became known for RoboForming, its process for turning a flat sheet of metal into a finished shape with two industrial robots working from opposite sides. Watching the process brings to mind a potter molding clay, except the material is metal and the hands belong to robots.“People don’t realize that metal is very, very plastic,” Mehr said. “It’s very impressionable.”The robots supply the force and precision needed to shape the material incrementally. By applying compression from both sides, they can manage how the metal stretches and hardens as it takes form.The underlying craft is not new. Metalworkers have shaped material this way for generations. What has changed is who, or what, is holding the tools.“It’s almost the way craftsmen did it a while back,” Mehr said. “But now robots are doing it.”A different kind of scaleTraditional manufacturing excels when enormous numbers of identical products are required. Mehr points to Toyota, which can produce a vehicle roughly every 60 seconds in the United States.“What traditional manufacturing cannot do is make a different car every 60 seconds,” he said.That is the opening Machina is pursuing.In its work with Toyota, the company can customize parts that have already moved through the automaker’s conventional production system. A Tacoma hood or tailgate, for example, can be given a design chosen by its owner.Toyota keeps the efficiency of mass production while adding a level of individual expression that conventional tooling makes difficult or expensive.Manufacturing has traditionally relied on economies of scale: Invest in specialized equipment, then make enough copies of the same product to recover the cost. Mehr believes programmable factories could make variety economical, too.The result could be a world in which cars, buildings and other physical products no longer look so much alike.“That’s actually a limitation of manufacturing,” he said. “We can only scale and make cheap stuff today if we’re making the same thing over and over again.”Machina describes itself as a physical AI company because its larger goal goes beyond automating an existing production line. Mehr compares the idea to the way a person can express an intent to a large language model and receive text or an image in return.Here, the output is a physical object.Lessons from SpaceXMehr’s interest in flexible manufacturing grew out of his time at SpaceX.He remembers arriving at its Hawthorne factory and feeling like “a kid in a candy shop.” Rockets, which he had associated with governments and national space programs, were being built by a company in Southern California.He also saw how the physical constraints of manufacturing slowed even the fastest hardware companies. Every new product could require a different facility, a new set of tools and another large capital investment.“My focus has been on bringing this agility back,” he said, “bringing software-like agility to manufacturing.”Defense has become an early adopter because it presents precisely that problem. The sector needs many different systems, often in relatively small quantities, and must be able to respond quickly when demand changes.Lockheed Martin’s relationship with Machina spans investment and production. Lockheed Martin Ventures invested i
Imagine having an itch on your head but being unable to scratch it. Or wanting a drink, but needing another person to stand beside you and hold it for several minutes. For someone with a significant mobility impairment, completing one of these actions can restore a small but meaningful piece of independence.Hello Robot is working toward a future in which robots give people greater independence in their everyday lives.The California robotics company expresses that mission in two short phrases: “Robots with purpose” and “Technology with empathy.”Hello Robot’s Stretch platform has become a widely used tool for robotics research and development. But one of the clearest expressions of the company’s purpose can be found in its assistive robotics work with people with disabilities, older adults and their care partners.I recently spoke with Hello Robot co-founder and CEO Aaron Edsinger about the company’s path from the research lab into real homes.A robot designed around peopleStretch does not look like the humanoid robots currently attracting much of the robotics industry’s attention. It moves on a compact wheeled base. A vertical mast allows it to reach different heights. Its telescoping arm extends into the surrounding environment, while cameras and sensors help it understand what is happening around it.In one pilot Edsinger described, a person wanted to use Stretch to scratch an itch. In another, a participant wanted the robot to hold a drink so that a caregiver would not need to remain beside them throughout the process.“These are very simple tasks, but they’re achievable today,” Edsinger said. “And they provide immense value to the people who are working with the robot.”The value extends beyond completing the task itself. Each action gives one person greater agency while giving the care partner more freedom.Assistive technology is often evaluated according to what it can do for the person receiving care. Hello Robot considers the care partner part of the equation.Edsinger spoke about an aunt who is bedbound and alone at night. If she needs water, getting up without assistance could be dangerous.A robot does not need to function as a fully autonomous butler to help in that situation. It could bring a drink, connect her with a remote caregiver or allow someone to perform a safety check. Relatively simple capabilities could support the existing care network rather than attempting to replace it.Helping people age in placeHello Robot is also participating in research involving older adults and people with cognitive impairments.Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have placed a socially assistive version of Stretch in the homes of people with dementia and their care partners. The robot combines its onboard capabilities with smart-home sensors to provide reminders, support daily routines and monitor certain safety concerns.In one deployment, the robot helped remind a man with dementia to eat, drink, exercise and complete parts of his daily hygiene routine.Because the robot can move, it can bring its screen and reminders to the person at the appropriate place and time. A tablet left on a bedside table cannot do that if it has been misplaced, forgotten or left uncharged.The research remains at an early stage. Stretch is not yet a consumer caregiving product, and Hello Robot is careful not to present it as one.But home deployments help researchers understand what people genuinely need from a robot, what they will accept in their homes and which capabilities are reliable enough to create value today.For an older adult, that value could mean remaining at home longer. For a family member, it could mean being able to leave the house without constant worry. For a professional caregiver, it could mean having help with routine activities while preserving more time for human care.Why Hello Robot did not build a humanoidEdsinger has extensive experience with humanoid robots. He studied at MIT with Rodney Brooks, spent more than a decade working on humanoids and previously founded a humanoid robotics company. He later served as director of robotics at Google, where he began thinking seriously about what it would take to place robots in homes.His conclusion was that the industry needed a different approach.After seeing research from his longtime collaborator and eventual Hello Robot co-founder Charlie Kemp, Edsinger became interested in a minimal robot with a telescoping arm.“It has to be more like a Roomba with an arm than a large humanoid clomping around in your house,” he recalled.The company’s rejection of the humanoid form is closely connected to its assistive mission. A useful humanoid must be large and powerful enough to balance, reach counters and manipulate objects. That size, we
Last month, AgiBot announced the production of its 15,000th robot. I discovered, while interviewing Peng Chen, Business Development Director for Agibot, that “15,000th” is almost impossible to say.Producing that many robots is difficult too. But it may not be the hardest part. The next test is whether those robots can leave the demonstration stage behind and perform useful work reliably in factories, stores, care facilities, and eventually our homes.Peng’s answer was direct: “We’re in the era converting from demo phase to deploy phase,” he said.What does 15,000 actually mean?On June 28, AgiBot’s 15,000th robot rolled off the production line. The company had reached 10,000 only three months earlier, an impressive ramp for a business founded in 2023.The figure represents cumulative production, not 15,000 robots working autonomously in the field. Production, shipments, and active deployments are different measures.Still, AgiBot has achieved meaningful scale. Omdia reported that it shipped 5,168 humanoid robots in 2025, representing 39 percent of the market it tracked.The milestone suggests that robot hardware is reaching a scale that can support broader experimentation and deployment.Not every robot looks like a personWhen people hear “15,000 robots,” they may imagine an army of identical humanoids walking off an assembly line.AgiBot’s portfolio is much broader.The company produces full-size humanoids, half-size humanoids, wheeled industrial robots, quadrupeds, dexterous manipulation systems, and commercial cleaning robots. The X2 featured in my interview is a half-size humanoid designed to appear approachable and interact with people.Peng described possible applications across education, research, manufacturing, logistics, retail, restaurants, healthcare, and outdoor inspections.The robot’s physical form depends on the job.A wheeled platform may make more sense on a factory floor. A quadruped may be better suited to inspection work. A smaller humanoid may be useful for entertainment, education, customer guidance, or social interaction.This diversity is a reminder that the future of embodied AI will not be defined by a single perfect human replica. It will probably include many types of machines designed for different environments.The difficult leap from demonstrations to deploymentRobotics demonstrations have become remarkably good at attracting attention.Robots dance, run, sort objects, fold clothes, perform backflips, and hold conversations. These moments are entertaining and often technically impressive.Check out this rehearsal of Agibots rehearsing for a performance at the AGI and Robotics summit at Stanford. Very entertaining. But a demonstration is not the same as a deployment. A demonstration asks whether a robot can perform a task under favorable conditions. A deployment asks whether it can perform that task repeatedly, safely, affordably, and with minimal human intervention. A robot working in a factory cannot succeed nine times out of ten and simply try again after a failure. It must operate according to production schedules, coordinate with people and other machines, and respond predictably when something unexpected happens. Battery life, maintenance, integration, safety, training, and the cost of human supervision all become part of the calculation.Peng acknowledged that this is not an AgiBot challenge alone.“The whole industry” is searching for places where robots can work autonomously and reliably, he said.This is why constrained environments are likely to come first.Factories, warehouses, and commercial facilities offer repeatable processes and spaces that can be adapted to machines. Homes, hospitals, and nursing facilities are far less predictable. Every room is different. Objects move. People behave unexpectedly. The consequences of an error can be much more serious.AgiBot has reported approximately 100 cumulative hours of factory livestream operations involving G2 robots in a tablet-production quality-inspection process. The robots worked alongside people and followed the rhythm of an active production line.That is a meaningful step beyond a short stage demonstration. It is not yet proof that general-purpose robots can operate autonomously everywhere, but it illustrates the path from controlled experiments to narrowly defined work.People may be more ready than expectedAgiBot expected some people to be uneasy around the X2. Instead, Peng said, public response has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.I saw that curiosity at NVIDIA GTC, where the robot’s friendly appearance and dance moves drew a crowd.The X2 can converse, perform, guide visitors, and give presentations. While complex physical work remains challenging, social interaction could become one of the first practical uses for sma
When I first interviewed StarBot at NVIDIA GTC earlier this year, the company was demonstrating a wheeled service robot designed for restaurants. We were having a record heat wave that week in San Jose. It was was 93 degrees and we were in direct sun when the little clip below was recorded, which explains the references to water and air conditioning. Just over three months later, I caught up with engineer Ricky Wu at the Humanity & AGI Summit 2026 at Stanford University, where StarBot was showing something entirely different: a humanoid robot. The transition says as much about the service robotics industry as it does about StarBot itself.During our interview, Ricky explained that the shift was driven by customer feedback. Restaurant operators liked the original robot but kept asking the same question: could it climb stairs? The answer was no. A wheeled robot is efficient on flat floors but quickly reaches its limits in more complex environments. The company’s response was to build a humanoid platform that could navigate spaces designed for people while adding dexterous hands, depth sensing, LiDAR, and conversational AI.It’s a reminder that some of the biggest advances in robotics aren’t driven by new AI models. They’re driven by deployment. Real customers expose real problems.The restaurant industry has become one of the first proving grounds for service robotics, but adoption remains in its early stages. While robot waiters attract attention on social media, the vast majority of restaurants still operate without robots. Where they are deployed, robots typically transport food, bus tables, or handle repetitive delivery tasks, allowing staff to spend more time interacting with customers instead of walking dishes across the dining room.The labor equation also matters. Restaurants continue to struggle with hiring and employee turnover, making repetitive support tasks an attractive target for automation. Rather than replacing servers, today’s service robots are generally designed to augment existing staff by taking over physically repetitive work.At the same time, companies appear to be thinking beyond restaurants. In our discussion, StarBot described applications that extended into homes and other service environments. That reflects a broader trend I have begun noticing across multiple robotics startups. Instead of building highly specialized machines for a single market, many companies are evolving toward general-purpose robotic platforms that can be adapted through software and AI for a variety of settings.Whether that strategy ultimately succeeds remains an open question. A robot built for restaurants must satisfy a different set of requirements than one designed for factories or private homes. But the industry increasingly seems willing to pursue that broader vision.#robotics #physicalai #droidsnewsletter #starbotusa #AIRoA #HumanityAGIsummit #AIRoboticsAlliance This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit droids.substack.com
Neros Technologies, a startup founded by former teenage drone racers, has secured a Defense Department contract worth up to $500 million to supply first-person-view drones to the U.S. Army, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The deal marks one of the largest Pentagon commitments to low-cost, expendable drone technology from a nontraditional defense contractor.From Drone Racing to DefenseFounded in 2023 by Soren Monroe-Anderson and Olaf Hichwa, who competed as professional drone racers before entering the defense industry, Neros builds its Archer quadcopter FPV drone entirely without Chinese components. The company, headquartered in El Segundo, California, has positioned itself as a domestic alternative to the cheap Chinese-made drones that have dominated the market.Neros was already on the Pentagon’s radar. The company was selected for the Army’s Purpose-Built Attritable System program in late 2025 and won approval on the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue UAS list. It also signed a contract to deliver 6,000 Archer drones to Ukraine’s frontlines through the International Drone Coalition. Monroe-Anderson, now in his early twenties, has said the company can scale production to one million drones per year with sufficient Pentagon backing. Earlier this year, Neros acquired a 250,000-square-foot factory to support that ambition.A Broader Push for Drone ManufacturingThe Neros contract reflects a wider Pentagon effort to build domestic drone production capacity. On Monday, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced that Helsing, a German defense AI company valued at $18 billion, will invest $50 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The plant will produce Helsing’s HX-2 AI-enabled strike drone — already combat-proven in Ukraine — at a rate of 2,000 per month, employing 60 workers at an average salary of $125,000.“Factories win wars, and that’s exactly what we want to do in Berkeley County,” said Jennifer McArdle, general manager of Helsing’s U.S. subsidiary.Pentagon’s Appetite for Attritable DronesThe contracts underscore how lessons from Ukraine’s war have reshaped American military procurement. The Army has begun training soldiers with FPV drones modeled on Ukrainian tactics, and spending on expendable drone systems has accelerated sharply. Separately, the Pentagon awarded AeroVironment a $500 million counter-drone contract on July 1, illustrating both sides of the emerging drone equation — the need for cheap offensive systems and the defenses to counter them.Additional Resources for Inquisitive Minds:MILITARYNYI. FPV Drone Manufacturer Plans to Deliver 1 Million Drones a Year to U.S. Military. July 7, 2025. U.S. Department of War. Contracts for July 1, 2026#robotics #militaryrobotics #drones #droidsnewsletter #dailyroboticnews This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit droids.substack.com
The 1X NEO robot introduces a sophisticated hand design featuring 22 degrees of freedom (DoF) to handle intricate manipulation. These hands are IP68 waterproof, meaning they are submersible, and they have been designed to be food-safe—allowing the robot to wash its own hands. This development represents a significant step in the physical AI landscape, particularly for consumer robotics targeting household chores.Tendon-Driven ActuationInstead of using rigid gearboxes or heavy harmonic drives common in other humanoids, NEO employs a proprietary tendon-drive system. This biomimetic approach uses high-torque-density electric motors that pull flexible polymer tendons, similar to human muscles. This architecture provides fluid motion and precise control while keeping the robot extremely quiet, operating at just 22 decibels.Design and Safety ProfileThe NEO robot stands 5’6” tall but weighs only 66 pounds. It has a soft, custom 3D-lattice polymer body and is clothed in a machine-washable knit suit, which acts as a protective layer and makes the robot safe and approachable for domestic use. The tendon-driven design, combined with the lightweight structure and pinch-proof joints, is intended to minimize the risk of injury if the robot falls.Capabilities and ManufacturingDespite its light frame, NEO can lift up to 154 pounds and carry 55 pounds. Its 22-DoF hands have a grip strength capable of deadlifting 70kg, and the hands are naturally compliant to withstand falls. 1X manufactures the hands, actuators, and polymer molding in-house at their facility in Hayward, California. The robot is powered by an NVIDIA Jetson Thor chipset and operates for up to 4 hours per charge.“The Hand Problem”The development of highly capable robotic hands, often referred to as “the hands problem” or “Moravec’s Paradox,” is widely considered the most difficult hardware challenge in humanoid robotics. While robots are proficient at balancing, walking, and heavy lifting, replicating the dexterity required for unstructured, everyday human tasks like handling fragile items or cracking eggs remains a massive bottleneck.The difficulty in building humanoid hands stems from compounding factors of complexity, space, and reliability. Human hands have over 20 degrees of freedom, which requires engineers to pack dozens of miniaturized actuators, custom motors, and control systems into a very tight volume. Fully-actuated hands (with a motor for every joint) are extremely heavy, while under-actuated hands (using fewer motors with mechanical coupling) sacrifice precision.Why the Hands are So SignificantThe hands on 1X’s NEO robot are one of its key differentiators, designed to mimic human dexterity while being robust enough for household tasks. They represent a shift toward prioritizing active control and durability in consumer-ready physical AI.Additional Resources for Inquisitive Minds:WIRED. The 1X Neo Robot Has Freaky Fast Fingers. July 9, 2026.Forbes. Human-Level Hands? 1X Just Gave Humanoid Robot Neo Something Close. July 9, 2026. 1x Blog. NEO’s Hands. An API to the Physical World. July 9, 2026. Editor’s Note: The podcast attached to this daily update was created with Google NotebookLM’s audio overview. The sources for this “notebook” are listed above. The AI hosts were very creative in how they said “Neo,” (correctly said as “nee-oh.'“) #robotics #thehandproblem #1x #1xneo This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit droids.substack.com
In a feel-good story from the World Cup, Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas delivered the game ball to the referee during the Brazil versus Norway Round of 16 match. The fully electric robot strutted onto the pitch in New Jersey, successfully navigating the unpredictable live environment in front of 80,000 cheering fans. While Atlas was the star of the show, eagle-eyed viewers and fans in the stands also spotted the human teleoperator trying—and hilariously failing—to stay entirely out of frame while steering the robot to its mark. (At 1:51 you can see someone grabbing his shoulders and pulling the teleoperator back out of frame.)A Tech Marvel on the TurfBeyond the charming performance, getting Atlas to function in a stadium full of 80,000 cellphones was a massive engineering feat. Because standard Wi-Fi was completely jammed by the crowd, Boston Dynamics engineers had to use a custom radio link to maintain control of the robot. Atlas’s performance relied on “whole-body control technology,” which ensures that all of the robot’s joints act as a unified system, allowing it to maintain its balance and move fluidly on the grass. It also boasts 56 degrees of freedom and the ability to generalize tasks beyond its initial programming.Reinforcement Learning Meets Goal CelebrationsBefore handing over the ball, Atlas delighted the crowd by running through a routine of iconic soccer celebrations. The robot perfectly recreated the signature moves of players like Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Matheus Cunha, and Son Heung-min. This was achieved through weeks of reinforcement learning, where engineers fed the robot footage of World Cup matches and used large-scale simulations to teach it to mimic kicks, drills, and player movements.gigazineyoutubeFrom the Stadium to the FactoryWhile the World Cup halftime show was a massive hit with audiences, Hyundai, the parent company of Boston Dynamics, has much bigger plans for Atlas. The real goal of these live demonstrations is to prove the robot’s reliability in chaotic, real-world environments. Hyundai intends to deploy mass-produced versions of these humanoids in its U.S. manufacturing facilities starting in 2028, where they will take over repetitive and high-risk tasks on the assembly line. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit droids.substack.com
Google held its first public open house Wednesday evening at Lord Botetourt High School in Daleville, Virginia, offering residents a chance to speak directly with company representatives about the tech giant’s planned data center campus in Botetourt County — a project that has divided the community for months.This sounds so familiar. I went to a public open house event at a high school two weeks ago here in Gilroy, California. Except the hosts were AWS and they were here to reassure about the tech giant’s planned data center campus.“Trust us,” they said. “Power? It won’t go up. Water? We won’t use it all. Noise? You won’t hear it over the sounds of the highway noise.”So, now it is Virginia’s turn and they are getting the song and dance from Google.Supporters and Opponents Clash OutsideThe event, held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the school’s lower gymnasium, drew both supporters and protesters. Opponents of the project gathered outside the school before the doors opened, continuing a campaign of community opposition that has intensified since details about the project’s water usage became public earlier this year.Inside, Google set up information stations covering water usage, power infrastructure, sound and environmental considerations, community benefits, local revenue impacts, and project planning and zoning. Attendees could drop in at any time, explore the stations, and ask questions.Water Concerns Take Center StageWater usage has been the most contentious issue surrounding the project. The data center campus, planned for a 312-acre site at the Greenfield Industrial Park, could draw between 2 million and 8 million gallons of water per day from Carvins Cove reservoir, according to an agreement between Botetourt County and the Western Virginia Water Authority. Google has pledged to minimize consumption, support water replenishment efforts, and finance long-range water supply studies.The county’s website states that recreational access to Carvins Cove — used for fishing, kayaking, biking, and hiking — will be maintained. Google has also committed to supporting research at Virginia Tech to study watershed health and improvements to the regional water supply.Jobs and Economic ImpactThe project is expected to create up to 1,000 temporary construction jobs at peak and a minimum of 150 permanent positions across three planned data centers, with Google committing to no fewer than 50 high-paying jobs per building. The county estimates the campus will generate roughly $10 million per year in local tax revenue once operational.Google purchased the land for $14.06 million in June 2025 and pledged $4 million over five years for community projects. Site grading is expected to begin in 2026, with each data center taking 18 to 24 months to construct. The company said project information would be made available online for residents who could not attend Wednesday’s event.Read more: Google talks timeline while residents protest. Thanks for reading DROIDS!! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit droids.substack.com
The droids newsletter podcast covers breaking robotics news and deep dives into the issues driving the industry today. droids.substack.com
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