MassRobotics, Massport and other organizations held the "Robots in Airports" event on November 9, 2026, at Boston Logan International Airport, connecting New England airport operators directly with robotics startups.
Italian company Oversonic Robotics is showcasing its industrial humanoid robot RoBee R20 at two European tech events: electronica 2026 in Munich and Web Summit in Lisbon.
MassRobotics held its 4th annual Women in Robotics Medal Gala, awarding the 2026 Robotics Medal to Professor Allison Okamura of Stanford University and the Rising Star Medal to Professor Ayoung Kim of Seoul National University.
Laifu Harmonic, as one of the main drafting units, participated in the preparation of two national standards, GB/T 12601-2026 "Harmonic Gear Transmission Basic Terminology" and GB/T 14118-2026 "Harmonic Drive Reducers," and hosted the standards release conference held in Shengzhou, Zhejiang, from November 6 to 7. Based on 2025 shipment volume, the company ranks second among Chinese robot harmonic reducer providers, with a market share of 21.4% and more than 870,000 units sold for the year. Its harmonic reducers have achieved ±15 arcsecond positioning accuracy and a service life of more than 10,000 hours.
Booth bookings are now open for the 2027 Humanoid Robot Ecosystem Conference (HREC), to be held April 15-18, 2027, at the Shanghai Auto Exhibition Center. The conference is hosted by China Robot Network, founded in 2024, and has been held 3 times; it is positioned as an industry platform integrating conference discussions, exhibitions, competitions, and science education. Humanoid robots, dexterous hands, components, and industry chain brands will present their representative products.
AI² Robotics signed a memorandum of understanding with DDMF, under Indonesia's national strategic investment institution Danantara Indonesia, to explore pilot applications, industrial cooperation, and localized deployment of general-purpose intelligent robots and embodied intelligence technology in Indonesia. It becomes the first and currently only signed robot company on DDMF's embodied intelligence partner list.
ASICS America has deployed Corvus Robotics' Corvus One autonomous inventory drones at its Byhalia, Mississippi distribution center, flying 7 times each night. Counting frequency in two high-risk storage areas has increased 6x and those areas are now counted monthly, while misplaced inventory is recovered about 60% faster.
Speaking at the Baron Investment Conference, Musk said Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot will likely be offered through leasing rather than direct sale. He disclosed an initial per-unit cost of about $30,000, dropping to about $20,000 after mass production; the Fremont factory has begun early mass production, with the line built for a scale of 1 million units per year, and external deliveries not expected until late 2027 at the earliest. The article also analyzes that the leasing model can generate ongoing rental and software maintenance revenue and let Tesla control robot operating data.
On November 7, the General Embodied Brain Industry Innovation Consortium was launched at a side exchange meeting of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. Initiated by MouShen Intelligence, it brings together 42 enterprises and research institutions, with members including Fudan University's School of Future Information Innovation, the National and Local Co-built Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, Unitree Robotics, and UBTECH.
Huilun Technology has signed an embodied intelligent robot production cooperation agreement with GAC Group's powertrain business unit. The two parties are advancing production line construction and expect to reach 10,000-unit-scale capacity by 2029. GAC's humanoid robots are still in small-batch application, with cumulative operating data exceeding 12 months, 63,000 km, and 189,000 operations. In August this year, Huilun Technology announced the completion of over 100 million yuan in financing, with funds used for vertical model optimization, automotive production lines, and expansion of comprehensive service scenarios.
Unitree Technology founder Wang Xingxing said in an interview at the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit that Unitree will focus on conquering robot brain technology in the future and seek cooperation globally, and is optimistic about physical AI technology. Unitree has previously defined three major strategic directions: improving large-scale robot mass-production capability to meet demand at the tens-of-millions and even hundreds-of-millions scale; advancing the deployment of physical AI small models suited to its own hardware through both in-house development and partnerships; and building out ultra-large-scale computing clusters.
Cao Peng, Chairman of JD.com's Technology Committee, said at the Robotics and Embodied Intelligence Forum of the 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit that JD Logistics plans to procure 3 million robots, 1 million unmanned vehicles, and 100,000 drones over the next five years.
The 10,000th personal robot from Qiyuan Robotics, a subsidiary of Shangwei New Materials, has officially rolled off the production line, just 14 days after the 5,000th unit on October 25. The Qiyuan Q1 and T1 went on sale on September 20, and the whole-machine factory began mass production in October, adopting automotive-grade standards plus a 3C-scale manufacturing system; the Q1 is priced at 19,999 yuan and the Explorer Edition at 26,999 yuan, while the T1 is priced at 19,999 yuan and the T1 Pro at 29,999 yuan.
IIC Shenzhen 2026 will be held on December 9-10 at the Sheraton Shenzhen Futian Hotel. The series of summit forums will break down the industrialization path of physical AI across dimensions including edge computing power, visual perception, storage architecture, power devices, quadruped robot practices, and open-source AIoT solutions.
Over the past several months, Amazon has formed a new home robotics team and is hiring engineers for a "brand-new form of robot product." The job description mentions that the product can autonomously navigate dynamic home environments and operate collaboratively with family members. The team's core assets come from the March 2026 acquisition of New York humanoid robotics startup Fauna Robotics. About 50 Fauna employees joined the newly established "Personal Robotics Group." Its bipedal humanoid robot Sprout is about 107 cm tall and weighs about 27 kg, and has been delivered to R&D partners since January 2026.
Suzhou-based general embodied intelligence company UniX AI announced on November 9 that it has completed a RMB 500 million Pre-A funding round. Existing shareholders Xienuo Investment and Yonghua Investment increased their investment, while Greenland Group, Keli Sensing, Huagong Venture Capital, Xinjing Fuying, Redbird Qihang Fund, and Yulin Industrial Investment joined as new investors.
Path Robotics announced it has closed a $300 million Series E round at a post-money valuation of $2.45 billion, led by Georgian, with participation from Addition, Drive Capital, Tiger Global, Yamaha Motor Ventures, D. E. Shaw Ventures, NAVER Ventures and others.
Why it matters: Beyond the funding size and valuation, the article also covers the Obsidian welding model and the Rove quadruped platform, which can be used to assess its physical AI's expansion path from welding to multiple forms.
Day 1 at #CoRL2026 in Austin was a great success. Come see a live demo of Apollo and chat with the #Apptronik team about robotics, career opportunities, and more. We'll be here until Wednesday at Booth 800 on the third floor of the JW Marriott. Looking forward to seeing you!
Anhui Qingtian Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. has completed a Pre-A funding round of tens of millions of yuan, led by a leading industrial capital investor, with follow-on investment from existing shareholders including the Hefei Municipal Government Investment Fund, and participation from the Huoqiu Industrial Fund and supply chain enterprises. The company focuses on intelligent loading and unloading of trucks and has self-developed the T2 embodied intelligent loading and unloading robot system for boxed goods, featuring dual 7-axis robotic arms with an efficiency of 800–1,200 boxes per hour, a payload of 60 kg, and vision and palletizing accuracy of ≤5 mm. It has already deployed first-of-its-kind applications in cold-chain food, dairy, and chemical projects.
Galbot's bipedal humanoid robot GALBOT ET1 has won Best of Innovation, the highest honor in the robotics category of the CES 2027 Innovation Awards, becoming the first bipedal humanoid robot in the award's history to receive this honor. ET1 relies on the AstraBrain-WBC foundation model to learn new movements by watching live human demonstrations, without the need for separate motion capture or pre-recorded videos for each new movement, combining perception, interaction, and motion. This capability is currently used in real-world scenarios such as greeting and reception and interactive performances.
Greenzie announced that commercial mowing equipment driven by its Powered Autonomy platform has surpassed 255,000 cumulative autonomous operating miles and more than 9 billion square feet of cumulative mowing area, covering more than 200 commercial customers, 45 U.S. states, and 4 countries.
Axon announced last week that it is investing $1.2 billion in Skydio, acquiring a 20% stake in the company, which is valued at $5.2 billion. Axon also becomes Skydio's exclusive public safety distributor in the United States and Canada.
Westwood Robotics has launched a four-tier "Feast" promotion for its BEAR series, tiered by order value: $50 off orders of $999 or more, $80 off orders of $1,599 or more, $100 off orders of $2,199 or more plus a free E-STOP kit, and $200 off orders of $3,599 or more plus a free development kit. The promotion runs from November 9 to 26, 2026, is available only in the online store, and each order also earns a coupon of equal value for a future purchase.
In early November, former Baidu Group Vice President and Baidu Research Vice President Wu Tian officially joined Sany Group as Group Vice President, Dean of the Yun AI Institute, and concurrently Dean of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. Previously, in October, former Chery Automobile Vice President Xie Baojun had also joined the Sany system. The article states that Sany designated 2025 as its "first year of intelligence," seeking to make AI a general capability across all roles. Vice President Li Hongwei said Sany will develop into an AI-native robotics company in the future, but currently unmanned operations still rely mainly on rule-based algorithms rather than being data-driven.
A close-up look at a Sherpa. Thanks to @caleb_friesen and @RuntimeBRT.
On November 5, Agility Robotics listed on Nasdaq under the ticker AGLT, closing its first day at $11.51, up 2.2%, and falling to $8.75 as of November 9. Its prospectus shows Digit has accumulated more than 65,000 operating hours and handled over 100,000 totes, but revenue in the first half of 2026 was only $174,000 with a net loss of $362 million; the $300 million Digit 5 order comes from a single related party, and that model is not planned for delivery to early customers until the first half of 2027.
REEMAN completed a one-day on-site route deployment for its Fly Boat factory delivery robot at a precision electronic connector factory in Dongguan, establishing a roughly 150-meter workshop-to-warehouse transport route with a payload of about 120 kg per trip and a daily transport demand of about 90–110 trips. The route integrates automatic door and elevator control, and employees can call the robot via a one-key remote call button. Shelf lifting and point-to-point shelf transport remain in the next planned phase and have not yet been deployed.
On November 10, Unitree Robotics rose more than 12% intraday, with its share price exceeding 800 yuan per share, overtaking Lianxun Instruments to become the third-highest-priced stock on the A-share market, with total market capitalization still above 300 billion yuan; based on the stage low of 404.03 yuan per share on October 15, the share price has rebounded nearly 100%.
At 2026 CeMAT ASIA, Bangqi Technology is showcasing a full-stack embodied intelligence logistics solution and a "pay-per-operation-value" RaaS model, combining standardized AMR transport with humanoid robots for end-of-line operations, coordinated by its self-developed ADS scheduling system. The solution has been validated on a production line at a leading vehicle manufacturer, improving material delivery efficiency by 30%; in a warehouse goods-to-person project, equipment achieved 7×24-hour unmanned operation, boosting capacity by 125% with 99.9% accuracy. RaaS is billed by actual workload, and the full model can be deployed in 1-3 months.
Shenzhen Honor Singularity Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. was established on November 10, with Peng Qiu'en as its legal representative and RMB 100 million in registered capital. It is wholly owned by Honor Device Co., Ltd. Its business scope includes the manufacturing and sale of service consumer robots and the research and development of intelligent robots.
On November 9, Unitree Robotics shares rose more than 15% intraday, with market capitalization briefly topping 300 billion yuan, before closing up 9.04% at 716 yuan. An Apple research team used a modified Unitree G1 to validate the HALO paper, completing 360 single-task tests across six real-world environments without prior mapping, with an average success rate of 91%. Unitree and Kunlun Manufacturing plan to establish a new joint venture to conduct industrial embodied intelligent robot solution business; as of the time of verification, the plan was still in its public notice period.
The Guangdong Luxshare Technology Greater Bay Area Center project recently obtained a construction project planning permit. With a total investment of RMB 280 million, it is located in the 2112 Industrial Park in Tianhe, Guangzhou, and will build R&D centers for embodied robots and sorting robots as well as a supporting production center for the industrial chain. Once fully operational, it is expected to generate an annual output value of RMB 1 billion. Tianhe District provides up to RMB 100 million in funding support to enterprises working on core technologies such as large models and dexterous hands, and up to RMB 10 million per year in subsidies for the construction of embodied training grounds; Huangpu District provides up to RMB 50 million in support for each newly introduced project.
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange listing review committee will review the IPO application of Newstart Planetary Transmission System Technology (Zibo) Co., Ltd. on November 13. The company plans to raise RMB 823 million, of which RMB 623 million will be used to build an intelligent manufacturing base with an annual capacity of 1.5 million precision planetary reducers and transmission modules.
General-purpose embodied intelligence company UniX AI announced on November 9 that it has completed a RMB 500 million Pre-A funding round. Existing shareholders Xienuo Investment and Yonghua Investment increased their stakes, while Greenland Group, Keli Sensing, and Huagong Venture Capital joined as new investors. Greenland is also a downstream application partner; the two sides will work together on security, hotel, and elderly care scenarios to advance the deployment of robot models, hardware, data, and solutions.
At the China International Import Expo, robots have entered scenarios such as drug picking, depalletizing, sorting, handling, assembly, and teaching-free welding, but most are still in the "trial" stage, with only some scenarios deployed at scale. Apple HALO completed 360 single-task tests in 6 real environments without pre-built maps, with an average success rate of 91%; after GPT-6Astra was connected to different robot bodies, some tasks took from one or two minutes to more than 30 minutes or even an hour. Industry observers judge that the "ChatGPT moment" for embodied intelligence may arrive in the second half of 2027, and the turning point may appear separately by scenario such as retail pharmacies and industrial sorting.
At CeMAT ASIA 2026, Zhiwang Weilai, Yuanli Lingji and Geek+ each presented warehouse solutions that move robots from moving boxes to picking goods.
Musk said Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus will begin deliveries around the end of 2027, and the delivery model may be leasing rather than selling. The initial cost per Optimus unit is about $30,000, later dropping to around $20,000. Before external deliveries, Optimus will first be used in Tesla's own factories. Tesla may open Optimus pre-orders in early December.
Unitree Technology's stock price rose over 10%, and its market cap returned above 300 billion yuan.
Paris-based physical AI training data platform Physicl announced it has raised a $10 million seed round led by Inovia Capital, with participation from US Venture Partners.
Optimus 2.5 is handing out snack packets at CoRL in Austin. It is teleoperated. I chatted with Tesla engineers at the booth. They couldn't reveal any details, but one of them said we'll soon see some cool autonomous demos.