New robots, new capabilities. Tracking what's coming for the workforce.
Robotics JD.com reported Q2 on August 13: revenue of RMB346.4B, down 2.9%, and income from operations of RMB4.5B against a RMB0.9B loss a year ago. The same release disclosed thousands of unmanned delivery vehicles in regular operation across more than 20 provinces, plus the first night-time autonomous routes in Shenzhen.
Robotics LG and NVIDIA signed an MOU at NVIDIA's Santa Clara headquarters on August 13. The humanoid got the headline. The wheeled CLOiD got the deployment date, and it lands in a plant already running 200 mobile robots.
Robotics Pony.ai and Uber named a 2,000-vehicle European commitment on August 13, expanding from Zagreb to four more cities. Pony.ai's whole global fleet stood above 1,700 vehicles at the end of Q1.
Robotics The Association for Advancing Automation says North American companies ordered 8,940 robots in Q2, with non-automotive buyers accounting for 56% of units as the customer base broadens beyond car plants.
Robotics The New York Times walked BMW's Spartanburg plant and Hyundai's Georgia plant on August 11. The robots that actually work in those factories have wheels. The humanoids are doing kitting.
Robotics Smart Analytics Global put out first-half humanoid shipment data on August 10: 19,100 units globally, up 272%, with AgiBot passing Unitree at 8,400 units. The share number traveled. The mix number is the one that changes work.
Robotics RoboStore, which has deployed 1,500+ humanoid and quadruped robots to 4,500 US customers, launched Robo Inc. on August 10 to assemble and integrate robots on American soil. The ban blocks new imports. It does not block the same machines arriving by another route.
Robotics Tacta Systems laid out TactaBot's full specification on August 7. The five-fingered hand is not the story. The glove is: it records a skilled worker's force, motion, and temperature straight into the robot's training set.
Robotics Huntington Ingalls signed seven-year production agreements with Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics on August 6. The move is not putting robots into the shipyard. It is taking the work out.
Robotics Unitree sets its STAR Market offer price today, nine days after the FCC barred new Chinese humanoids and robot dogs from the US market.
Robotics Reimagine Robotics emerged from stealth on August 3, founded by former DeepMind Applied Robotics leaders, with robots workers train by demonstration.
Robotics BYD confirmed its first humanoid robot debuts in August at a Zhengzhou experience centre — 1.61m, 58.5kg, 31 degrees of freedom, and a spec sheet aimed entirely at talking to customers.