New robots, new capabilities. Tracking what's coming for the workforce.
Robotics On its October 21 Q3 call Tesla said early production of Optimus has started on a high-volume line in Fremont. Musk put 20,000 units a week at least a year out and delivery to outside companies around the end of 2027.
Robotics A 21st Century Business Herald report of October 19 details the auto-parts feeding cell Leju Robotics and Zhaofeng launched on October 15: 15 humanoids at a Hangzhou plant, about 1,000 hours logged, 60,000+ parts handled, a 98% feed success rate, one engineer per four robots.
Robotics At a State Council briefing on October 19, MIIT's technology director Wei Wei said China's humanoid makers produced more than 40,000 units in the first half, from over 400 models, and that output will pass 100,000 for the year. He also said the ministry will build an industry monitoring system.
Robotics On October 13 Korea's trade ministry sandbox committee granted Robros a demonstration exemption to put 20 AI humanoids to work at a chip plant, an auto parts maker, a shipyard and a logistics firm, under conditions set by the labor ministry.
Robotics Nvidia's October 2 blog post and Taiwan press reports on October 4 and 5 give the first quantified results for robots assembling the GB300 NVL72 tester tray at Foxconn: more than 95% success on the busbar, 90% to 95% on connector insertion, and a busbar cycle of about 160 seconds against a 124-second target.
Robotics FieldAI has signed a term sheet to raise $700M at a $10B valuation, Business Insider reported on October 2, five times its 2025 value. It sells software that runs humanoids, robot dogs and drones, and reports 30+ customers and $135M in revenue and contracts. The round has not closed.