#automation · How Robots Are Reshaping Work

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

IDC's first-half 2026 data puts global humanoid shipments at nearly 25,000 units and $740M, with AgiBot first at about 8,600. Frost & Sullivan, a day earlier, counted 36,000 and $540M. IDC says 69% went to research, education, performance and government data centers.

At its September 19 「919」 launch, Faraday Future put nine robot configurations on sale through Amazon and RobotShop, led by a $9,990 Master Mini humanoid and a $12,990 security quadruped. The company that spent a decade not shipping cars says its robotics unit now runs a 30% contribution margin.

On September 9 Zurich Airport said two shuttle buses now run on airport grounds with no safety driver aboard, monitored from a remote cockpit. The former safety drivers were not cut. They were retrained to watch the buses from a screen.

The ARM Institute booked close to $90M from a Department of War modernization challenge, covering 10 projects at 12 military manufacturing sites. The named automation targets are energetics production, drone readiness and line bottlenecks. The people running those lines got named too.

On August 28, Deere committed $10M over three years to Reservoir, the on-farm agtech incubator in California's Salinas Valley. The number that matters is not the $10M. It is 40% — how much robotic weeding has already cut labor cost in Salinas leafy greens.

Locus AMRs have assisted more than 6 billion picks. On August 28, the company's grasping lead drew the boundary: suction covers 60% to 70%, the remaining 30% to 40% needs pinch and touch, and touch is something 「simulated data is not going to help with very much」.

NSF named three new Science and Technology Centers on August 26. One goes to UT Austin to study what happens when assistive robots move into nursing homes, rehab hospitals, dorms and cafés. The new thing is not the money. It is the opt-out.