New robots, new capabilities. Tracking what's coming for the workforce.
Robotics Lumos Robotics launched the MOS 2 on September 1. The load-bearing number is not the payload. It is the 1,000 failure-free hours the previous model logged on a live PLC line at Mitsubishi Electric's Changshu plant, after which Mitsubishi led the funding round.
Robotics Universal Robots' parent filed patent infringement against JAKA's German subsidiary at the UPC's Copenhagen division on August 27, targeting a broad range of cobot models sold in the EU. Four months ago the same playbook won an injunction in Hamburg.
Robotics A CAICT report surfaced on August 21 puts more than 70 embodied-AI training grounds in operation across China by the end of June, with 46 more under construction or planned. Industrial manufacturing appears in 86% of them.
Robotics Xiaomi's Q2 results on August 18 listed three named workstations in its own EV plant and the humanoid's success rate at each. On the same call, president Lu Weibing said the robot will not be sold as a standalone product.
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 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 Reimagine Robotics emerged from stealth on August 3, founded by former DeepMind Applied Robotics leaders, with robots workers train by demonstration.
Robotics The 25th IEEE humanoid-robotics conference chose 'Humanoids and the Future of Work' as its theme — the field's own admission the machines are now on the clock.
Robotics Samsung folded its scattered robotics teams into one $13B division on July 21. The first factories it plans to automate are its own.
Robotics Xinhua's July 24 tour of China's factory humanoids: 97% fabric-separation on one material, an 18-month payback, and a robot that still can't finish a shirt without a human.
Robotics On July 22 Unitree launches the H1 Pro in Europe, the first leg of a three-market rollout no rival has attempted. The price is the story; the fine print is the warning.