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Articles by Mike Kalil
Skyborne’s Armed Robodog Takes Major Step Toward the Battlefield
Skyborne Technologies’ killer robodog just moved closer to the frontline in a new US military testing program. Skyborne says its CODIAQ armed quadruped has received a limited safety release from the Department of War. That means the Pentagon has reviewed the robotic dog enough to allow controlled military testing.
Figure AI Channels I, Robot as It Ramps Humanoid Production
The humanoid robot maker Figure AI says it’s building one robot per hour amid reports the Silicon Valley startup is about to close a major deal with UPS. The $39 billion robotics firm offered a rare glimpse into its BotQ humanoid factory in San Jose with footage paying homage to the 2004 movie I, Robot, which was originally intended as a cautionary tale. The company claims it’s manufactured more than 350 units, increasing throughput 24x in less than 120 days.
Are Humanoid Robots Ready for the Battlefield?
AI-generated footage of Chinese humanoid robots preparing for war is going viral across social media, stoking fears that the kind of future the movies warned about is imminent. Those who fell for the synthetic videos, and those who didn’t, generally agree: Though the footage is fake, the trajectory feels real. While Unitree Robotics, who makes the robots depicted in the deepfakes, insists it does not support lethal use cases, plenty of other companies around the world are all for it.
Hyundai Plans for 30,000 BD Atlas Humanoid Robots
Hyundai Motor Group says it’s scaling manufacturing capacity to build up to 30,000 humanoid robots per year by 2028. The South Korean automotive giant laid out its plans at CES 2026 with its subsidiary robotics firm Boston Dynamics it acquired from SoftBank in 2020. The Massachusetts robotics leader unveiled the latest iteration of its flagship humanoid, Atlas, which is central to its parent company’s physical AI ambitions.
Schaeffler’s Universal Actuator for Humanoid Robots
AI generated illustration of Schaeffler partner NEURA Robotics holding one of the manufacturer’s universal actuators for humanoid robots The German industrial and automotive giant Schaeffler Group just unveiled what it calls a “universal” actuator for humanoid robots that could help Western firms close the gap with China’s rapidly scaling humanoid manufacturers.
1X Pivots Back to B2B with EQT 10K-Humanoid Deal
1X Technologies is shifting its near-term focus from the home to the workplace with its new agreement to supply private-equity giant EQT with humanoids for B2B use cases. The startup, which was launched in Norway as 2014 and is now headquartered in Palo Alto, had differentiated itself from competitors like Tesla and Figure AI by focusing exclusively on household applications since it introduced its first NEO prototype in summer 2024.
Figure AI vs Agility Robotics: US Humanoid Rivarly
Tension between two of the perceived leaders in the humanoid robotics race just revealed itself publicly. In one corner, it’s Figure AI, the aspiring Silicon Valley tech giant and a TIME Magazine pick for Best Invention of 2025. In the other, it’s Agility Robotics, the Oregon research-lab-turned-unicorn and a TIME pick for Best Invention of 2024.
Anduril’s Luckey Speaks at Reindustrialize 2025 in Robotic Form
Palmer Luckey, the eccentric founder of defense tech unicorn Anduril Industries, appeared at Reindustrialize 2025 through a robotic humanoid avatar. Dialing in through a VR headset, the Oculus founder suggested that Anduril might one day build American-made computers. He remained coy beyond that and made clear that Anduril’s focus now is defense systems like autonomous drones, underwater robots, and the IVAS combat goggles it’s developing with Meta.
Figure, Clone Make Bold Claims as They Race Toward Synthetic Humans
As the race to deploy AI-powered humanoid robots at scale heats up, the perceived leaders in the market are getting increasingly bold in their claims. Figure AI and Clone Robotics both explicitly use the phrase “synthetic human” when describing their next-generation humanoids robots. The term has mostly been used in science fiction to describe machines indistinguishable from humans. The robotics industry has avoided using it for the most part because it unsettles people.
Robots That Think and Feel Invade Logistics Sector
The logistics sector, which typically employs 5 to 10 percent of the total workforce in developed economies, is going all in on automation. As the industry increasingly struggles to attract and retain skilled workers, its leaders are pouring billions into next-generation technologies in pursuit of dark warehouses. Amazon has begun deploying what it calls the world’s first warehouse robot with a sense of touch at its fulfillment centers in Spokane, WA and Hamburg, Germany.
Trade War Undermines Tesla Bot as Rival XPeng Flexes IRON
A year ago, Tesla’s Optimus was widely seen as the clear frontrunner in the humanoid robotics race. Elon Musk’s ambitions of producing millions of units and reshaping the labor market generated excitement from investors and tech enthusiasts. Few other companies had full-scale robotic humanoid prototypes that looked commercially viable, and none of them possessed Tesla’s track record in artificial intelligence and manufacturing.
M3GAN’s World is Closer Than You Think
M3GAN dropped right as the world was waking up to just how real and powerful artificial intelligence had become. Just weeks after ChatGPT launched publicly, the techno horror film blew past initial projections, raking in more than $30 million in its opening weekend. As the general public was still treating artificial intelligence as a novelty in January 2023, M3GAN served as a wakeup call. Its villain is not a supernatural entity. It’s born from data, machine learning, and goal misalignment.
Mike Kalil and Stephanie Propp from Dillon, CO, and Nanaimo, BC, share tales of Stella Blue’s first voyage to Mexico. We began our journey in the Pacific Northwest in September 2024, and joined up with the Baja Ha-Ha in November. Since parting ways with the rally in Cabo, we have been living the dream!! We love exploring Mexico, and have had such a great experience here. When we left Cabo, we hightailed it up to La Paz in order to avoid the big-wind event that canceled the final parties in Cabo.
March 26, 2025 - Latitude38
Two docked boats caught fire at Marina Village Yacht Harbor in Alameda early this morning, leaving one boat sunk and the other badly damaged. Alameda Fire Department (AFD) responded to a call at approximately 3:30 a.m. to find the two boats alight and threatening nearby vessels. According to a AFD‘s social media channel, one person had been aboard one of the vessels but was able to escape uninjured.
Mercedez-Benz Invests in Apptronik, Expands Apollo Humanoid Robot Use
Mercedes-Benz is taking a stake in Apptronik as it plans to expand the use of the Texas firm’s humanoid robots on its production lines. Apptronik just announced it secured an additional $53 million, bringing the total raised during its latest Series A funding round to $403 million. Mercedes-Benz joined Google, Japan Post Capital, ARK Invest, Helium-3, Magnetar, RyderVentures, and a syndicate led by Korea Investment Partners in the oversubscribed round.
Figure AI’s BotQ Robot Factory to Mass Produce Humanoid Robots
Figure AI says it’s building robots that will build more robots. The rising Silicon Valley startup just unveiled its BotQ smart manufacturing facility, designed to produce 12,000 humanoids a year. Figure’s plans call for 100,000 robots within the next four years. The robot factory is on Figure’s new San Jose campus, where the company intends to launch new facilities every 90 days.
Jabil, Apptronik Partner to Scale Production of Apollo Humanoids
Apptronik is working with Jabil, a leading global manufacturing services firm, to test and scale production of its AI-powered humanoid robots. The companies just announced their pilot program to build Apollo humanoid robots while using Jabil’s manufacturing operations for real-world validation testing.
Meet Una, UBTECH’s First Hyper-Realistic Humanoid Robot
Leading Chinese robotics firm UBTECH just introduced its first hyper-realistic humanoid robot. Introduced at the LEAP Tech Conference in Saudi Arabia, the android named Una is geared toward applications in healthcare, hospitality, and customer support. Images from UBTECH’s booth show Una wearing a white and skirt over a beige blouse. Its long, brunette hair is styled straight and falls over its shoulders. Its human-like appearance is achieved with soft silicone and composite materials.
HMND-01, MenteeBot V3.0, ENGINEAI S2 Original IP Service Robot
There’s a new player in humanoid robotics, this time from the UK. Also, Mentee Robotics just unveiled its next-generation humanoid and China’s ENGINEAI is teasing what looks like a Robocop villain. Artem Sokolov founded the London based startup, aptly called Humanoid, in 2024. Humanoid has a staff of more than 70 employees. The team includes engineers from Agility Robotics, Sanctuary AI, Boston Dynamics, Apple, and Dyson.
Foxconn x Nvidia Humanoid Robot Project
Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, says it’s developing its own humanoid robot. The Taiwan-based tech giant is teaming up with Nvidia, whose Taiwanese founder Jensen Huang is increasingly bullish on humanoids. The GPU maker is accelerating the development of a slew of AI-powered robots from the likes of Figure AI, Agility Robotics, Unitree Robotics, and Boston Dynamics.
Year of the Humanoid Robot: Top AI Robots to Watch in 2025
Heading into 2025, things are getting weird. A growing array of tech companies particularly from the US and China are racing to mass-produce their advanced humanoid robots. With advanced AI models, they’re training the robots to help out at home, assist patients, do manual labor in factories and logistics, enhance public safety, provide companionship and much more. Experts predict that, over the next decade, there will be tens of millions of humanoid robots deployed globally.
Agility Robotics to Start Digit Production at World’s First Humanoid Robot Factory
Agility Robotics says its new factory will start producing humanoid robots by the end of the year. Agility calls its RoboFab facility in Salem Oregon the world’s first factory for mass producing humanoids. According to the Salem Reporter, Agility plans to hire 500 people to produce the Digit robots. The 70,000 square foot factory can produce up to 10,000 robots per year. In its first year, RoboFab plans to build hundreds of Digit robots, with more to follow as production increases.
Who is Archetype AI and What is Physical AI?
A buzzy artificial intelligence startup wants to encode the physical world into an interactive digital model. Emerging from stealth mode with $13 million in seed funding, the Palo Alto-based outfit has unveiled what it calls a foundational Physical AI model bridging digital and physical worlds.
'One of the Most Important Stories of Our Time'
This story on Hauc, who will lead a panel discussion at the event, has been updated since it originally appeared in UNLV Magazine. Sachamama, a nonprofit founded by UNLV alumna and Telemundo journalist Vanessa Hauc, is kicking off its Climate Innovation Lab series in the UNLV Student Union 3-8 p.m. Oct. 5.
A Career That Clicks
As a 5-year-old transfixed by Lego, Alex Andres pored over the step-by-step guides for transforming his plastic brick piles. He built trucks and buildings and boats. Then one day he started setting aside the lengthy booklets that came with new sets of the iconic toy. He wanted to think outside the box. A massive Lego container ship became one of the most impressive of his young creations. “It was really exciting.
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