Those cute little delivery robots on the sidewalk might be watching you more closely than you think

Food delivery robots from Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics face lawsuits alleging they collected facial and hand measurements without consent, raising questions about biometric privacy and public surveillance.

Faraday Future spins its robot business into a separate Nasdaq company
Faraday Future spins its robot business into a separate Nasdaq company

Faraday Future has completed the sale of its robotics business to FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem (FFR), which trades on Nasdaq, in an all-share deal valued at about $200M. Founder YT Jia becomes FFR’s CEO. FFR expects October shipments above 300 robots and …

Bedrock Robotics raises $600M as its self-driving excavators win paid work
Bedrock Robotics raises $600M as its self-driving excavators win paid work

Bedrock Robotics has closed a $600M Series C co-led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital. The round values the San Francisco startup at $4.1bn after the money, it said in a statement on Monday. It brings the company’s total funding to nearly $1bn. Bloombe…

Unitree is building AI that lets its humanoid robots improve themselves
Unitree is building AI that lets its humanoid robots improve themselves

Unitree Robotics is building a system that lets its humanoid robots improve themselves, founder Wang Xingxing said on Thursday. He calls it Unitree Rehearsal. He named it the company’s most important project of the year, Minxiao Chang reported for the …

Eka Robotics raises $150M to teach robots to grip by feel
Eka Robotics raises $150M to teach robots to grip by feel

Eka Robotics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts startup building robots that handle objects by touch as well as sight, has raised a $150M Series A. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and F-Prime led the round, Eka announced on its blog on Tuesday. The round values th…

Formic raises $50M to bring general-purpose robots to US factories
Formic raises $50M to bring general-purpose robots to US factories

Formic, a Chicago company that rents robots to American factories, has raised $50M. Today its robots are built for specific tasks. The money will help it move to general-purpose machines that can take on more kinds of factory work. Axios first reported…

Maxinsights raises $30M to turn everyday chores into robot training data
Maxinsights raises $30M to turn everyday chores into robot training data

Maxinsights pays people to wear cameras while they cook, clean and work. The Santa Clara startup has now raised $30M in seed funding to turn that footage into training data for robots. Peak XV led the round, the company announced on Thursday. Tola Capi…

Zurich startup Enact raises $30M to give robots a sense of touch
Zurich startup Enact raises $30M to give robots a sense of touch

Zurich-based Enact Intelligence has emerged from stealth with a $30M pre-seed round from redalpine, Notion Capital and firstminute capital. It builds robots that sense force and touch through their motors, not only cameras. Founder Manuel Yves Galliker…

The Mori Is a Mushroom-Shaped AI Lamp Companion, and I’m Smitten

The $849 Mori is designed to respond to your environment, knowing when to play and when to stay quiet.

Agility’s Digit 5 humanoid robot will run on Nvidia as it heads for Nasdaq
Agility’s Digit 5 humanoid robot will run on Nvidia as it heads for Nasdaq

Agility Robotics will use Nvidia’s IGX Thor modules as the only onboard computer in Digit 5, the next version of its humanoid robot. The company announced the deal on Thursday. Nvidia will be the exclusive supplier of onboard compute for the version th…