PDW adds Booz Allen autonomy to AM drones, Robotera tops RoboDojo, and more - Robotics Brief #90

October 15, 2026 - Robotics Brief
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Stryker will invest about $400 million in surgical robotics company CMR Surgical, while Mind Robotics has named former Ford and Tesla executive Doug Field as president. In industrial automation, Industrial Next and BMW Group will assess AI powered robotic manufacturing stations, and The Mobile Robot Company received an IFOY award for its J1600 autonomous pallet jack.

Performance Drone Works plans to add Booz Allen autonomy software to its AM drones, HyLight raised €13 million for hydrogen powered inspection airships, and a Japanese government project will test autonomous logistics vehicles using TIER IV's technology.
Agility Robotics selects Nyobolt for Digit 5 batteries
Agility Robotics selects Nyobolt to supply the battery system for its Digit 5 humanoid robot. The company says the system is designed for 90 minutes of runtime after a nine minute charge, ahead of early access planned for the first half of 2027. Read more
Stryker invests $400 million in CMR Surgical
Stryker will invest about $400 million in CMR Surgical, gaining an exclusive option to acquire the surgical robotics company. Stryker will also become the exclusive US sales agent for CMR Surgical's Versius portfolio, pending regulatory approvals. Read more
SCSP commission says US leads in physical AI but trails China in deployment
A preliminary SCSP commission report finds that the US leads in robotics software, AI, computer vision and autonomy, while China leads in robot deployment and manufacturing capacity. It calls for a national effort to expand physical AI deployment across US industry. Read more
Mind Robotics hires former Ford EV chief Doug Field
Mind Robotics, the industrial AI and robotics startup founded by Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, appoints former Ford and Tesla executive Doug Field as president. Field will lead product, engineering and operations as the company develops robots for industrial manufacturing. Read more
PDW integrates Booz Allen autonomy software into AM drones
Performance Drone Works will integrate Booz Allen mission autonomy software, powered by Shield AI's Hivemind, into its AM drones. Controlled testing began September 30, 2026, and general availability is planned for the first quarter of 2027. Read more
Danu Robotics raises $5 million for AI recycling sorting robot
Danu Robotics, an Edinburgh based company, raises $5 million in late seed funding to deploy its H.E.R.O. AI robot at recycling facilities. The company reports $500,000 in signed contracts and a sales pipeline of more than 200 prospects. Read more
XPENG opens AI engineering technologies to global partners
XPENG will share its full stack AI technologies and engineering capabilities with global partners, CEO He Xiaopeng said at the 2026 Paris Automotive Summit. The company also plans to expand NGP internationally in 2027 and begin mass production of its IRON humanoid robot in late 2026. Read more
NEURA Robotics launches Neuron AI for humanoid robots
NEURA Robotics introduces Neuron AI, a multimodal model for physical robot tasks that combines vision, touch, audio, robot state, language and memory. The company will demonstrate it on its 4NE1 humanoid robot at NVIDIA GTC Berlin 2026. Read more
The Mobile Robot Company wins 2026 IFOY award for J1600 pallet jack
The Mobile Robot Company won the 2026 IFOY Industrial Truck of the Year award for its J1600 self driving pallet jack. The 1,600 kilogram vehicle supports manual and autonomous operation, and is sold through partners in eight countries. Read more
MES Inc. outlines volume production shift for humanoid robots
MES Inc. says humanoid and mobile robot makers will need to move from billet machining to die casting, forging and extrusion as production volumes increase. The company identifies precision CNC machining as a supporting process for scaled manufacturing. Read more
Toro launches HAVEN AM75 autonomous mower for 2027
Toro will launch its HAVEN AM75 autonomous mower in the United States in 2027 for properties up to three quarters of an acre. The mower uses LiDAR, cameras and sensors for navigation, mapping and obstacle detection, alongside updates to the TimeCutter zero turn mower range. Read more
HyLight raises €13M for autonomous hydrogen airship inspections
HyLight, a French startup, raises €13 million to expand its autonomous hydrogen powered airship inspection service in Europe. The company plans to grow its fleet from four to 15 aircraft, hire 50 people and expand in Germany and the Netherlands. Read more
RC Mowers to unveil autonomous commercial mower at Equip Expo
RC Mowers will present an autonomous commercial mower platform at Equip Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, from October 20 to 23, 2026. The company will also display all season accessories for its remote controlled slope mowers. Read more
ROBOTERA VPP2 tops RoboDojo robot manipulation benchmark
ROBOTERA says its VPP2 video prediction policy model ranked first on the RoboDojo benchmark for general purpose robot manipulation, with a 32.26% average success rate. The company has released the model as open source and reported results on ALOHA and LIBERO-Pro task benchmarks. Read more
Benewake launches NOVA20 LiDAR for robot safety
Benewake launches the NOVA20, a compact solid state LiDAR sensor for detecting close range obstacles and hazards around robots. The sensor provides 20 point detection across a 40 degree field of view at distances from 0.05 to 1 meter. Read more
DEWALT's DALE robot wins Fast Company 2026 tech award
DEWALT's DALE downward drilling robot, developed with August Robotics, wins Fast Company's 2026 Next Big Things in Tech Award in the Enduring Impact category. The robot drilled more than 385,000 holes with over 99% accuracy in data center construction pilot projects. Read more
Lemonade expands FSD pricing to Tesla HW3 vehicles
Lemonade expands its FSD based auto insurance pricing to eligible Tesla HW3 vehicles in Arizona, Colorado and Tennessee. Drivers using FSD (Supervised) v14 Lite receive a 30% discount on miles driven with the system engaged. Read more
TIER IV and TUM establish Autoware research centre
TIER IV and the Technical University of Munich establish the TUM Autoware Research Center through a multi year research collaboration. Three university research groups will study safety, testing and adaptation methods for Autoware autonomous driving systems. Read more
BLADE advances Hunter WOLF to GroundBreaker 1 Phase II
BLADE, operating as HDT Robotics LLC, advances to Phase II of the US GroundBreaker 1 unmanned ground vehicle demonstration. Its Hunter WOLF vehicle will undergo live testing at Camp Grafton in North Dakota from October 19 to 23, 2026. Read more
Hesai launches Kosmo 3D data engine for physical AI
Hesai launches Kosmo, a 3D data engine combining the Kosmo One spatial camera and Kosmo World cloud platform. The system creates data for robot training, world models and digital content, with partnerships involving Galbot and Dexmal. Read more
FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem to acquire Faraday Future robotics business
FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem signs definitive agreements to acquire the full robotics business of Faraday Future Intelligent Electric in an all stock deal valued at about $200 million. The companies expect the transaction to close by the end of October, subject to conditions and financing. Read more
Amap and Sands China deploy Tutu robot dogs at Macau resorts
Amap and Sands China have deployed an initial group of Tutu robot dogs at The Venetian Macao to guide resort visitors. Amap will also provide indoor navigation and 3D previews of selected Sands Resorts Macao areas in its app. Read more
Unitree Robotics founder predicts embodied AI tipping point within two years
Unitree Robotics founder Wang Xingxing says advances in AI models could bring a tipping point for embodied intelligence within one to two years. He says robots still need improved generalization and efficiency for large scale factory deployment, while commercial services may develop faster than industrial and home uses. Read more
Promise Robotics signs D.R. Horton agreement for 1,250 homes
Promise Robotics signs a multi year agreement with US homebuilder D.R. Horton. D.R. Horton will use Promise Robotics' Factory as a Service platform to support production of more than 1,250 homes. Read more
Flox Intelligence builds AI wildlife deterrent for infrastructure
Flox Intelligence, a KTH Royal Institute of Technology spinout, develops edge devices that detect animals near infrastructure and play species specific sounds to deter them. The company says it has deployed about 150 devices across North America, Europe and Australia, and is raising a $10 million Series A to expand. Read more
Dominion Dynamics and TENCORE to build TerMIT vehicles in Canada
Dominion Dynamics and TENCORE signed an agreement to manufacture TerMIT uncrewed ground vehicles in Canada, integrating Dominion Dynamics' AuraNet autonomy stack. Production is targeted for 2027, with vehicles planned for Ukraine and an Arctic hardened version for Canada and NATO allies. Read more
DJI launches Dock 4 with 25 second battery swaps
DJI launches Dock 4, an automated drone station that swaps batteries in 25 seconds for the Matrice 5TD enterprise drone. The system includes AI detection and multiple sensors, including infrared, LiDAR and mmWave radar. Read more
YYForce partners with Novotel and Mercure Singapore on Stevens for service robots
YYForce, Novotel and Mercure Singapore on Stevens plan to deploy service robots for deliveries, food and beverage logistics, cleaning and concierge support across a 772 room hotel precinct. A research phase will also examine housekeeping and banquet workflows for potential future humanoid robots. Read more
Reveal Technology launches Farsight 2.0 world model
Reveal Technology launches Farsight 2.0, a 3D terrain intelligence platform that combines authorized drone, satellite and sensor imagery into an updated model for U.S. Army units. The release coincides with a $9.5 million U.S. Army order for additional infantry brigades. Read more
DeepSeek reportedly leads Winverse AI seed round
DeepSeek reportedly agreed to lead a seed funding round worth tens of millions of US dollars for Chinese robotics AI startup Winverse AI. The proposed deal would value the company at about US$400 million, though the round has not been finalized. Read more
Monopulse raises over €2M for electronic warfare resistant drones
Monopulse raises more than €2 million from Coinvest Capital, Plug and Play, LitBAN, NGL Ventures and 68 angel investors. The drone maker will expand production and research, while pursuing Scandinavian and other international markets. Read more
DigiKey to showcase robotics and edge AI at Maker Faire Rome 2026
DigiKey will exhibit electronics, robotics and edge AI products at Maker Faire Rome from October 23 to 25, 2026. Its booth demonstrations will feature products from Arduino, DFRobot, SparkFun, Adafruit, Synaptics, M5Stack and Kitronik. Read more
Faraday Future and FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem plan AI product launch
Faraday Future and FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem will unveil four embodied AI and education products on October 14, 2026. The launch includes the FF Nova humanoid robot and a developer reinforcement learning platform. Read more
Taisei, TIER IV and Taisei Rotec selected for Japan autonomous logistics trial
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism selected Taisei Corporation, TIER IV and Taisei Rotec to test autonomous logistics vehicles in dedicated lanes. The trial will assess three vehicles, coordinated operations, roadside infrastructure and TIER IV's Pilot.Auto system. Read more
Laplace Intelligence tests robots and self driving cars with AI simulations
Laplace Intelligence, an Ann Arbor startup, uses high fidelity simulations and AI agents to test robots, autonomous vehicles and other physical AI systems for rare failure scenarios before deployment. Its customers include Isuzu, Bot Auto and Nvidia, while a smart city pilot with Nvidia and T Mobile is underway in San Jose. Read more
Industrial Next and BMW Group evaluate AI factory robots
Industrial Next partners with BMW Group Technology Office to evaluate AI powered robotic stations for manufacturing. The company says its systems learn tasks through simulations and demonstrations, potentially reducing production line changeover times. Read more

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