This Week's Good Reads
Moody’s — China’s AI‑Fueled Robotics Surge
Moody’s interactive data story maps how China leapt from 97 to 470 robots per 10,000 workers in just six years, now accounting for more than half of global installations. The piece ties the boom to AI‑driven cost declines, demographic pressure and muscular state policy, while charting which foreign and domestic vendors are gaining—or losing—share. Explore the data story.
PitchBook Emerging Space Brief — Robotic Foundation Models
PitchBook’s newest brief explains why funding for robotic foundation‑model startups rocketed to $2.2 billion in 2025—seven‑times the 2023 total—profiles breakout players like Figure AI, Skild AI and Physical Intelligence, and flags lingering hurdles such as real‑world data scarcity and on‑robot compute limits. Download the brief.
Wall Street Journal — Inside China’s Dark Factories Where Robots Run the Show
A five‑minute WSJ video takes you inside “lights‑out” EV plants where AI‑directed welders, gantry robots and AGVs keep lines humming 24/7—no lights, no workers. It unpacks the cost‑curve advantage, labor displacement risk and why Western OEMs need fresh integration playbooks to stay competitive. Watch the feature.
Nature Machine Intelligence — A Tree of Robots Based on Performance Fitness
This open‑access paper introduces the “Tree of Robots,” a taxonomy that clusters machines by their fitness for tasks—combining motion precision, force‑control and safety metrics—rather than by kinematics alone. Using 11 industrial arms as a case study, the authors offer a framework and open database that could reshape benchmarking and purchasing decisions. Read the paper.
Robotics Companies Funding
- EngineAI – $139.3 M, Pre‑Series A++ & Series A1 rounds (21 Jul 2025), led by Rocket Capital and JD.com with CATL Capital, Yintai Holdings and TH Capital (DealStreetAsia). Shenzhen‑based outfit pushing full‑size and “mini” humanoids into research, education and factory floors, aiming to be China’s go‑to general‑purpose robotics platform.
- Unibose Technology – $0.66 M (₹5.5 Cr), Pre‑Series A round (14 Jul 2025), led by O2 Angels with IN44 Capital and Coimbatore Innovation & Business Incubator. Chennai team behind the world’s first ATEX Zone‑0 certified “No‑Man Entry” tank‑cleaning robots for oil, gas and chemical plants—taking humans out of toxic, explosive spaces.
- Theker – €18 M (~$21 M), Seed round (16 Jul 2025), led by Kibo Ventures with Inditex and Kfund’s Leadwind alongside JME, Itnig, Mission and s16vc (Novobrief). Barcelona startup building adaptive AI‑powered robots that learn on the fly—slotting into messy retail, logistics and manufacturing jobs where classic automation fails.
- Bedrock Robotics – $80 M, Series A round (16 Jul 2025), led by 8VC with Eclipse, Two Sigma Ventures, Valor Equity Partners and NVIDIA’s NVentures (TechCrunch). San Francisco crew of ex‑Waymo engineers retrofitting excavators and dozers with autonomy kits so construction sites can dig, grade and prep 24/7 without operators.
- SI Robotics – Undisclosed, Pre‑Seed round (16 Jul 2025), led by Sunfish Partners (Vestbee). Warsaw‑based builder of EU‑sovereign humanoids with proprietary high‑torque actuators and RL control, targeting dual‑use industrial and defense deployments.
Robotics News
- Japan’s Latest Tech Turns Your Body Into a Remote Control for Robots Using Only Your Body’s Movements — Tokyo startup H2L’s new Capsule Interface turns subtle muscle signals into full‑body teleoperation for humanoids, promising safer remote work, elder‑care and disaster‑response deployments. Daily Galaxy
- Why Cartken pivoted its focus from last‑mile delivery to industrial robots — After pilot wins with ZF Lifetec, the six‑year‑old AV startup is scaling a 660‑lb “Hauler” robot and shelving campus food delivery to chase factory and lab material‑flow contracts. TechCrunch
- CUHK start‑ups eye silver economy’s need for ‘wearable robotics’ — Hong Kong spin‑outs such as RT HealthTech are commercialising soft inflatable joint braces and other exosuits to keep Asia’s ageing population mobile and independent. South China Morning Post
- Humanoid Robotic Firm Signs $4 M Deal, Expands in China — Richtech Robotics inked a $4 million software‑licensing sale with Beijing Tongchuang, extending its Adam, Scorpion and Titan humanoids across Asian hospitality and retail sites. IoT World Today
- Maxon acquires strategic minority stake in Synapticon — Swiss drive‑train maker Maxon will co‑develop compact, safety‑certified servo modules with motion‑control specialist Synapticon for next‑gen cobots and AGVs. Control Engineering Europe
- Gartner predicts one in 20 supply‑chain managers will manage robots rather than humans by 2030 — The analyst says 80 % of people will interact with smart robots daily by the decade’s end, forcing warehouse leaders to craft “robot‑management” org charts now. Gartner
- First‑of‑its‑kind virtual world created for offshore‑wind robotics innovators — ORE Catapult’s VDARE simulator feeds live wind‑wave telemetry into digital twins so drone, USV and ROV developers can stress‑test inspection missions before sea trials. ORE Catapult
- Lucid, Nuro and Uber partner on next‑generation autonomous robotaxi program — Uber plans to deploy 20 000 Lucid Gravity EVs factory‑fitted with Nuro’s L4 Driver stack across dozens of cities over six years, with first launch in 2026. Uber Investor Relations
- Maxvision secures core robot assets of Aldebaran — China’s Maxvision bought the IP behind the iconic NAO and Pepper humanoids after Aldebaran’s bankruptcy, aiming to relaunch the platforms under its “AI + Robotics” umbrella. LinkedIn
- What a tangled robot we weave — Harvard SEAS researchers created foot‑long soft “worm” bots that pressurise and entangle into shape‑shifting blobs, a step toward swarming machines able to bridge gaps or climb walls. Harvard SEAS
- Diligent Robotics leads U.S. adoption of hospital pharmacy robots, completes 300 000 deliveries — Moxi humanoids now handle “last‑mile” meds runs in 30+ health systems, freeing nurses and cutting discharge delays. Healthcare Dive
