This Week's Good Reads

Sequoia Capital — Building the “App Store” for Robots: Hugging Face’s Thomas Wolf on Physical AI

‍Thomas Wolf lays out Hugging Face’s LeRobot vision—open-source policies, datasets, and affordable hardware to turn software developers into roboticists—plus why local, on-device inference matters for safety and how “world models” could unlock the iPhone moment for physical AI. Listen / read here.

‍PitchBook — 2025 Vertical Snapshot: Robotics

A crisp, data-driven look at where VC is flowing in robotics (logistics, defense, industrial, healthcare, emerging humanoids), the catalysts (AI + edge compute, labor constraints), and the headwinds (cost, reliability, power)—complete with a market map of key players. Get the report.

CNBC surveys founders and investors on whether humanoids have hit an inflection point—balancing splashy pilots and investor enthusiasm with unresolved questions on reliability, safety, timelines, and unit economics. Read the analysis.

IEEE Spectrum — Reality Is Ruining the Humanoid Robot Hype

Evan Ackerman cools the hype: scaling humanoids will depend less on demos and more on demand, runtime/charging ratios, reliability (“many 9s”), and safety standards (including new ISO work for dynamically balancing legged robots). Near-term, wheeled manipulators may win on cost and uptime. Check it out.

Robotics Companies Funding

• DYNA Robotics – $120 M, Series A round (15 Sep 2025), led by RoboStrategy, CRV and First Round Capital; with Salesforce Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA), Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Samsung Next and LG Technology Ventures participating (PitchBook). Redwood City startup building commercial-grade manipulation systems powered by the DYNA-1 robot foundation model for reliable, 24/7 autonomous task execution.
• Hive Robotics – €2 M, Pre-Seed round (11 Sep 2025), led by b2venture; with Firedrop, Pareto, Matthias Hilpert and Klocke Group participating (PitchBook). Munich team developing a secure C3 (Command-Control-Connect) layer that lets air, land, sea (and space) robots collaborate and swarm.
• Rendezvous Robotics – $3 M, Pre-Seed round (10 Sep 2025), led by Aurelia Foundry and 8090 Industries; with ATX Venture Partners, Mana Ventures and angels participating (PitchBook). Builder of modular TESSERAE tiles that self-assemble in orbit for large antennas, power systems and other in-space infrastructure.
• Andromeda Robotics – A$23 M, Series A round (05 Sep 2025), led by Forerunner Ventures; with Rethink Impact, Artesian, Main Sequence, Visible Ventures, Trampoline, Startmate and Purpose Ventures participating (PitchBook). Melbourne startup behind “Abi,” a social humanoid companion robot for aged-care and pediatric settings, expanding production and U.S. market entry.

Robotics News

• ADAPT-Teleop: robotic hand with human-matched embodiment enables dexterous teleoperated manipulation — Researchers present ADAPT Hand 2 and a teleop system with human-matched kinematics, skin, and passive dynamics, enabling contact-rich in-hand manipulation and complex pick-and-place tasks. npj Robotics (Nature)
• EngineAI, Duolun Technology join forces to deploy over 2,000 humanoid robots in three years — Strategic partnership includes a procurement plan for no fewer than 2,000 humanoids over three years, targeting public security, traffic management, and retail; EngineAI’s lineup includes the T800 and SA02 models. Gasgoo
• OpenAI Ramps Up Robotics Work in Race Toward AGI — OpenAI is hiring humanoid-focused roboticists and building a team around teleoperation and simulation to push general-purpose robotics. WIRED
• Jack Ma-Backed Ant showcases first entry in China’s robot race — Ant Group unveiled its first humanoid robot, R1, publicly marking its move into embodied AI and consumer/enterprise use cases. Bloomberg
• Spacer Robotics Unveils GRID: The First Step Toward Autonomous Construction on the Moon — Startup debuts GRID, an autonomous rebar-tying robot (sensor fusion, SLAM, LiDAR, ~14-hour battery) aimed at safer, higher-throughput construction workflows. openPR
• Humanoid Global Announces Strategic Investment in RideScan — Publicly listed Humanoid Global invests in RideScan, an AI “safety layer” platform for improving reliability, risk assessment and predictive maintenance across autonomous robots. GlobeNewswire
• Following Acquisition of Phantom Auto, Serve Robotics Adds Voysys Teleoperation Tech to L4 Platform — Serve integrates Voysys’ ultra-low-latency video/data stack (as low as ~50 ms) after acquiring Phantom Auto assets, strengthening connectivity for large-scale sidewalk delivery fleets. GlobeNewswire
• Universal Robots unveils UR8 Long — Long-reach cobot (1,750 mm reach, 8 kg payload) shown at FABTECH; designed for welding, bin-picking, and space-constrained cells, with orders open and shipping slated for October. Universal Robots
• SGS announces acquisition of Australia’s Fulcrum Robotics — TIC leader SGS expands robotics-enabled inspection services in industrial and environmental sectors via acquisition of Fulcrum Robotics. Business Review
• Matthews Automation Solutions expands investment in Freespace Robotics — Matthews increases its strategic stake and purchases a flagship Freespace ASRS for deployment and integration at its new Atlanta center. AJOT

‍