This Week's Good ReadsBloomberg — Robots Have a Ways to Go to Juice China's Economy

‍Despite China's heavy presence at CES 2026—with 149 of nearly 600 robotics exhibitors and 21 of 40 humanoid booths being Chinese—Bloomberg argues Xi Jinping's bet on robotics to lift the economy isn't paying off yet. High-tech industries still can't offset the property sector collapse. Read the analysis here.

‍Fortune — Beyond the CES Hype: Why Home Robots Need the Self-Driving Car Playbook

A robotics professor argues that despite AI's advances, home robots face the same maturation path as autonomous vehicles—tackling data gaps, privacy concerns, and safety requirements one problem at a time. The piece advocates for incremental progress over moonshot demos. Read the commentary here.

Business Insider — FedEx's CEO Explains Why Regular Humanoid Robots Can't Get the Job Done

In a New York Times interview, Raj Subramaniam says FedEx needs "super humanoid robots" with extra elbows and more degrees of freedom to handle the complexity of truck loading and unloading. The company remains in pilot stage while competitors like Amazon and GXO push ahead with standard humanoids. Read the article here.

Robotics Companies Funding

• Distalmotion – Undisclosed, Strategic investment (12 Jan 2026), from Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC) (Crunchbase). Swiss MedTech developing the DEXTER soft-tissue surgical robot, designed for outpatient ambulatory surgery centers with a mobile footprint and open architecture; 3,000+ patients treated.
• Conavi Medical – $12 M, Public offering (13 Jan 2026), led by Bloom Burton Securities (Crunchbase). Toronto-based medical device firm behind the Novasight Hybrid System—first-ever combined IVUS/OCT intravascular imaging catheter; 510(k) cleared in US, Canada, China, and Japan.
• Botsync – Undisclosed, Series A extension (14 Jan 2026), from SGInnovate (Crunchbase). Singapore-based AMR (autonomous mobile robot) maker with vendor-agnostic SyncOS orchestration platform; 230% revenue growth and 1M+ production trips in 2025; serves Ford, Nestlé, Coca-Cola.
• Konnex – $15 M, Strategic round (15 Jan 2026), led by Cogitent Ventures and Leland Ventures with Liquid Capital, Covey, M77 Ventures, Block Maven (RootData). US-based startup building an on-chain marketplace for autonomous robot labor with blockchain-verified task completion and stablecoin settlement.
• Mytra – $120 M, Series C (15 Jan 2026), led by Avenir Growth with Kivu Ventures, Liquid 2, D.E. Shaw, Offline Ventures, Eclipse, Greenoaks (Crunchbase). Brisbane, CA-based warehouse robotics firm founded by ex-Tesla/Rivian leaders; software-defined 3D automation system delivering 32% labor reduction and 34% storage density improvement.
• Merge Labs – $252 M, Seed (15 Jan 2026), led by OpenAI with Bain Capital, Interface Fund, Fifty Years, Gabe Newell (Crunchbase). Bay Area research lab co-founded by Sam Altman developing non-invasive brain-computer interfaces using molecular and ultrasound approaches; valued at $850M.
• Skild AI – $1.4 B, Series C (14 Jan 2026), led by SoftBank with NVentures (Nvidia), Macquarie, Bezos Expeditions, 1789 Capital, Samsung, LG Technology Ventures (Crunchbase). Pittsburgh-based robotics AI company building the omni-bodied "Skild Brain" foundation model that controls any robot across morphologies; $14B valuation; $2B+ total raised.

Robotics News

• UBTECH Robotics signs cooperation deal with Airbus, expanding application scenarios — Chinese humanoid robotics producer UBTECH signed a deal with Airbus for its Walker S2 industrial humanoid robot to be used in Airbus manufacturing facilities, extending global applications across aviation, vehicle, 3C electronics, smart logistics, and semiconductor manufacturing. Global Times
• Seasats awarded $24M in APFIT funding to accelerate autonomous surface vessels — The Department of War selected Seasats for APFIT funding to accelerate procurement and scaling of its long-endurance autonomous surface vessel technologies for defense and commercial maritime applications. PR Newswire
• Kraken Robotics announces $35 million in SeaPower battery sales — Kraken Robotics secured $35M in orders for its SeaPower pressure-tolerant batteries from three customers, supporting long-endurance UUV operations across defense, commercial, and marine research sectors, with a new Nova Scotia manufacturing facility coming online in Q1 2026. Globe Newswire
• Circus and MMV Leasing enter strategic financing partnership to scale AI robotics systems — German AI robotics company Circus SE partnered with MMV Leasing GmbH to offer flexible leasing options for its autonomous food production robots, with first agreements expected in Q1 2026. Business Wire
• AGIBOT's humanoid robots take home multiple Best of CES 2026 awards — Chinese robotics company AGIBOT debuted its full lineup (A2, X2, G2, and D1 Series) at CES 2026, winning multiple awards and ranking #1 globally in humanoid shipments with an estimated 5,168 units in 2025. PR Newswire
• OpenAI seeks US-based suppliers for planned robotics, AI device push — OpenAI issued RFPs for US manufacturers to supply components for data centers, robotics, and consumer devices as part of a major product expansion, signaling aggressive moves into robotics hardware. Bloomberg
• OpenAI partners with Cerebras in $10B+ compute deal — OpenAI will integrate 750 megawatts of ultra-low latency compute from Cerebras through 2028 in a deal worth over $10 billion, marking the largest high-speed AI inference deployment to date. OpenAI
• NEURA Robotics partners with Bosch to advance German-made humanoid robotics — German companies NEURA Robotics and Bosch announced a strategic partnership to co-develop AI software and collect real-world production data from Bosch facilities to advance physical AI and humanoid deployment. Barron's/AFP
• Humanoid and Schaeffler announce strategic technology partnership — UK-based Humanoid and German motion technology company Schaeffler partnered to deploy hundreds of humanoid robots across Schaeffler's global factories over five years, with beta deployments beginning in 2026-2027. Humanoid

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