Mike Oitzman

[embedded content] Toronto-based Stial Technologies Inc. last week said it has acquired STFcore, or ZhongQing Technology, a 6D force sensor company. It also introduced Stial Steven, its first humanoid robot specifically designed for polishing applications. Stial manufactures polishing robots using artificial intelligence and following a research-and-development principle of anthropomorphism. The company said its NextBrain AI autonomously learns product details and polishing processes, integrating force, touch, vision, and hearing for intelligent polishing. It added that this

[embedded content] Korean gripper company TESOLLO unveiled its latest robot hand designed for humanoids: the Delto Gripper-5 Finger (DG-5F). The new gripper will go on sale in March and boasts 20 degrees of freedom (DoF), with each of its five fingers independently operating with four joints, closely mimicking the human hand. The company designed the DG-5F to address the burgeoning humanoid market where the robot kinematic includes dual arms. All of the other robot grippers

In Episode 184 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-host Mike Oitzman interviews Jeff Cardenas, CEO and co-founder of humanoid robot manufacturer Apptronik. The company raised $350M in Series A funding this week to scale its Apollo humanoid. Eugene Demaitre, editorial director for The Robot Report, also joins the show to highlight his trip to the Manifest event in Las Vegas. Apptronik’s Series A funding was co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with Google also

Apptronik’s Apollo humanoid works on an automobile at a Mercedes-Benz factory. | Credit: Apptronik Apptronik has raised $350 million in Series A funding to scale its Apollo humanoid robot. The funding was co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google. Apptronik has raised $378 million since it was founded in 2016 at the University of Texas at Austin’s Human Centered Robotics Lab. Apptronik co-founder and CEO Jeff Cardenas said the new funding will

[embedded content] FANUC is one of the leaders in industrial robotics. But, like many other companies at the moment, it also appears to be experiencing a slowdown. The company reported financials for the first 9 months of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025 (April 1 to December 31, 2024), showing mixed results amidst a recovering but uncertain global economy.  Robot sales for the period decreased 16.4% to ¥242,386 million due to lower sales in China,

[embedded content] Carbon Robotics launched the second generation of its laser weeding product. The LaserWeeder G2 is designed to be faster, lighter, and more power-efficient than its predecessor. The system uses vision-targeted lasers to destroy weed plants as they emerge from the soil. The onboard vision cameras and AI-based perception model discriminate between crop plants, beneficial plants, and weed plants, targeting the laser at the weed plants. The company said laser weeding has a payback

In Episode 183 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-host Mike Oitzman interviews Chris Painter, the director of technical product management at CNH Industrial. They discuss the advancements in precision farming, the critical role of connectivity, and the challenges faced by farmers in rural areas. They discuss the importance of real-time data for operational efficiency, the future of autonomy in precision farming, and the impact of AI on agricultural technology. Painter explains the need for continuous

[embedded content] DroneDeploy last week announced nationwide approval for beyond visual line-of-sight, or BVLOS, inspection operations for critical infrastructure. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s waiver enables the company’s customers to legally and remotely deploy and monitor autonomous drones. More than 80% of the top 50 U.S. general contractors use DroneDeploy’s platform, it said. Leading hyperscale data center developers use the company’s drones to provide detailed aerial monitoring and analysis of infrastructure and construction projects. “As

In Episode 182 of The Robot Report Podcast, editors Mike Oitzman and Eugene Demaitre interview Erin Linebarger, co-founder and CEO of Robotics 88. Linebarger discusses the innovative use of drones in wildfire management, particularly through prescribed fire techniques. She also describes the genesis of the Boston-based company, the importance of data in fire management, the technology behind its drones, and the future of wildfire mitigation efforts globally. The Robotics88 drone is a custom-designed quadcopter outfitted

[embedded content] Swiss-Mile, which is designing and building quadrupeds and enabling them with embodied AI, has rebranded to a new name: RIVR. The Zurich, Switzerland-based company specializes in building physical AI for last-mile delivery, using robots plus artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency and sustainability. As Swiss-Mile, it was known for its integration of artificial neural networks into robots with wheels and legs. RIVR said its technology addresses the growing demand for smarter and greener logistics