Okay, so you know how sci-fi movies always show robots just chilling with people, no big deal? Well, apparently, we're getting really close to that becoming a reality! John Koetsier's latest Forbes piece dropped a bombshell: humanoid robots are about to break free from their safety cages within the next 18 months. Companies like Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, and 1X are already lining up massive pre-orders for robots designed to work right alongside us.

Imagine a future where robots aren’t just tucked away behind safety barriers, but are working right beside you, helping out with tasks. That’s the exciting vision Agility Robotics is bringing to life with their next-gen humanoid, Digit 5, designed to operate without a safety cage. It’s a game-changer! But as awesome as one robot working freely sounds, what happens when you have an entire fleet of these humanoids roaming a busy factory floor or warehouse?

Meet Flourish 1, a new home robot that just stepped out of stealth mode, and it's surprisingly basic – but that's entirely the point! This San Francisco startup has cooked up a bot that costs just $3,555, can learn a new chore in about 30 minutes, and lifts a modest 3.3 pounds. It's not winning any beauty contests with its "chopped-off garbage can with wheels" base, but its cute hat and fresh colors give it some charm.

Sima.ai is making some serious noise in the AI hardware world, and they just snagged a cool $150 million in Series C funding, pushing their valuation to $1.45 billion and total funding to a whopping $500 million! Why all the excitement? Well, as one expert puts it, if AI is going to "eat the world," then hardware is definitely its "teeth." Sima.ai is right there, selling those teeth in the form of specialized physical AI chips designed to power everything from advanced drones and self-driving cars to the next generation of robots, including humanoids – all rapidly growing industries.

Get ready for more robots! According to fresh data from IDC, humanoid robot shipments absolutely skyrocketed in the first half of 2026, jumping a mind-boggling 432% to nearly 25,000 units. This isn't just about more robots; revenue also shot up, topping $740 million, indicating that the industry is rapidly scaling up. Good news for those dreaming of robot assistants: this growth spurt means these impressive machines are becoming more affordable, with the average price dropping from around $37,000 to just under $30,000 per robot in a single year!

Alright tech enthusiasts, let’s talk about the future, specifically the one that walks, flies, and drives itself. We’re diving into Sima.ai, a company that’s not just dreaming about robots, but actually building the brains for them. This seven-year-old startup just snagged a cool $150 million, bumping their total funding to a whopping half a billion dollars and valuing them at an impressive $1.45 billion.

Hold onto your hats, because a new player just rolled onto the robotics scene, and they’re shaking things up big time. California-based Feather Robotics has emerged from stealth with a $29,990 vaguely humanoid robot on wheels, and get this – they’ve already pulled in over a million dollars in actual revenue before their official launch, alongside a cool $7.6 million in pre-seed funding.

Ever notice how some robots move like they’re having a really bad internet day, all shaky and stop-start? It’s not just a quirk; it’s a fundamental problem. Turns out, the super-smart AI brains driving these robots, like the fancy vision-language-action models, spit out commands way slower than what the robot’s motors actually need. Imagine a conductor giving cues 10 times a minute when the orchestra needs them 1000 times a minute – pure chaos!

Ever wonder how people really feel about humanoid robots? Turns out, most of us aren’t exactly lining up for a robot roommate. A new survey found a whopping 78% of folks are pretty negative about human-like bots, with concerns ranging from job loss to, well, just feeling unsafe around them. It seems the idea of a bipedal buddy wandering around our homes or workplaces still gives many of us the creeps, putting the overall vibe around humanoids pretty low.

Ever imagined getting your hands on a capable humanoid robot without breaking the bank? A new California startup, Feather Robotics, is making waves with the launch of its bimanual mobile manipulator, priced at a surprisingly accessible $29,990. This isn't just another concept; the company has already pulled in over $1 million in revenue from early sales, all while still in its pre-seed funding stage.

Ever watched a robot move and thought, "Wow, that looks like it’s buffering"? You’re not alone. Humanoid robots, in particular, often have this jerky, almost-stalling vibe, making them feel like something out of an old sci-fi flick or a really laggy video. It turns out, there’s a fundamental mismatch happening under the hood: the super-smart AI brains running these robots are a lot slower than their super-fast physical bodies need them to be.

Ever wonder if people are ready for a world full of humanoid robots? Well, a new Forbes survey spills the tea, and it turns out most folks aren’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat. A whopping 78% of people are straight-up detractors, seeing these mechanical marvels as more threatening than helpful, and definitely not essential. Concerns about safety and job loss are top of mind, making the idea of a robot assistant feel less like a futuristic dream and more like a potential nightmare for many.

Hey robotics enthusiasts, get ready for some game-changing news from Google! Their industrial robotics arm, Intrinsic, is throwing open the doors to the very core of its platform. We’re talking about essential software like control, motion planning, simulation, and even how robots grasp things – all previously proprietary, now freely available under an Apache 2.0 license. It’s called Intrinsic Core, and it’s built to be super compatible with ROS, the open-source standard most of the robotics world uses.

What does it actually look like to work with hundreds of AI agents? In this episode of NEXT with John Koetsier, I chat with Steve Ancheta, founder and CEO of Zig.ai, an AI-native platform for relationship-driven sales. Steve explains why what looks like a single AI agent to a user can actually be a swarm of hundreds of specialized agents working behind the scenes, handling copywriting, follow-ups, CRM updates, next-best actions, orchestration, and more.

Hey, you gotta check out this wild Forbes article I just read! It talks about how Google is making a massive move in the robotics world, and get this: they're essentially giving away the core of their industrial robotics platform, called Intrinsic Core. Sundar Pichai himself apparently dubbed it the "Android of robotics," which, if you think about it, makes total sense.

Hey, you've gotta check out this article I just read on Forbes about Faraday Future – you know, the EV company? Well, apparently, they're not just doing cars anymore, they've gone full sci-fi and launched a whole fleet of new robots! We're talking five distinct lines, nine different configurations, and prices ranging from a super affordable $9,990 for a little hip-high humanoid perfect for classrooms or robot soccer, all the way up to a whopping $137,900 for an industrial behemoth that can walk into places you definitely wouldn't want to send a human.

Hey, you've gotta check out this Forbes article I just read! It's all about humanoid robots, and it gives the lowdown from a guy named Andrew Kang, who runs a Nasdaq fund that only invests in robot companies before they go public. So, basically, he's the expert on who's actually going to make it big. He says there are over a hundred humanoid robot companies in the US, but when you ask him which ones are truly going to deliver, his list is super short: Tesla Optimus, Figure AI, and Apptronik.

Remember that company, Figure, who decided to shell out a billion dollars over the next year, literally paying people to film themselves doing chores like folding laundry? Well, just one month into that ambitious plan, their investment is already paying off in a huge way. Their humanoid robot just saw its success rate for household tasks jump by an incredible 6X – from a modest 9% to a much more impressive 56%!

Faraday Future just rolled out a whole new fleet of robots, and they're not messing around. We're talking everything from a cute, hip-high buddy designed for classrooms and robot soccer to a seriously tough, industrial-grade machine that can brave places you'd rather not send a human. With prices stretching from a cool $9,990 all the way up to $137,900, it's clear they've got a bot for almost any job you can imagine, expanding their catalog to a whopping 24 products across different forms and series.

Ever wondered which robot companies are actually on the fast track to success? Andrew Kang, who literally runs a Nasdaq-listed fund dedicated to owning robot companies before they go public, has a surprisingly short list for American humanoid robot startups: Tesla Optimus, Figure AI, and Apptronik. Out of 112 companies in the US humanoid space, only these three truly stand out to him.

Hey everyone! I just dropped a new article on Forbes about Sanctuary AI, and it's got some pretty fascinating insights into where robotics is headed. You know Sanctuary AI for their super cool humanoid robot, Phoenix, right? Well, it turns out they've been up to something a little different lately, and it's seriously smart. Imagine a task so fiddly and precise that traditional robots just can't hack it – like plugging flexible wires into moving targets on an automotive assembly line.

Ever feel like everyone's jumping on the AI bandwagon, but you're not quite sure where it's leading? Well, you're not alone! A recent HubSpot survey spilled the tea, revealing that a whopping 90% of companies are indeed using AI. That's a huge number! But here's the kicker: only a tiny 6% are actually seeing truly transformational results. Yeah, you read that right.

Ever wondered why you don't see humanoid robots walking around your workplace or warehouse just yet? It's not because they lack brains or dexterity. Believe it or not, the single biggest thing keeping these futuristic workers from real jobs is surprisingly simple: a safety fence! Up until now, most working humanoids have been stuck in isolation, separated from us 'fragile meatbag humans' for safety reasons.

Construction and robotics? It's often felt like a classic "Moby Dick" scenario – a huge, elusive challenge that's swallowed many an ambitious project. For years, the construction site has been a graveyard for robots, mostly because the real world is messy and unpredictable, unlike a factory floor. But hold onto your hard hats, because a new San Jose startup called Zinova, a spinoff from RIC Robotics, might just have cracked the code.

Get ready to picture robots working right alongside us, not behind safety fences! Agility Robotics is shaking things up big time with their new humanoid robot, Digit 5. For years, the main thing keeping robots from taking on real jobs wasn'''t their brains or their strength, but literally a fence keeping them separate from humans. Well, Digit 5 is here to change all that, designed specifically to safely cooperate with us "fragile meatbags" without any barriers, opening up a whole new world for industrial environments.

For years, the idea of having robots take over the heavy lifting on construction sites felt like something stuck perpetually in the future. Building stuff is messy, unpredictable, and requires a level of human touch that rigid machines just couldn't replicate—until now. A San Jose startup called Zinova might have just cracked the code, taking a massive step forward in physical AI that could totally revolutionize how we build everything.

Imagine a quantum physicist telling his team, "Guys, I think AGI is here." That's exactly what Mykola Maksymenko, co-founder and CTO of quantum software startup Haiqu, did after an AI agent recreated half a year of his PhD work in a single weekend – and even found a bug he’d missed! He clarifies it as "weak AGI," but this isn't just hype.

We're all buzzing about AI, from crafting emails to coding apps, but when it comes to handing over our wallets? Well, that's a whole different story. Turns out, a mere 23% of us are currently comfortable letting an AI agent spend our hard-earned cash. Imagine your digital assistant booking flights, paying bills, or even snagging that limited-edition item without you lifting a finger – sounds amazing in theory, right?

Imagine robots learning complex new skills not in weeks or months, but in mere minutes. Sounds like science fiction, right? Well, an Nvidia-backed startup called General Robotics is making it a reality with their game-changing AI platform, GRID. They're claiming that GRID slashes robot onboarding time by a jaw-dropping 99.7% and cuts the time it takes to transfer skills between different robot types by nearly 98%.

Europe has a new unicorn on the block, and it’s built on a staggering $2.4 billion pipeline from 34,000 pre-orders for its innovative humanoid robots. Just two years after its founding in May 2024, London-based Humanoid has zoomed to a $1.35 billion valuation, securing $270 million in funding in record time. This incredible rise isn't just about impressive numbers; it's fueled by CEO Artem Sokolov's deeply personal mission to automate the repetitive, physically demanding tasks he saw his own family and employees endure in manufacturing.

Figure AI recently made waves with its Index initiative, a jaw-dropping billion-dollar commitment to collect mountains of real-world data for training robots. We're talking 16 million videos from across the globe, all to teach future automatons how to navigate our complex human world. It's an ambitious, costly endeavor built on the premise that you simply can't get enough real human experience.

Ever dreamt of a world where every person has their own robot assistant, just like in an Isaac Asimov novel? Agile Robots CEO Zhaopeng Chen certainly has, and he believes it's closer than you think. His company, spun out of German aerospace research, has already put over 20,000 automation systems into factories globally. And here's where it gets truly wild: their Munich factory is literally where robots are building more robots, including their new Agile ONE humanoid, largely for industrial use right now.

Hold onto your hats, because the world of AI is pulling off some truly wild financial moves! Humanoid robot pioneer Figure AI just committed a staggering $3.5 billion to AI compute provider Nscale, with plans to scale that to $6 billion. Sounds like a huge win for Figure, right? Except, Figure AI has only ever raised $1.9 billion. So, how exactly does a company with less than two billion in the bank promise to spend twice that amount on server space?

Get ready for a whole new level of AI integration, because OpenAI isn't just focused on making smarter software anymore. CEO Sam Altman has confirmed that the company behind ChatGPT is diving headfirst into building humanoid robots, along with other physical forms. While Altman maintains that the "brain" (the AI itself) is the toughest nut to crack, he's fully on board with crafting physical bodies, largely because, well, the world is literally built for us humans.

What will the home of 2035 actually look like: One humanoid robot that does everything, or 10 specialized robots, each handling one specific task extremely well? In this episode of NEXT with John Koetsier, I talk with Amber Atherton, serial entrepreneur and investor at Patron, about a very different vision for the future of home robotics. Instead of assuming that every household will eventually have a general-purpose humanoid assistant, Amber argues that consumer robotics may scale first through highly specialized devices that quietly take over specific routines and chores.

What happens when you combine frontier AI, agentic systems, and quantum computing? Is it possible you get some form of AGI, even if it's weak AGI? In this episode of NEXT with John Koetsier, we chat with Mykola Maksymenko, co-founder and CTO of Haiqu, about how AI agents are dramatically accelerating quantum research and potentially scientific discovery as a whole.

The race to build the future is on, and advanced robotics is at the absolute heart of it. I've just published a new article on Forbes where I break down the global landscape, revealing the top 25 countries ranked by their advanced robot production capability. This isn't just about how many robots a country makes; it's about the sophistication, the innovation, and the underlying infrastructure that fuels next-generation automation.

Apple's new M5 Mac Studio and Mac mini promise to eliminate your "LLM tax" by bringing powerful AI inference on-device. For developers, the big question is whether these machines can truly replace a $200/month Claude Max or ChatGPT Pro subscription for agentic AI coding. I dug into the hardware, costs, and benchmarks to find out. My conclusion? While a Mac Studio M5 Max (128GB) might break even against a $200/month subscription in two years, on-device models (80-120B parameters) significantly underperform cloud giants like Claude Opus or GPT-5 for agentic tasks.

The FCC just made a quiet move that could redefine the U.S. robot landscape. On July 28, the commission added "advanced robotic devices" to its Covered List, effectively blocking new equipment authorizations for many foreign-made robots. This isn't just humanoids; the rule sweeps in any mobile robot over 4.4 pounds that senses, moves, and connects wirelessly – from robot vacuums to industrial quadruped bots.

The new Mac Ultra, sporting Apple's formidable M6 Ultra chip, has just landed, and I've been exploring a critical question for developers: can this powerhouse machine finally replace your monthly $200+ AI coding bill? We're seeing a compelling push towards bringing powerful AI processing directly to your desktop, challenging the long-standing reliance on expensive cloud services for coding assistance and large language models.

The FCC recently proposed a sweeping ban on what it terms "foreign robots," a move that's sent ripples across the tech industry and national security circles. This isn't just a niche policy; it has significant implications for innovation, data privacy, and global supply chains. I decided to dive deep into the controversy to understand the full scope of its potential impact.

I’ve tracked the bleeding edge of AI and robotics for years, but even I was surprised by the latest data. The future of humanoid robots isn't just arriving; it's here, and it’s accelerating at an incredible pace. The numbers speak for themselves. In 2026, we’ve witnessed an astounding 300% increase in humanoid robot shipments. That’s not a typo. We’re talking about up to 30,000 of these advanced machines already making their way into various sectors this year alone.