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Iván Hernández Dalas: HEBI wins NASA SBIR to build space robot actuators

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HEBI has prior experience with NASA, with projects such as this “Superball” mobile robot constructed with HEBI actuators. | Source: HEBI Robotics NASA has awarded HEBI Robotics with continued Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding. HEBI received a Phase II contract to develop and test actuation hardware designed to operate in harsh space environments. The two-year, $850k project project includes building control electronics that work with the HEBI Robotics platform and third-party systems, helping speed up the development of flight-ready actuation technology for low Earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) missions. “HEBI’s long-term mission is to make it easy for any engineer to build robust, professional-grade, robotic systems without years of technical experience or training,” said Andrew Willig, director of hardware at HEBI Robotics. “Creating actuation technology that can withstand the harsh environment of space provides HEBI with a further expanded ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?

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Courtesy of 1X. By Eduardo B. Sandoval , UNSW Sydney Last year, Norwegian-US tech company 1X announced a strange new product: “the world’s first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life at home”. Standing 168 centimetres tall and weighing in at 30 kilograms, the US$20,000 Neo bot promises to automate common household chores such as folding laundry and loading the dishwasher. Neo has a built-in artificial intelligence (AI) system, but for tricky tasks it requires a 1X employee wearing a virtual reality helmet to remotely take over the robot. The operator can see whatever the bot does inside your house, and the process is recorded for future learning. Other household androids are expected to hit the market this year . But Neo shows the issues at play, which will be familiar to anyone who has watched the AI boom of the past few years: products launched with great fanfare and limited capabilities, concealed privacy risks, and invisible remote workers behind the scen...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Intuitive buys European surgical robot distributors

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The da Vinci 5 system. | Credit: Intuitive Surgical Intuitive announced today that it completed its acquisition of the da Vinci and Ion distribution business operated out of Europe. The Sunnyvale, California-based surgical robotics leader acquired the distribution business operated by Ab Medica, Abex, Excelencia Robótica and affiliates. It marks the formal expansion of Intuitive’s direct operations in Europe. Intuitive said the acquisition enables it to support customers in a more agile and integrated way. It brings minimally invasive care to more patients across Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta, San Marino and associated territories. Following the deal, Intuitive now wholly owns the da Vinci and Ion business of Ab Medica, Abex and Excelencia Robótica. It has integrated business operations into its European commercial and marketing organization. SVP and GM Dirk Barten leads that unit. “Today marks an important step in our commitment to expanding access to proven, safe and effectiv...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: 6 lessons I learned watching a robotics startup die from the inside

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The K-Bot open-source humanoid robots. | Credit: K-Scale Labs Editor’s Note: Rui Xu is the former chief operating officer of K-Scale Labs , a San Francisco-based startup that tried to build low-cost humanoid robots. The company shut down in late 2025 and recently open-sourced its intellectual property. Xu first published this article on LinkedIn. It was reprinted with his permission. I spent a year as COO of a YC-backed robotics startup trying to build affordable humanoid robots. I was forty, had 15 years of hardware experience shipping products at Intel, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Amazon and ByteDance, and joined to run supply chain and product operations. The company didn’t make it. We never closed our Series A. By late 2025, it was over. I’ve written about the good parts before. The hackathons, the garage energy, the first time the robot walked. This time I want to write down what I actually learned. Some of these are industry-wide traps. Some we walked into ourselves. 1. Large Model ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: BMW piloting Hexagon’s wheeled humanoid in Germany

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BMW Group last week announced a pilot project to deploy wheeled humanoids from Hexagon Robotics at its Leipzig plant in Germany. With the project, BMW wants to integrate humanoids into existing car production and explore future applications for humanoids in battery and component production. “Digitalisation improves the competitiveness of our production – here in Europe and worldwide. The symbiosis of engineering expertise and artificial intelligence opens up entirely new possibilities in production,” said Milan Nedeljković, a member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Production. Hexagon Robotics  released its semi-humanoid robot AEON in June 2025. Following an initial theoretical evaluation phase and successful laboratory tests, BMW launched an initial test deployment at its Group Plant Leipzig in December 2025. The company plans to do another test deployment from April 2026 to ensure full integration for the actual pilot phase starting in summer 2026. While AEON does fe...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: SDI offers ASUT drone operations certificate program

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The ASUT program at Sonoran Desert Institute offers education for those passionate about the rapidly growing UAS field. | Credit: SDI As part of an ongoing STEM education series, this week we look at opportunities in the drone space. The Sonoran Desert Institute’s Associate of Science in Uncrewed Technology, or ASUT, program offers a 100% distance-learning curriculum where students build their own drones and master technical flight skills to prepare for immediate hire in the expanding uncrewed aircraft systems industry. From soldering components to preparing for FAA Part 107 certification, the program provides a comprehensive path for students to enter high-demand roles in drone maintenance, infrastructure inspection, and public safety. By blending 100% distance learning with a hands-on “build and fly” curriculum, SDI ’s ASUT program addresses a surging demand for skilled technicians in fields ranging from precision agriculture to public safety . For $24,400, the 60-credit de...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Inside the peripheral motion systems that complement robotics

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In a previous article, we detailed  example integrations of motion control and robotics . So, what about the workcells and systems surrounding the robotics in their workcells? Various automated systems can serve, move, and enhance a robot to maximize its usefulness. There are various complexity levels with these peripheral motion systems. The act of machine tending is simpler than assembly — and most assembly tasks are in turn simpler than operations involving conveyance. The latter represents material handling in the form of pick-and-place functions (as seen below) needing the coordination of all the robot axes and end effector with the conveyor. For such setups, the location of the robot relative to the conveyor, along with a whole host of other parameters, can be optimized in simulation software for minimized arm travel. Of course, no discussion of peripheral motion systems that complement robotics would be complete without mentioning seventh-axis systems — also called ...
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