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Iván Hernández Dalas: Bedrock Robotics nears $1B in total funding as demand for autonomous heavy equipment surges

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Bedrock Robotics automates large excavators to improve construction site economics. | Credit: Bedrock Robotics San Francisco-based Bedrock Robotics has raised $600 million in Series C funding, co-led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital, at a $4.1 billion valuation. The round brings its total funding to nearly $1 billion as it scales fully autonomous heavy equipment to address nationwide construction labor shortages. The round included new investors US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Bessemer Venture Partners, and Temasek, alongside existing investors 8VC, Georgian, Valor Equity Partners, Xora, Eclipse, Perry Creek Capital, NVIDIA, and others. Bedrock said this will accelerate the deployment of Bedrock-equipped machines across commercial construction sites across the U.S., helping contractors use existing heavy equipment more safely, predictably, and at greater capacity. The new capital follows a rapid commercial expansion beyond the company ’s initial footprint in the West and Cen...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: OMRON to acquire OnLogic to address edge AI applications

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OnLogic will keep its Vermont headquarters, as well as its global offices, as part of OMRON. Source: OnLogic As manufacturers increasingly use data and AI at the edge, they need reliable computing that works alongside real-time automation and control. OMRON Corp. this month said it has agreed to acquire 100% of OnLogic this week, worth $675 million, to combine its proven automation with OnLogic’s industrial computing expertise. “This acquisition is an important step in advancing our SF2030 vision and our evolution toward GEMBA DX,” stated Junta Tsujinaga, president and CEO of OMRON. “North America is a key growth market for OMRON, and this investment strengthens our foundation there while building the capabilities our customers will increasingly need.” “OnLogic’s industrial computing expertise, flexibility and strong customer relationships complement our strengths in automation and control,” he added. “Together, we see an opportunity to creat...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Agility and GXO Logistics plan expanded deployment of Digit humanoid

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Agility and GXO have been collaborating since 2023. Source: GXO Logistics Agility Robotics and GXO Logistics today said they are expanding their partnership to deploy Agility’s Digit humanoid robot in GXO sites in North Carolina and Tennessee. “GXO was the first customer to put Digit to work in live operations under a commercial agreement, and expanding to additional sites is the clearest signal that the value is real,” stated Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility. “Customers are moving beyond asking whether humanoid robots can work to deciding where they can scale them. Years of experience performing real work in GXO’s operations have shaped how we build, deploy and support Digit, and we’re focused on disciplined execution as we grow this partnership.” Founded in 2015, Agility Robotics said it has more than 65,000 hours of real-world operation working with industry safety standards. The Salem, Ore.-based company recently got U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approval for its planne...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Robots in Society, Business and Culture: September 2026

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A walking robotic hand, from Fingers as Legs: Learning Self-Supported Locomotion and Manipulation with an Anthropomorphic Hand , Amirhossein Kazemipour, Hehui Zheng, Robert Katzschmann. By Emmet Cole In our monthly series, we showcase a selection of robotics stories from society, business, research and culture, as we track the field’s ongoing journey from specialized industrial machines to an increasingly visible social phenomenon. Five million and counting More than five million industrial robots are now operating in factories worldwide, according to the International Federation of Robotics’ newly released World Robotics 2026 report . Factories installed more than 600,000 industrial robots during 2025, an increase of 11% on the previous year. The global operational stock grew by 9%. China continued to pull away from the rest of the world. Its factories installed 354,000 robots, accounting for 59% of the global total. Chinese manufacturers supplied 55% of their domestic market. ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Teradyne Robotics partners with Sereact to scale physical AI in retail and logistics

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At Zalando’s fulfillment centers in Germany and Poland, Sereact and Universal Robots now autonomously processes returned fashion items. | Source: Teradyne Robotics Teradyne Robotics, the company behind Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots, last week partnered with Sereact. The companies aim to accelerate industrial AI solutions in retail, logistics and manufacturing. Through this partnership, Sereact’s Cortex physical AI platform runs robot arms from Universal Robots to give retailers and logistics providers a proven way to automate unstructured tasks such as returns handling and piece picking. Together, the companies have already shipped hundreds of UR robots in dual-arm systems to live customer sites across Europe . “Physical AI only matters when it performs in real-world operations, and that is where Universal Robots has always been at home,” said Jacob Pascual Pape, the chief commercial officer of Teradyne Robotics . “Our robots are built for the A...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Eka Robotics raises $150M to scale its vision-force-action model for robots

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Eka says its model can generalize across objects, tasks, and environments. | Source: Eka Robotics Eka Robotics this week said it has raised $150 million in Series A funding. The startup said the new funding will help it scale its technology and customer deployments. Founded in 2024, Eka is building a vision-force-action (VFA) model to develop an intuition of physics through reinforcement learning at scale. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said that robots using its AI can pick a wide variety of objects outside the training distribution at a speed of roughly 1,500 operations per hour. The same robots can screw in a light bulb and insert wires, Eka asserted. Robots shouldn’t just mimic humans, says Eka Robotics Eka Robotics said it is targeting dexterous manipulation. The company said that for robots to handle complicated work, they need the versatility to handle changing conditions and the performance to deliver useful work every day. Eka also said it believes that robots...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Webinar to discuss how the FCC robotics ruling affects automation buyers

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Vecna Robotics makes its systems in the U.S. and is not directly affected by the FCC ruling. Credit: Eugene Demaitre In July, the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, said it had determined that certain foreign-made advanced robots pose a cybersecurity and competitive risk to the U.S. It has restricted imports of new models of advanced robotic devices, including mobile robots and legged robots. What should companies considering purchases of such robots do? What are some of the concerns around design, deployment, and ongoing support? Leaders from Vecna Robotics , Locus Robotics , and the Association for Advancing Automation ( A3 ) will discuss the practical implications of the commission ‘s determination in a free webinar at 2:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026 . The panelists will examine how connected systems differ from traditional automation. Webinar attendees can also learn how companies can evaluate the long-term supportability of their robotics investments. They...
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