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Iván Hernández Dalas: Bills introduced to strengthen U.S. robotics competitiveness, humanoid security

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Robotics legislation was proposed on Capitol Hill this week. Credit: Sheik, via Adobe Stock Robotics has not been a top legislative priority in Washington, D.C., but that could be changing. Two bills introduced in Congress focus on different ways of promoting U.S. competitiveness in robotics. The National Commission on Robotics Act ( H.R. 7334 ) proposes to establish a national commission to evaluate U.S. competitiveness in robotics and provide policy recommendations. Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA), and Bob Latta (R-OH), who are members of the recently revived Congressional Robotics Caucus, introduced the bill this week. The Humanoid Robotics Oversight and Blocking of Obtainment from Totalitarians Act of 2025 or “Humanoid ROBOT Act of 2025” ( S. 3275 ) would prohibit the federal government from acquiring humanoid robots with integrated artificial intelligence from foreign entities, including military suppliers to China, Iran, North Korea, and Russ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Robot Talk Episode 143 – Robots for children, with Elmira Yadollahi

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Claire chatted to Elmira Yadollahi from Lancaster University about how children interact with and relate to robots. Elmira Yadollahi is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Lancaster University. She has a joint PhD in robotics and computer science from EPFL in Switzerland and Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal. Her research tackles explainability in robotics, as well as multimodal perception and explanation methods. Her core expertise is in child–robot interaction, with a focus on expectation management, trust, and AI literacy. She has organised workshops on Explainability in Human-Robot Interaction and the Design and Development of Robots and AI with Children. View Source
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Machina Labs raises $124M to launch large-scale intelligent U.S. factory

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Machina Labs’ RoboCraftsman is an AI-driven manufacturing cell that can turn digital designs into production-grade metal parts. | Source: Machina Labs Machina Labs Inc. this week said it has closed a $124 million Series C round and deployed its first large-scale intelligent factory. The company said the funding will help it scale from innovation to deployment of software-defined production infrastructure. Its goal is to support manufacturing of mission-critical metal structures. “The world’s most advanced designs are being held back by 20th-century factories,” said Edward Mehr, co-founder and CEO of Machina Labs. “This round allows us to scale manufacturing infrastructure that moves at the speed of software. We’re not just making parts; we’re reprogramming the factory itself to serve aerospace ,  defense , and  automotive  customers who can’t afford to wait.” Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth-stage venture arm, Lockheed Martin Ventures , Balerion Space Ventures, and St...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: AMD expands midrange FPGA offerings with Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 family

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AMD’s Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 FPGA family. | Source: AMD Advanced Micro Devices Inc. yesterday introduced the Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 FPGA family. This latest family of midrange field-programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, modernizes memory, I/O, and security to meet the growing demands of industrial automation, AMD claimed.  AMD said it engineered the Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 FPGAs to meet increasingly complex system requirements across industrial and medical markets. It features scalable sensor connectivity that improves diagnostic clarity and responsiveness in machine vision , industrial automation , medical imaging, and robotic systems. Additionally, high-speed transceivers and PCIe Gen4 support 4K AV-over-IP, multi-stream capture, and frame-accurate transport for professional broadcast and remote audiovisual production. Increased memory bandwidth helps accelerate pattern generation, fail capture, and timing-critical workloads, said AMD. The new system also features int...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Stanford, Princeton scientists launch MedOS AI-XR-cobot clinical system

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MedOS combines smart glasses, cobots, and AI. Source: Stanford University Developers are finding ways to combine artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and robotics for useful applications. The Stanford-Princeton AI Coscientist Team today launched MedOS, which it claimed is “the first AI – XR -cobot system designed to actively assist clinicians inside real clinical environments.” More than 60% of physicians in the U.S. have reported symptoms of burnout, according to recent studies. The Stanford and Princeton researchers said they designed MedOS to alleviate burnout, not by replacing clinicians, but by reducing cognitive overload, catching errors, and extending precision through intelligent automation and robotic assistance. “The goal is not to replace doctors. It is to amplify their intelligence, extend their abilities, and reduce the risks posed by fatigue, oversight, or complexity,” stated Dr. Le Cong, co-leader of the interdisciplinary project and an associa...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Bedrock Robotics’ $270M Series B paves the way for operator-less excavators

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Bedrock automates large excavators, including loading and digging tasks. | Credit: Bedrock Robotics Bedrock Robotics Inc., a developer of autonomous construction equipment, today said it has raised $270 million in Series B funding. This round brings the company’s total funding to more than $350 million. Bedrock said the investment will accelerate its efforts to transform how general contractors build, from deploying individual autonomous machines to orchestrating fully connected fleets to reshape productivity and safety. In July 2025, the San Francisco-based company emerged from stealth with $80 million in Series A funding  to begin building retrofit kits for excavators. Boris Sofman, co-founder and CEO of Bedrock, told The Robot Report : “We’re in development, testing, and working towards our first, fully operator-out, complete operatorless deployments later this year. That’s a really huge milestone. That’s the kind of 0 to 1 where your autonomy capabilities are mature, your...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: ETM brings its transverse flux motor technology to robotics

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Conventional motors feature copper wrapped around steel, but ETM’s steel stator is wrapped around the outside of the low-resistance copper coil. | Source: ETM Electric Torque Machines, or ETM, last week entered the robotics and advanced actuator market with its transverse flux motor technology. The company said it is offering its TFM technology through a flexible partnership model that allows OEMs to retain manufacturing control, protect margins, and accelerate development timelines. The robotics industry faces converging pressures: aggressive performance targets, thermal management constraints, supply chain volatility, and the need for product differentiation, according to ETM. It said its TFM technology addresses these challenges at the system level, enabling manufacturers to simplify mechanical designs, reduce costs, and achieve performance benchmarks previously requiring significant tradeoffs. “The era of sacrificing thermal performance for torque density is over,” stated Chu...
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