Ivan Hernandez Dalas - Mechatronics

Noble Machines Moby humanoid can lift 60-lb payloads. | Credit: Noble Machines Noble Machines, formerly known as Under Control Robotics, has emerged from stealth mode. It said it has deployed its first humanoid robots at a Fortune Global 500 customer within 18 months of the company’s launch. The Sunnyvale, California-based startup was founded by former engineers from Apple , SpaceX , NASA , and Caltech . Noble Machines said it is focusing on “whole-body” AI control with rapid, language-based learning. Moby, the first humanoid robot developed by the company, can lift up to 60 lbs (27 kg) and navigate steep inclines and outdoor environments. Agility Robotics’ Digit humanoid can lift up to 35 lbs, the new Atlas from Boston Dynamics can lift a maximum of 66-110 lbs and the new Figure 3 humanoid can lift up to 44 lbs.  Noble Machines said it is preparing to release the next generation of the robot soon. “Noble Machines’ mission is to tackle all the hazardous, physically demand...

This overhead illustration of the incident shows the location of the Waymo vehice (ADS-V) and the stopped school bus. | Credit: NTSB Federal investigators have launched a probe into Waymo after a remote operator’s error caused a self-driving taxi to illegally pass a stopped school bus in Austin, marking the latest in a series of safety violations involving the company’s autonomous fleet. While the autonomous driving technology is marketed as a way to eliminate human error, this specific incident reveals a “human-in-the-loop” failure. The vehicle did exactly what it was supposed to do: it stopped and asked for help. But the safety net failed when the remote human operator gave it the green light to proceed illegally. The incident The incident in question took place on January 12, 2026, about 7:55 a.m. Central Standard Time. According to the NTSB, a 2024 Jaguar I-Pace sport utility vehicle, equipped with an ADS and operated by Waymo LLC, passed a 2025 Thomas Built school bus, oper...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 ...