Ivan Hernandez Dalas - Mechatronics

Ropedia’s HOMIE is a lightweight device that includes four cameras and a swappable battery module. | Source: Ropedia Ropedia, which is building data infrastructure for physical AI, today said it has raised $22 million in pre-Series A funding. Combined with the company’s seed round, it has raised $30 million. The company  plans to use the funding to scale HOMIE, its wearable , head-mounted device. HOMIE captures first-person human movement, object interaction, and spatial context and then feeds that data into Ropedia’s processing and annotation models. “For this round of fundraising, we’re actively expanding our business and technical networks in the sense that we want to build up our teams in hardware, software, data infrastructure, and model development,” Zhaoxi Chen, co-founder and CEO of Ropedia, told The Robot Report . “The second usage is really going to be expanding our business to North America, especially in the United States, because the majority of our exi...

Researchers at the University of Leeds and collaborators from the University of California San Diego won the Best Paper Award at RoboSoft , the leading international conference focused on soft robotics research. Soft robotics is gaining attention in medical applications because compliant machines can interact more safely with delicate objects and complex anatomy. The award-winning paper describes a 1.8 mm soft growing robot that can be steered magnetically, sense its own shape in real time, and operate without internal pressure. These advances could help improve patient outcomes following minimally invasive procedures. We spoke with lead author Benjamin Calmé about the team’s work. Q: Congratulations to you and your team on winning the award. Before we get into the paper itself, could you tell readers a little about yourself and how you arrived in this field? Benjamin Calmé: My path into robotics is a bit unusual. I’m from France and I actually started with a medical degree. O...

While robotics developers have used artificial intelligence for years, the past few years have seen a fundamental shift in how the technologies work together. Rather than rely solely on deterministic programming for things like navigation and object recognition, robots are increasingly able to perceive, comprehend, decide, and act with AI. Physical AI is not just a buzzword; it’s also enabling the future of automation in factories, warehouses, and beyond. In this free download, readers will learn from industry experts who are building and deploying physical AI . The commercial applications for the technology seem unlimited, but they depend on domain-specific data and different training approaches. In addition, The Robot Report   interviewees discuss whether embodied AI such as mobile manipulators and humanoids are leading to artificial general intelligence (AGI) and general-purpose robotics. Innovators and investors are betting on physical AI to give robots the flexibility to ad...

Vicarious Surgical investors today voted to shut down and liquidate the surgical robotics developer immediately. The news was first reported by our sister website MassDevice . Vicarious CEO Stephen From, who joined the company in 2025 and lost his job today along with the other remaining Vicarious Surgical employees, said he was in talks with a potential buyer in recent days. Instead, medical device OEMs have signed non-disclosure agreements to access the company’s data room while Vicarious Surgical assets are auctioned off . “I was so impressed with what they were able to do,” From told MassDevice . “That’s why I’m so mad. I’m so frustrated. This is the type of platform that deserves to be in the clinic and in the hospitals, helping patients. That’s a shame.” The company raised about $300 million in total — most of that from a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger in 2021 — but could not get its R&D program to a design freeze, which From hoped to achieve by the ...

The Gene.01 humanoid is making its U.S. debut this week. | Source: Generative Bionics Generative Bionics, which developing humanoid robots for industrial applications, this week unveiled Gene.01 at AMD Advancing AI 2026. Built in six months, the robot combines full-body tactile sensing with physics-native AI, said the deep tech company. The AI system running the robot integrates Gene.01’s body, mechanics, and intelligence so it can better interpret and respond to the physical world. “Unlike other one-size-fits-all humanoids, Gene.01 is a scalable platform, customized at the edge of AI, design, and end-effector level to maximize each customer’s needs,” stated Daniele Pucci, the CEO of Generative Bionics. “It is also the first expression of our belief that physical AI must be human-aware, physics-native, and industrial from Day 1.” “In six months, our team moved from concept to a fully functional and sensorized humanoid platform by combining ...

U.S. manufacturing reached a record $2.91 trillion in value. Source: MISUMI Americas Labor shortages and a desire for national self-reliance are driving reshoring of production to the U.S. But how much reshoring is actually happening? MISUMI Americas today released its report on The Rise of U.S. Manufacturing , which has compiled mostly positive statistics. Demographics is driving investment automation, as manufacturers struggle to mitigate the growing workforce challenge. The industry will need 3.8 million more workers by 2033, and 1.9 million of those positions could go unfilled, according to The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte. Of that 3.8 million, about 2.8 million comes from workers retiring and the remainder from new growth, including jobs tied directly to the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. More than 65% of manufacturers have cited attracting and retaining talent as their single biggest business challenge. Investm...