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Iván Hernández Dalas: Reversible, detachable robotic hand redefines dexterity

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2025 LASA/CREATE/EPFL CC BY SA. By Celia Luterbacher With its opposable thumb, multiple joints and gripping skin, human hands are often considered to be the pinnacle of dexterity, and many robotic hands are designed in their image. But having been shaped by the slow process of evolution, human hands are far from optimized, with the biggest drawbacks including our single, asymmetrical thumbs and attachment to arms with limited mobility. “We can easily see the limitations of the human hand when attempting to reach objects underneath furniture or behind shelves, or performing simultaneous tasks like holding a bottle while picking up a chip can,” says Aude Billard, head of the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA) in EPFL’s School of Engineering. “Likewise, accessing objects positioned behind the hand while keeping the grip stable can be extremely challenging, requiring awkward wrist contortions or body repositioning.” A team composed of Billard, LASA researcher Xiao Gao, ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: NVIDIA adds Cosmos Policy to its world foundation models

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Cosmos Policy represents an early step toward adapting world foundation models for robot control and planning, NVIDIA says. | Source: NVIDIA NVIDIA Corp. is continuously expanding its NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation models, or WFMs, to tackle problems in robotics, autonomous vehicle development, and industrial vision AI. The company recently introduced Cosmos Policy, its latest research on advancing robot control and planning using Cosmos WFMs. Cosmos Policy is a new robot control policy that post-trains the Cosmos Predict-2 world foundation model for manipulation tasks. It directly encodes robot actions and future states into the model, achieving state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance on LIBERO and RoboCasa benchmarks, said NVIDIA. The company obtained Cosmos Policy by fine-tuning Cosmos Predict, a WFM trained to predict future frames. Instead of introducing new architectural components or separate action modules, Cosmos Policy adapts the pretrained model directly through a single...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Ottonomy builds Ottumn.AI platform to orchestrate robots, drones, and smart infrastructure

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Ottobot completes an autonomous curbside parcel delivery orchestrated by Ottumn.AI. Source: Ottonomy At the India AI Summit today, Ottonomy.IO launched its new Ottumn.AI orchestration platform for physical AI in healthcare, manufacturing, and local e-commerce. The company built the platform on NVIDIA’s artificial intelligence infrastructure and with support from the NVIDIA Inception program. Ottumn.AI is a cloud-based platform for safe and scalable robotics, according to Ottonomy. It connects and integrates drones , cleaning robots, and patrolling robots with infrastructure such as smart mailboxes and building systems. “With Ottumn.AI, we’re moving from isolated automation to orchestrated autonomy—the first asynchronous deliveries framework connecting robots, drones, Arrive Points, elevators, and access doors in live environments like hospitals, sidewalks or campuses,” stated Ritukar Vijay, founder and CEO of Ottonomy. “Built using NVIDIA AI infrastructure and enabled by partner...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: igus launches new RBTX online shopping experience for robotics developers

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RBTX.com is a marketplace where customers can purchase components, robots, and services. | Source: igus igus GmbH has updated its RBTX automation marketplace so customers can now add components to their cart for purchase or build a complete system with guaranteed compatibility. The RBTX  marketplace has officially launched new e-commerce functionality allowing customers to purchase high-end components, robots, and services directly through the company’s website. “We are excited to enable online checkout for customers while still providing our compatibility guarantee,” stated Jan Hennecke, product manager for RBTX at igus. “We will continue to focus on support and helping customers choose the right components for their solution, but for those that already know what they need, they can now easily purchase parts on their own.” RBTX offers two ways to shop for components This shift to a self-serve model removes the requirement for a sales consultation, providing a streamlined e...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Mitsubishi Electric follows digital-first strategy for drone management

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AnyMile is designed to handle cargo drone complexities. Source: Mitsubishi Electric As robotics and artificial intelligence continue to advance, even longtime machine builders are pursuing digital transformation. Mitsubishi Electric United States, or MEUS, said it is developing software-as-a-service platforms, data-driven tools, and AI-powered systems bridging the physical and digital worlds. One example of MEUS’s digital-first innovations is its AnyMile logistics software to manage drone cargo operations. Zafer Sahinoglu , vice president and general manager of the Mitsubishi Electric Innovation Center, replied to questions from  The Robot Report about the company ‘s digital initiatives and drone management. Digitalization can help businesses of all sizes, with or without AI What are some of the biggest pain points currently facing large enterprises and small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that digitalization can help address?  Sahinoglu: Large enterprises and SMBs fa...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Medtronic earns FDA clearance for Stealth AXiS spinal surgery system

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The Stealth AXiS system brings together planning, navigation, and robotics into one platform for spine surgery. | Source: Medtronic Medtronic PLC last week announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared its Stealth AXiS surgical system, an intelligent system for spinal surgery. The Stealth AXiS system is cleared for spine procedures in the U.S. It has an underlying architecture designed to support future cranial and ear, nose, and throat (ENT) applications, pending 510(k) clearance. “The Stealth AXiS system represents a meaningful step forward in how we think about navigation and robotics working together,” said Ronald A. Lehman, Jr., M.D., tenured professor of orthopaedic surgery (neurological surgery) at Columbia University. He is also chief of the Spine Surgery Division and spine medical director at The Spine Hospital at NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital, as well as a paid consultant to Medtronic. “One of the biggest challenges in spine surgery has been unde...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: IFR releases position paper on AI in robotics

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Global interest and competition to add AI to robotics is growing, says the IFR. Source: International Federation of Robotics A new generation of robots powered by artificial intelligence is moving out of research labs and into the real world, according to the International Federation of Robotics, or IFR. The Frankfurt, Germany-based organization this month released a position paper on “AI in Robotics: Trends, Challenges, Commercial Applications.” With industry analysts predicting a multi-trillion-dollar market, innovators and entrepreneurs are pursuing the goal of giving AI robotic bodies, noted the IFR. “AI is transforming the field of robotics at a rapid pace,” stated Takayuki Ito, president of the IFR. “Integrating AI into robotics enhances capabilities, increases efficiency and improves adaptability. This development is transforming AI from a supporting technology into a powerful enabler, opening the door to wider robot adoption across industries.” AI improves robot vision, ...
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