Ivan Hernandez Dalas - Mechatronics

Like other complex machines such as cars and computers, humanoids will need to be recycled. Source: Re-Teck The race to mass-produce humanoid robots is in full swing. Industry leaders regularly debate how to source, assemble, and deploy these machines, which contain anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 individual components. But an inevitable, multi-billion-dollar question remains unaddressed: What happens when they retire? Decommissioning humanoids is not a matter of traditional scrapping. It’s a highly technical, high-stakes surgical endeavor. The anatomy of the challenge To understand the complexity of recycling a humanoid robot, first you have to look at the sheer density of its subassemblies. A standard unit is made up of 200 to 500 major sub-components, broadly categorized into four interconnected systems with hard shell or pliable coverings: Actuation and motion : 20 to 40 electric motors, each paired with precision speed reducers and gearboxes. Modern manufacturing incr...

With a new linear rail, Hirebotics cobots, like ones used for welding above, can extend beyond a 68.9-in. reach. | Source: Hirebotics Hirebotics LLC has added extensions to its collaborative robots that enable manufacturers to paint moving parts and reach large, difficult-to-handle materials and assemblies without changing existing workflows. The new extensions include line tracking and modular rail capabilities. The company said these new capabilities extend the working range of the cobots, giving manufacturers greater flexibility to automate conveyor-based finishing operations and projects requiring large parts. Hirebotics unveiled the technologies at IMTS 2026 this week in Chicago. “Both capabilities come out of the same problem, from two directions: The work doesn’t fit inside a fixed work envelope. One is about how big or awkward the part is. The other is about the part not holding still,” Matthew Bush, the CEO of Hirebotics, told The Robot Report . Founded i...

Sanjay Aggarwal, partner at F-Prime Capital (left), and Betsy Mulé, principal at F-Prime Capital (right). Each month, robotics companies are bringing in billions of dollars in investments. In August 2026 alone, the industry raised $4.87 billion in disclosed funding and other capital in August 2026, according to 162 financial transactions tracked by The Robot Report . So, where is capital flowing today, and what does it mean for robotics? At RoboBusiness 2026, which takes place Oct. 20 and 21 in Santa Clara, Calif., Sanjay Aggarwal, partner at F-Prime Capital , and Betsy Mulé, principal at F-Prime, will unveil the firm’s annual State of Robotics Investments report. The report highlights the latest funding trends, emerging technology categories, and the sectors attracting the most investor interest. Attendees will gain a data-driven look at the current investment landscape. They’ll also walk away with actionable insights into what it takes to build and finance successfu...

Icarus co-founder and CTO Jaime Palmer (center) with the Icarus team testing Joy on a parabolic flight. | Source: Icarus Robotics Icarus Robotics yesterday said it has tested Joy, its free-flying robot, on four parabolic flights from Sept. 9 to 11. In total, Joy flew 66 parabolas across four flights, resulting in 2 cumulative minutes of weightlessness. Joy is a free-flying robot with robotic arms and finger pinch grippers . Icarus created the system to move through the pressurized interior of the International Space Station (ISS) and handle the cargo and logistics work that consumes much of astronauts’ time. The company said its robot will be launched to the ISS in 2027 as Joyride-1, under a mission management agreement with Voyager Technologies announced in March. The flights were the last major test before Icarus finalizes Joy’s flight hardware for handover to NASA in January. “It’s a very surreal thing to be building toward that, and we have been talking about it fo...

By Celia Luterbacher Imagine a robot designed to install solar panels with much greater speed and precision than a human. The robot is made from expensive materials and powered by a heavy battery that must be recharged every few hours. If the costs of building and operating the robot outweigh the benefits of the clean energy it helps produce, can it really be considered sustainable? In a 2025 article published in Science , Aude Billard, head of the Learning Algorithms and Systems Lab in EPFL’s School of Engineering and Academic director of the Robotics Center, gives precisely this example to illustrate the tension between robotic performance and sustainability. Roboticists, she argues, can no longer ignore the fact that robots use energy-intensive power systems and electronic components made from finite resources. At the same time, robots have the potential to contribute to addressing some of society’s most pressing sustainability challenges, for example through environmenta...

Sponsored by GAM . A gearbox, pinion, and rack system provide the 7th axis, or lateral movement, for an articulated robot. (Image: GAM.) Pull a tape measure out a few inches and the blade is rigid. Keep pulling and at some point it starts to flex and wobble, then eventually buckles. It is a problem engineers know well when designing long-travel axes. There are three main ways to create precise straight-line motion in machines: rack and pinion, ball screws, and linear motors. In this article, we’ll explore when rack and pinion is the best choice—and when others might be better. Understanding the three technologies A rack and pinion works by engaging a rotating gear called the pinion against a toothed bar called the rack. Depending on the setup, either the rack moves while the pinion stays fixed, or the pinion assembly travels along a fixed rack. A ball screw works on a similar idea. It is essentially a precise threaded rod with a nut that rides along it. Spin the rod and the nut t...

Robotics companies raised $4.87 billion in disclosed funding and other capital in August 2026, according to 162 financial transactions tracked by The Robot Report . The overall funding total is much higher as many of the funding totals are not made public. China accounted for the largest share of disclosed capital, raising approximately $2.44 billion, or roughly half of all disclosed funding. U.S. companies accounted for another $1.27 billion. August’s five largest disclosed transactions alone accounted for more than $3.3 billion. Unitree Robotics led the month with a $905 million IPO, while XPENG Robotics followed with a $900 million Series A. Both companies are based in China, putting nearly $1.8 billion into the sector from just two transactions. Humanoid companies attracted approximately $943.8 million in disclosed capital, or 19.4% of the month’s total disclosed funding. XPENG’s Series A accounted for the overwhelming majority of that total. To unlock full de...