Robotics AI News & Updates

Mbodi Develops Multi-Agent AI System for Rapid Robot Training Using Natural Language

Mbodi, a New York-based startup, has developed a cloud-to-edge AI system that uses multiple communicating agents to train robots faster through natural language prompts. The system breaks down complex tasks into subtasks, allowing robots to adapt quickly to changing real-world environments without extensive reprogramming. The company is working with Fortune 100 clients in consumer packaged goods and plans wider deployment in 2026.

Former OpenAI and Google Brain Researchers Launch AI-Powered Materials Science Startup with $300M

Periodic Labs, founded by OpenAI's Liam Fedus and Google Brain's Ekin Dogus Cubuk, emerged from stealth with a $300 million seed round to automate materials science discovery using AI. The startup combines robotic synthesis, ML simulations, and LLM reasoning to discover new compounds, particularly superconductors, in a fully automated lab environment. The team has recruited over two dozen top AI and scientific researchers and is already conducting experiments, though robotic systems are still being trained.

Coco Robotics Establishes Physical AI Research Lab with UCLA Professor to Leverage Five Years of Delivery Robot Data

Coco Robotics, a last-mile delivery robot startup, has appointed UCLA professor Bolei Zhou as chief AI scientist to lead a new physical AI research lab. The lab will leverage millions of miles of data collected by Coco's delivery robots over five years to develop autonomous navigation systems and reduce delivery costs. This initiative is separate from Coco's existing collaboration with OpenAI and focuses on improving the company's own automation capabilities.

SoftBank Acquires ABB Robotics for $5.4B to Advance Physical AI and ASI Vision

SoftBank Group announced the acquisition of ABB Group's robotics business unit for $5.375 billion, with the deal expected to close in mid-to-late 2026. The acquisition is part of SoftBank's strategic focus on "physical AI" and its stated mission to realize Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), combining advanced robotics with AI capabilities. ABB's robotics division employs 7,000 people and generated $2.3 billion in revenue in 2024, producing robots for industrial tasks like picking, cleaning, and painting.

Alibaba Partners with Nvidia to Integrate Physical AI Development Tools into Cloud Platform

Alibaba has announced a partnership with Nvidia to integrate Physical AI software stack into its cloud platform, enabling development of robotics, autonomous vehicles, and smart spaces through synthetic data generation. The deal coincides with Alibaba's expanded AI investment beyond $50 billion and the launch of its new Qwen 3-Max language model with 1 trillion parameters.

TechCrunch Equity Podcast Covers AI Safety Wins and Robotics Golden Age

TechCrunch's Equity podcast episode discusses recent developments in AI, robotics, and regulation. The episode covers a live demo failure, AI safety achievements, and what hosts describe as the "Golden Age of Robotics."

Robotics Startup Investment Surges to $6 Billion as Industry Matures Beyond AI Hype

Venture investors poured $6 billion into robotics startups in the first seven months of 2025, making it one of the few non-AI categories experiencing funding growth. Industry veterans argue this surge stems from a decade of market maturation, falling hardware costs, and lessons learned from earlier failures, rather than just recent AI advancements. The focus remains on practical applications in manufacturing, warehousing, and healthcare rather than consumer humanoid robots.

FieldAI Secures $405M to Develop Physics-Based Universal Robot Brains for Cross-Platform Embodied AI

FieldAI raised $405 million to develop "foundational embodied AI models" - universal robot brains that can work across different robot types from humanoids to self-driving cars. The company's approach integrates physics into AI models to help robots safely adapt to new environments while managing risk, addressing traditional robotics limitations in generalization and safety.

Nvidia Launches Cosmos World Models and Infrastructure for Physical AI and Robotics Development

Nvidia unveiled new Cosmos world models including Cosmos Reason, a 7-billion-parameter vision language model designed for physical AI applications and robotics. The company also introduced neural reconstruction libraries, new servers, and cloud platforms to support robotics development workflows. These announcements represent Nvidia's strategic expansion into robotics as the next major application for AI GPUs beyond data centers.

AI Video Companies Luma and Runway Target Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles for Revenue Expansion

AI video-generating startups Luma and Runway are exploring partnerships with robotics and self-driving car companies as potential new revenue streams beyond their current focus on movie studios. Luma is particularly positioned for this expansion given their announced goal of building 3D AI world models that can understand and interact with physical environments.