Elon Musk shuts down ‘4D chess’ theory on Tesla Optimus production
Elon Musk shuts down ‘4D chess’ theory on Tesla Optimus production

Elon Musk has directly rejected a popular fan theory that Tesla is secretly further ahead on Optimus than it lets on, warning instead that production of its humanoid robot “will be extremely slow at first.”
The comment cuts against a bullish narrative …

China’s UBTech unveils eerily lifelike companion robots, and yes, they want to move in with you

UBTech’s new Uworld U1 humanoid robots are designed to live alongside people, learning routines, recognizing emotions, and holding natural conversations. The company even envisions customized versions that can recreate a person’s face and voice.

Why everyone from OpenAI to SpaceX is building their own chips (and turning up the heat on Nvidia)

Nvidia has dominated the AI chip market for years, but the era of total dependence might be ending.   OpenAI just shared its plans to spice things up with Jalapeño, its custom inference chip built with Broadcom, joining Google, Apple, an…

The Secret to Marathon-Winning Humanoid Robots
The Secret to Marathon-Winning Humanoid Robots

On April 19, 2026, the Honor Lightning humanoid robot ran a half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by 7 minutes and the best robot time from 2025 by almost two hours.How did they do it? Is there some magical technol…

Beyond Dexterity: Why Contact May Define the Next Era of Robotics
Beyond Dexterity: Why Contact May Define the Next Era of Robotics

This article is brought to you by AGILINK.Throughout the exhibition hall at the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics (ICRA), in Vienna, one demonstration seemed to attract a disproportionate amount of attention.Two robotic hands were making …

This DIY Bipedal Robot Used Pneumatic “Air-Muscles” Instead of Motors
This DIY Bipedal Robot Used Pneumatic “Air-Muscles” Instead of Motors

In 1987, Richard Greenhill, a British photographer who was fascinated by (but had no actual training in) robotics, decided he wanted to build a life-size humanoid that could do useful things, like carrying luggage. He was working at a startup called I…

China will put a unique ID code on humanoid robots, just like citizen ID for us humans

China’s new humanoid robot ID system works like a citizen identity code. a unique number that follows each bipedal machine through its entire life cycle.

Meta buys robotics startup to bolster its humanoid AI ambitions

Meta bought humanoid startup Assured Robot Intelligence to beef up its AI models for robots, the company said.

This absurdly cheap, cartwheeling humanoid robot may be heading to the US

Unitree’s R1, one of the most affordable humanoid robots yet, could soon make its way to international markets, including the US.

Video Friday: Digit Learns to Dance—Virtually Overnight
Video Friday: Digit Learns to Dance—Virtually Overnight

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.ICRA 20…