#robotics

General Intuition’s $2.3B bet that video games can train AI agents for the real world

General Intuition, a New York-based AI startup, has raised $320 million at a $2.3 billion valuation to scale AI agents trained on hundreds of millions of hours of video gameplay. The company's key differentiator is action-labeled gameplay data — records of button presses and timing — sourced from Medal, a gaming clip platform co-founded by CEO Pim de Witte. Unlike competitors inferring actions from video alone, General Intuition embeds this action data to train a single model capable of playing games, navigating simulated environments, and controlling physical robots. A quadruped robot was fine-tuned for real-world navigation using just eight minutes of street data. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst, Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, and researchers from Google DeepMind and MIT. The company plans to offer its model via API and build a data flywheel across gaming, simulation, and robotics use cases, while explicitly ruling out lethal military applications.

General Intuition’s $2.3B bet that video games can train AI agents for the real world

General Intuition has raised $320 million at a $2.3 billion valuation to scale AI agents trained on hundreds of millions of hours of video game footage. The key differentiator is action-labeled gameplay data — records of button presses and timing — rather than video alone, which the company argues enables richer causal understanding. The same model powering a Fortnite-playing agent also drives a quadrupedal robot that required only 8 minutes of real-world fine-tuning. The round was led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, and Google DeepMind researchers. General Intuition plans to sell its agentic model as a foundation for gaming, simulation, and robotics use cases via an API, while also launching Nerve, a jobs marketplace letting gamers earn income through data labeling and robot teleoperation.

Increasing Local GPS Accuracy For A Small Robot

Standard GPS receivers only achieve around two-meter accuracy, which is insufficient for precise robotic navigation. RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) GPS solves this by using a base station at a known location to transmit phase-angle correction data to a mobile receiver, enabling centimeter-level accuracy. GreatScott! demonstrates this on a tracked robot platform, placing the base station on a fence post and the RTK receiver on the robot. While the RTK system itself proved accurate enough, the robot's steering hardware and algorithms became the limiting factor for hitting centimeter-sized targets. The setup demonstrates practical applications like autonomous lawn mowing and amateur land surveying.

Tombot raises $7m to bring its robotic dog Jennie to market

Tombot has closed a $7 million Series A3 round to scale manufacturing of Jennie, its autonomous robotic Labrador puppy designed as a companion for people with dementia, cognitive impairment, anxiety, loneliness, autism, and PTSD. Investors include healthcare and aging-services backers such as Caduceus Capital Partners and the Lutheran Foundation for Long Term Living. The company reports over 23,000 pre-orders and waitlist sign-ups ahead of a planned Fall 2026 commercial launch — its first shipments to paying customers. Jennie mimics the behavior of an 8-to-10-week-old puppy and is pitched as delivering companionship benefits without the care burden of a live animal.

Shifting Gears: How Gemini Upgrades Senior RPA Architecture

Chuyên gia RPA tại Softbinator Technologies chia sẻ cách tích hợp Google Gemini vào quy trình phát triển RPA nâng cao giúp tăng năng suất. Thay vì đóng vai trò hướng dẫn mới, Gemini hoạt động như người đánh giá ngang hàng và trình xác thực logic cho các nhiệm vụ như di chuyển từ VB.NET sang C#, xử lý lỗi doanh nghiệp, gỡ lỗi trường hợp biên với Excel COM/API, và học nhanh UiPath Apps/Studio Web.

Lập trình viên chuyên nghiệp nên đọc bài này để khám phá cách sử dụng AI như Gemini không chỉ hỗ trợ giải quyết vấn đề kỹ thuật mà còn nâng cao hiệu quả trong việc thiết kế hệ thống và tối ưu hóa quy trình phát triển RPA.

Hyundai robot strike: union votes to fight automation

Hyundai's union, representing nearly 40,000 workers, voted 92% to authorize a strike with automation at the center of the dispute. The union is demanding a veto over deployment of Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid robots in Hyundai and Kia factories, where up to 25,000 units are planned by 2028. Workers fear the robots — which cost less than two years of a worker's wage — will replace rather than assist them. The standoff highlights a broader global question about who controls the decision to replace human labor with machines, and could set a precedent for labor negotiations across Asia's manufacturing sector.

China humanoid robot forecast doubles to 50,000

Morgan Stanley has doubled its China humanoid robot shipment forecast for the second time in 2026, now projecting 50,000 units this year — up from an initial estimate of 14,000. The bank values China's humanoid market at $2bn in 2026, rising to $15bn by 2030, with global shipments expected to reach 446,000 units annually by then. Chinese firms dominate, holding 80%+ of global humanoid shipments, with companies like Unitree leading and Xpeng planning mass production. Beijing's 'embodied AI' policy, cheap land for startups, and easy bank lending are accelerating adoption. Deployments are moving from trade-show demos into factories, convenience stores, and restaurants. Morgan Stanley tips component supplier Leaderdrive as a key investment play. Risks include geopolitical tensions limiting overseas expansion, a crowded market of 150+ competing firms, and buyers who remain largely unimpressed with current offerings.

Agility Robotics plans to go public via SPAC in a $2.5B deal

Agility Robotics, maker of the Digit bipedal humanoid robot, is going public via a SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI in a deal valuing the company at approximately $2.5 billion. The transaction is expected to generate over $620 million in proceeds, including $200 million from institutional investors. Backed by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Agility currently operates Digit robots across nine customer sites including Toyota and GXO. The company plans to use the capital to scale production of its next-generation Digit v5, fulfill over $300 million in multi-year orders, and expand its customer base of 30+ potential large-scale deployment prospects.

Apple suppliers race to Hong Kong: $4bn in a week

Two of Apple's largest Chinese suppliers, Luxshare Precision and Lingyi iTech, are racing to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the same week, together raising roughly $4bn. Both companies are using the capital to pivot from smartphone component manufacturing toward AI hardware and humanoid robotics. Lingyi raised $1.1bn at the top of its price range and is targeting 500,000 humanoid robots annually by 2030, while Luxshare is gauging interest for a ~$3bn listing. The rush is partly driven by a June filing deadline that lets companies avoid refiling financials. Hong Kong IPO proceeds are on track for a six-year high of $43bn in 2026. Analysts note caution: Hong Kong shares priced at steep discounts to mainland listings, China's humanoid robot sector is crowded with over 150 competitors, and demand at scale remains unproven.

Agility Robotics is reportedly going public via a $2.5B SPAC deal

Agility Robotics, maker of the Digit bipedal humanoid robot, is reportedly in talks to go public via a SPAC merger valuing the company at around $2.5 billion. The deal is unconfirmed and the SPAC partner unnamed. Agility last raised a $400M Series C in March 2025 at a $2.12B valuation. Unlike most well-funded humanoid competitors that remain private, Agility is pursuing the faster SPAC route. Its commercial pitch centers on actual warehouse deployments — over 100,000 totes moved for GXO Logistics — and a robots-as-a-service subscription model backed by Amazon's Industrial Innovation Fund. The move comes amid a broader robotics investment boom, with $27.6B flowing into the sector in 2025, though commercialization remains a challenge across the industry.

Ultrasound imaging turns a robot hand into a skillful mimic

MIT researchers have developed a wristband equipped with an ultrasound sticker that captures real-time images of wrist muscles, tendons, and ligaments as the hand moves. An AI algorithm translates these images into precise finger and palm positions, enabling wireless control of a robotic hand with high dexterity. Demonstrations include playing piano and manipulating virtual objects. The team plans to miniaturize the hardware, expand training data across diverse hand types, and ultimately build a wearable tracker for controlling humanoid robots or virtual environments in real time.

Reinventing the zipper

Researchers at MIT CSAIL, led by associate professor Stefanie Mueller, have developed a customizable three-sided zipper fastener inspired by a 1980s patent by William Freeman. Using custom software, users can design and 3D-print flexible plastic strips that zip together to form rigid objects in various shapes. Applications include a tent that assembles in 80 seconds, an adjustable wrist cast, and motorized robotic limbs. The design allows objects to rapidly transition between flexible and rigid states.

HaloBraid raises $7M to build the first robotic braiding assistant for hair salons

HaloBraid, a robotics startup building an automated braiding assistant for hair salons, has raised $7M in a seed round led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six. The device works alongside professional stylists — a braider starts each braid by hand, then HaloBraid finishes it in seconds, roughly five times faster than a human. Founder Yinka Ogunbiyi, an engineer with Harvard credentials, was inspired by a four-day DIY braiding attempt during COVID-19. The market opportunity is substantial: an estimated 8 billion hours are spent braiding hair annually, sessions can last 6–12 hours, and professional braiders face serious repetitive strain injuries. The technology borrows from material science and inkjet printing to handle hair as a mechanical substrate. HaloBraid plans to launch in salons later this year, with a team of 15 using the funding for product development, manufacturing, and salon partnerships. The company is also exploring a device to undo braids.

Luminvera bets on immersive software for robotics

Luminvera, a Silicon Valley startup founded in March 2026, has pivoted from an AR wearable hardware product to pure B2B software targeting the robotics industry. Founder Lu Yang, a former Bosch and Mercedes-Benz IT project manager, built the company around the problem of engineers drowning in thousands of pages of flat 2D specifications when designing inherently 3D machines. The new product is an AI-driven spatial design workspace that converts dense specification documents into structured 3D constraints engineers can interact with directly. The pivot away from hardware was partly driven by Microsoft discontinuing HoloLens 2 with no successor, making hardware bets risky. Luminvera now competes against established AR/industrial software players like PTC, Scope AR, and Augmentir, but differentiates by targeting the design-stage engineer rather than the floor technician, and focusing specifically on robotics rather than manufacturing broadly. Yang presented the company at the Founder Institute's Silicon Valley Spring 2026 graduation.