Author: Robots Daily

A humanoid robot cheaper than an iPhone. In China, it is already happening. Recently, China’s humanoid robot market has seen a sharp turn from “luxury tech” to surprisingly low-cost machines. Noetix Robotics has priced its small humanoid robot Bumi at RMB 9,998, roughly $1,380. Unitree’s R1 Air starts at RMB 29,900, about $4,100, while its better-known Unitree G1 starts at RMB 85,000, around $11,700. Not long ago, most humanoid robots were still research machines, not products ordinary buyers would even consider. Many prototypes and engineering units cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. Now, entry-level models are starting to fall into…

When people hear the words humanoid robot, they often picture Rosie from The Jetsons. Today, that idea is no longer just a fantasy. Humanoid robots are beginning to appear in labs, factories, exhibitions, and even early home-service demos. A humanoid robot is a general-purpose robot designed to resemble the human body, often with two legs, arms, hands, and a torso. The goal is to build a machine that can work alongside people and help improve productivity. The development of AI is also changing what humanoid robots can do. AI helps the robot understand speech, recognize objects, plan actions, and respond…

Try picking up a paper cup full of coffee. You probably don’t think about how much pressure you’re applying with your fingers. You just adjust naturally, without even noticing. But for a robot, even holding that cup without spilling or crushing it is a real challenge. Grip too loosely, and the cup slips. Grip too tightly, and the lid might pop off, or the cup might collapse. This is one of the practical problems that embodied AI still needs to solve. Cameras and vision models can identify an object and locate it, but vision alone isn’t enough once the robot…

Smart Tech Korea 2026, Seoul’s biggest business tech show, runs from June 10 to 12 at COEX in Samseong-dong. For the first time, the event will use all four exhibition halls, A through D, expanding from three halls last year. Last year’s turnout was about 52,000. This year, with the extra space, the target is more than 60,000. The official slogan is “The Tech Nexus — A Technology Ecosystem That Connects All Industries.” The layout shows that shift clearly. First-floor Halls A and B focus on software and digital technologies, including AI agents, cloud services, data platforms, quantum computing, and…

On June 1, 2026, Unitree Robotics passed the IPO review for Shanghai’s STAR Market. Unitree plans to raise about RMB 4.2 billion, roughly $580 million. The proceeds will be used for AI model development, robot hardware R&D, new product commercialization, and production expansion. The IPO application was accepted on March 20, 2026, and cleared review just 73 days later. China’s A-share market is giving hard-tech companies much more attention. In China’s capital market, humanoid robots are starting to sit next to semiconductors, AI, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing as another hard-tech bet. Unitree Has Numbers That Most Robot Startups Still Don’t…

On June 1, during Jensen Huang’s GTC Taipei keynote, Nvidia and Unitree Robotics introduced H2 Plus, a humanoid robot reference design built on Unitree’s H2 body, Nvidia’s Jetson Thor computing platform, and the Isaac GR00T software stack. On the same day, Unitree passed the STAR Market review for its IPO. China’s humanoid robotics sector is under even brighter market attention.H2 Plus is not being pitched as a household robot.  The platform is aimed at universities, robotics labs, AI researchers, and developers who need a serious humanoid testbed but may not have the time, money, or engineering resources to build one…

The 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2026) is underway in Vienna, Austria, running from June 1 to June 5 at the Vienna Congress and Convention Center (VIECON). For researchers, engineers, startups, and robotics companies, ICRA remains one of the industry’s most influential gatherings, offering an early look at technologies that could shape the next generation of real-world robotic systems. This year’s conference covers a broad range of topics, including humanoid robots, robot learning, autonomous systems, medical robotics, perception, manipulation, human-robot interaction, and foundation models for robotics. ICRA 2026 Program Highlights ICRA 2026 opened on June 1…