Flourish Robots has begun taking preorders for its Flourish 1 humanoid robot, priced at $3,555 for the first 50 units, with deliveries planned for December. The company says the robot can learn household chores like sorting items, watering plants and cleaning litter boxes within about 30 minutes using a smartphone app, with no coding required, and an optional subscription will cover cloud compute for some AI features. CEO Antoine Marcel says the robots are already in manufacturing, with battery supply lead times being the main scheduling factor.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-29
Feather Robotics, founded in 2025 by Hoa Mai and Parsa Bakhtiari, has launched a modular robotic hardware system that developers can customize and run with third-party AI models. The startup, backed by a previously announced $7.6 million pre-seed round from Gradient Ventures, says it has already surpassed $1 million in revenue selling small quantities of robots for uses including restaurant cooking in Japan and cleaning science labs.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-24
Agility Robotics has introduced Digit 5, a humanoid robot equipped with a safety system that lets it detect nearby humans and respond by moving away, freezing in place, or crouching into a seated position. Early access is planned for the first half of 2027, with wider availability by year's end, and the robot will be produced at Agility's retooled RoboFab facility in Salem, Oregon.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-15
Days after the World Humanoid Robot Games concluded in China, the PLA's official newspaper urged researchers to speed the shift of humanoid robot technology from labs into military training. A Reuters review of over 100 Chinese procurement notices, patents, academic papers and defense-company documents found the country is actively researching combat applications for these machines and planning for eventual battlefield use alongside robot dogs and unmanned vehicles.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-07
Beijing hosted the second World Humanoid Robot Games, a five-day event featuring humanoid robots competing in sprints, weightlifting, and cheerleading routines. Alongside genuine performance gains over last year's inaugural games, the event was marked by spectacular malfunctions, including robots losing limbs, catching fire, and crashing into judges' tables.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-30
More than 600 teams, mostly from Chinese universities and robotics firms, brought humanoid machines to Beijing's second World Humanoid Robot Games from August 22 to 26. Alongside sprint, jump and combat contests, organizers added scenario-based challenges like shelving books and making beds, scoring autonomous performances higher than remotely operated ones. Robots set records in speed and jumping, but researchers noted that everyday chores remain far tougher for machines than flashy athletic feats.
nature.com
· 2026-08-27
The World Humanoid Robot Games concluded in Beijing on August 26, drawing over 600 teams and more than 2,000 robots from China and 15 other countries. Highlights included the Tiangong Ultra robot completing a 100-meter dash in 8.86 seconds and Honor's Lightning robot finishing in 9.47 seconds, alongside newer challenges testing fine manipulation skills like using tweezers.
wired.com
· 2026-08-26
At the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing (August 22-26), robots competing in a 100-meter sprint and standing high jump beat human world records set by Usain Bolt and others, marking a jump from last year's event where they trailed human performance. Some sprinting robots couldn't stop in time, crashing into barriers, falling, and in a few cases breaking apart with sparks or catching fire, while separate tasks like hanging laundry showed robots still moving far slower than humans.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-25
At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, the Tiangong Ultra robot ran a preliminary 100-meter heat in 9.39 seconds, beating Honor's Lightning robot (9.47s) and outpacing Usain Bolt's 9.58-second world record. Both robots crashed into padding at the finish line, with some needing human assistance to be carried off, and the event is part of a multi-day competition featuring soccer, table tennis, boxing and other robotic sports through August 26.
hardware.slashdot.org
· 2026-08-24
At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, the bipedal robot Tiangong Ultra completed a 100-meter dash in 9.39 seconds during a preliminary heat, edging past Honor's Lightning robot at 9.47 seconds and beating Usain Bolt's 2009 human record of 9.58 seconds. Tiangong Ultra also posted a 400-meter time of 38.16 seconds, faster than Wayde van Niekerk's 2016 world record.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-24
At Beijing's second World Humanoid Robot Games, the Tiangong Ultra robot ran a preliminary 100-meter heat in 9.39 seconds, faster than Usain Bolt's 9.58-second human record, and beat Honor's Lightning robot, which finished in 9.47 seconds. Many competitors, including the winners, crashed into padding or needed human help afterward, though the times mark a big jump from last year's 21.5-second winning run.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-23
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