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
A new essay argues that the fastest near-term impact of AI on the physical world won't come from robots, but from AI systems directing human workers step-by-step, similar to how GPS navigation already tells drivers what to do. The author calls this 'teleoperation,' where AI handles strategy and broad awareness while humans execute the physical actions AI can't yet perform itself. The piece uses driving and GPS as an early, already-normalized example of this pattern.
jefftk.com
· 2026-09-20
XDOF, a startup founded by UC Berkeley researchers Philipp Wu and Fred Shentu that supplies teleoperation data for training robots, is reportedly in late-stage talks for a Series B round valuing it at roughly $1.2 billion, led by 8VC. The company raised a $70 million Series A only in June, but investors approached it again after its annualized revenue climbed toward $50 million. The final size of the raise and whether it includes new capital in the valuation remain unconfirmed, and terms could still shift.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-04
GoKawiil