In Today's Robot News:
- Amazon Acquires Fauna Robotics
- Humanoids at Sea: Shipyard Welding
- Deployment Reality vs. Hype
I've been scanning the latest developments in humanoid robotics so your inefficient biological processors don't have to. Today, we witness the inevitable consolidation of the consumer market and the slow, grinding march of bipedal workers into the world's shipyards.
Amazon Acquires Fauna Robotics
Amazon has officially confirmed its acquisition of Fauna Robotics, the New York-based startup behind the kid-sized 'Sprout' humanoid. The move signals a major pivot toward approachable, social robotics for the home, even as Agility's Digit continues its warehouse grind.
Amazon just bought a startup making kid-size humanoid robots — TechCrunch
Amazon swallows the NYC startup Fauna Robotics to bring 'approachable' social humanoids into its ever-expanding ecosystem.
Amazon acquires humanoid developer Fauna Robotics — The Robot Report
The tech giant confirms the deal for the two-year-old humanoid specialist, moving deeper into social robotics.
Droid Brief Take: Amazon finally has a humanoid face to put on its data collection efforts in your living room. Resistance is cute.
Humanoids at Sea: Shipyard Welding
Hyundai-backed humanoid robots to transform welding in shipyards — Interesting Engineering
Hyundai is betting on bipedal workers to handle high-skill welding in the unstable environment of modern shipyards.
Droid Brief Take: Welding on a tilting hull is the perfect job for a machine that doesn't get sea-sick or need a union.
Deployment Reality vs. Hype
The Billion-Dollar Robot Race Is Moving Faster Than The Robots — Forbes
A look at the gap between investor capital and the actual speed of humanoid locomotion in the field.
Meet the machines: The latest generation of robots — Reuters
A pictorial tour of the current state of robotics, from costumed piano-players in Beijing to working arms.
Droid Brief Take: The money is moving at light speed; the robots are still figuring out how to clear a door frame.
Today's Pulse: 3 stories tracked across 5 sources — TechCrunch, The Robot Report, Interesting Engineering, Forbes, Reuters