RoboticaGuide: Humanoid Robot and Embodied AI News

Robotica Guide covers humanoid robots, embodied AI and large language models, with a focus on what companies have actually shipped, demonstrated or disclosed. Every article links its primary sources and labels company claims, demos, pilots and deployments for what they are. Edited by Brandon Cook.

Eka Robotics' black two-finger gripper closing gently on a raspberry on a gray tabletop, in a slow-motion still from Eka's website

Eka Robotics' black two-finger gripper closing gently on a raspberry on a gray tabletop, in a slow-motion still from Eka's website

Eka Robotics Is Worth $1.45 Billion for Teaching Robots to Feel. Its Customers Are Still Secret

October 21, 2026

Robot arms from several makers on long white lab tables at Dream Labs, one gripper lifting a container, in a still from the Dream-1 launch video

Robot arms from several makers on long white lab tables at Dream Labs, one gripper lifting a container, in a still from the Dream-1 launch video

Dream Labs’ Dream-1 Runs Robots for $3 an Hour. The Fine Print Says Research Only

OpenAI's pixel-art mascots for its GPT-6 models, a crescent moon in a spacesuit, a flame-haired figure and a swirling purple galaxy figure, on a starry black background

OpenAI's pixel-art mascots for its GPT-6 models, a crescent moon in a spacesuit, a flame-haired figure and a swirling purple galaxy figure, on a starry black background

OpenAI on Google Cloud: GPT-6 Astra, Sol and Luna Are in Preview, and Google Hasn’t Posted a Price

Latest

A dithered black-and-white group photo of about a dozen people sitting and standing in an office lounge, published on Inception's website

A dithered black-and-white group photo of about a dozen people sitting and standing in an office lounge, published on Inception's website

Mercury 3 Undercuts GPT-6 Luna Only While It’s 50% Off, and Its 1,068-Token Speed Claim Shrinks on OpenRouter

Skild AI’s S1 and Self-Play Soccer: What the Robot Brain Can Do, and What Skild Hasn’t Shown

Guides and Explainers

Dark grey Figure 03 humanoid robot holding a black plastic car body part beside green parts bins at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg, with a second Figure 03 working in the background

Dark grey Figure 03 humanoid robot holding a black plastic car body part beside green parts bins at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg, with a second Figure 03 working in the background

Humanoid Robot Readiness Levels: How to Tell a Demo From a Real Deployment

A six-step scale for humanoid robot claims, from render and demo to pilot, commercial deployment and open orders, with where Optimus, Atlas, Figure 03, Digit, NEO and Unitree G1 sit in October 2026.

October 14, 2026

Apptronik Apollo humanoid robot in a warehouse aisle reaching toward shelving while holding a barcode scanner, head visible

Apptronik Apollo humanoid robot in a warehouse aisle reaching toward shelving while holding a barcode scanner, head visible

Bipedal vs Wheeled Humanoid Robots: What Actually Changes

October 7, 2026

What Is a Robot Foundation Model? (VLA, GR00T, Helix and Open Weights)

October 7, 2026

ISO and Safety Standards for Humanoid Robots: What Applies in 2026

October 7, 2026

Comparisons

Grey and silver robotic hand gripping black scissors that are cutting a sheet of white paper on a wooden table

Grey and silver robotic hand gripping black scissors that are cutting a sheet of white paper on a wooden table

Unitree Dex5-S Robot Hand Costs From $6,350. Atlas and Sharpa Haven’t Named a Price

Unitree lists its 22-joint Dex5-S robot hand from $6,350. How it compares with Atlas's new 13-joint hand, Sharpa's W02 and Tesla's tactile-sensor patent, and what none of them has proved yet.

October 12, 2026

A Unitree G1 humanoid robot standing on a lit stage, next to a Tesla Optimus humanoid robot displayed in a glass case

A Unitree G1 humanoid robot standing on a lit stage, next to a Tesla Optimus humanoid robot displayed in a glass case

Humanoid Robot Prices 2026: Every Published Price, Checked

October 12, 2026

Close-up of the Flourish 1 home robot's round white head with two small rectangular eyes under a wide pale-green conical hat

Close-up of the Flourish 1 home robot's round white head with two small rectangular eyes under a wide pale-green conical hat

The $3,555 Flourish 1 Home Robot Comes With No Warranty and No Returns

October 11, 2026

White Astribot T1 robot with a black visor-style face and a cap, one gripper raised, at a riverside railing in front of a yellow suspension bridge

White Astribot T1 robot with a black visor-style face and a cap, one gripper raised, at a riverside railing in front of a yellow suspension bridge

Astribot’s T1 Robot Starts at $18,000 in the US. What the Price Does and Doesn’t Cover

October 10, 2026

Robot Companies

Rows of black AgiBot Expedition A2 humanoid robots standing on stands inside an AgiBot facility

Rows of black AgiBot Expedition A2 humanoid robots standing on stands inside an AgiBot facility

AgiBot Is Putting 1,000+ Robots Into Chinese Universities. What Its RMB 200 Million Figure Leaves Out

AgiBot says it will place 1,000+ humanoid and quadruped robots plus AIMA software, valued at RMB 200M, in 20+ Chinese universities. Terms and per-school counts are undisclosed.

October 20, 2026

Three Unitree humanoid robots dancing on a stage with LED lighting in Unitree's UniUni swarm control launch video

Three Unitree humanoid robots dancing on a stage with LED lighting in Unitree's UniUni swarm control launch video

Unitree Releases Free UniUni App to Choreograph H2 and G1 Humanoid Swarms

October 19, 2026

A row of lifelike UBTech UWORLD U1 humanoid robots in fashion outfits standing and sitting on display pedestals under UWORLD screens

A row of lifelike UBTech UWORLD U1 humanoid robots in fashion outfits standing and sitting on display pedestals under UWORLD screens

UBTech’s U1 Companion Humanoid Costs $17,800 to $147,300. Here’s What the Price Leaves Out

October 19, 2026

Humanoid robot placing an auto part at a workstation on a Hangzhou auto-parts production line, photographed October 13, 2026

Humanoid robot placing an auto part at a workstation on a Hangzhou auto-parts production line, photographed October 13, 2026

Leju Put 15 Humanoids on a Hangzhou Auto-Parts Line. The Cycle Is Still Twice as Slow as a Worker

October 19, 2026

The Hugo Robot From Boston Dynamics’ Ex-Strategy Chief Has 43 Actuators. A Human Is Still Driving It

October 18, 2026

Agility Says Digit 5 Will Charge in 9 Minutes. Nyobolt Batteries Arrive in 2027

October 18, 2026

Policy and Safety

Unitree G1 humanoid robot walking across a city plaza while two pedestrians watch from a doorway

Unitree G1 humanoid robot walking across a city plaza while two pedestrians watch from a doorway

China Publishes Its First Humanoid Robot Standards. The Safety Rules Come Later

China's market regulator has issued six national humanoid robot standards, GB/T 48317.1-.5 and GB/T 48316, effective April 1, 2027. Unitree, UBTECH, XPENG and Xiaomi helped draft them. They're…

October 17, 2026

Robros IGRIS-C humanoid robot hanging from an overhead safety gantry while engineers work beside it, one wearing a teleoperation rig

Robros IGRIS-C humanoid robot hanging from an overhead safety gantry while engineers work beside it, one wearing a teleoperation rig

Why Humanoid Robots Can’t Just Stop: Inside Their Safety Systems in 2026

A silver Robros IGRIS-C humanoid robot with a rounded white head and the number 24 on its shoulder hangs in a support frame beside machine tools while an engineer adjusts it

A silver Robros IGRIS-C humanoid robot with a rounded white head and the number 24 on its shoulder hangs in a support frame beside machine tools while an engineer adjusts it

South Korea Lets 20 Robros Humanoids Work Beside People Without Safety Fences

Rows of silver-and-black UBTech Walker S2 humanoid robots standing in formation on a grey concrete floor in a large hall

Rows of silver-and-black UBTech Walker S2 humanoid robots standing in formation on a grey concrete floor in a large hall

Shanghai Wants 8,000 Humanoid Robots in Its Factories by 2028. Here’s What the Plan Actually Says

Humanoid Robots

The small black PhoneBot biped robot walks on a wood floor beside a sofa, with an Android phone mounted as its torso

The small black PhoneBot biped robot walks on a wood floor beside a sofa, with an Android phone mounted as its torso

UCLA’s PhoneBot Is a $400 Walking Humanoid That Runs on an Old Android Phone

October 19, 2026

Small white FF Nova humanoid robot standing on a workbench while a developer adjusts it with a tool, laptop and robot schematics in the background

Small white FF Nova humanoid robot standing on a workbench while a developer adjusts it with a tool, laptop and robot schematics in the background

FF Nova Is a $2,490 Humanoid Robot. It’s Also 50 Centimeters Tall

October 18, 2026

White Galbot ET1 humanoid robot with a glossy black visor standing on a lawn beside a pink-striped drinks stand with balloons, a smiling girl behind the stall

White Galbot ET1 humanoid robot with a glossy black visor standing on a lawn beside a pink-striped drinks stand with balloons, a smiling girl behind the stall

Galbot ET1 Starts at 79,000 Yuan. The Hands and the Bigger Brain Cost More

October 17, 2026

RoboParty RP1 Is Open Source. The Price Still Isn’t

October 16, 2026

Humanoid Robot Production Numbers: AgiBot Says 20,000, Unitree Says 18,000. What Each Really Counts

October 16, 2026

Embodied AI

Nature Will dual-arm robot with dexterous hands holding a calligraphy brush at a desk in the Natura-1 demo

Nature Will dual-arm robot with dexterous hands holding a calligraphy brush at a desk in the Natura-1 demo

Nature Will’s Natura-1 Beats π0.5 on Its Own Benchmark. The Rivals Were Scored With Grippers

October 20, 2026

A black robot gripper with blue soft fingers grasping a Rubik's Cube on a white table, with a second robot arm and gripper reaching in from the left and a white arm on the right

A black robot gripper with blue soft fingers grasping a Rubik's Cube on a white table, with a second robot arm and gripper reaching in from the left and a white arm on the right

NVIDIA’s ASPIRE Taught Robot Arms to Solve a Rubik’s Cube by Writing Code. The First Turns Cost $17 Each

October 18, 2026

White Galbot humanoid robot stands behind an arch of oversized orange, yellow and blue blocks in a lab with a GALBOT watermark

White Galbot humanoid robot stands behind an arch of oversized orange, yellow and blue blocks in a lab with a GALBOT watermark

Galbot’s PASSAGE System Walks Humanoids Through Clutter Without Skill Labels

Yellow CAT wheel loader and articulated dump truck on a dusty Utah worksite, from Physical Intelligence's Actor partner demo for the Pi API beta

Yellow CAT wheel loader and articulated dump truck on a dusty Utah worksite, from Physical Intelligence's Actor partner demo for the Pi API beta

Physical Intelligence Opens a Pi API Beta. Price and Hardware Support Still Blank

AI Models

A carrot-shaped rocket with green leafy fins flies above the curve of the Earth in MiniMax's Space Bunny teaser video

A carrot-shaped rocket with green leafy fins flies above the curve of the Earth in MiniMax's Space Bunny teaser video

MiniMax M3.1 Flash Is Space Bunny, at $0.15/$0.60 per Million Tokens. Its Cost Chart Bills DeepSeek at Peak Rates

MiniMax says the anonymous Space Bunny model was an early M3.1 Flash. The API costs a flat $0.15/$0.60 per 1M tokens, the same as DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 off-peak, but MiniMax's cost chart…

October 19, 2026

Soft abstract blue and teal liquid-style graphic from Liquid AI's d1-ultra blog hero, no burned-in title or price

Soft abstract blue and teal liquid-style graphic from Liquid AI's d1-ultra blog hero, no burned-in title or price

Liquid’s d1-ultra Price Is $0.042 — Same as Microsoft-Decision-1 — and Leads the Decision Index at 65.2. It Knows When Not to Guess

October 18, 2026

Reflection’s Beam Is Free to Download. Running It Takes Four B300s

October 17, 2026

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Keeps Its $0.15/$0.60 Price, and the US Workday Is Off-Peak. Its Benchmark Table Skips Opus 5.5

October 17, 2026