Robotics

Chinese robots have beaten Usain Bolt’s 100 m record. Should we be impressed?

2026-08-28T23:00:00.000Z
Softbank’s plans follows its agreement last year to acquire Swiss engineering group ABB’s robotics business for US$5.4 billion. 

SoftBank in talks to buy stake in humanoid developer 1X at US$6 billion valuation: report

2026-08-27T04:41:36.000Z
While its robots have drawn attention for running and performing martial arts, Unitree has had little success in broader commercial applications.

China robot maker Unitree’s shares slump 45% after fivefold IPO surge, sparking bubble fears in sector

2026-08-25T05:01:52.000Z
Unitree’s humanoid robots at the 2026 World Robot Conference, in Beijing, China. Is humanoid the best form factor across different use cases, or should robots be more optimised for the use case?
DUE DILIGENCE

Beyond the backflipping humanoid: where will the robotics returns actually be earned?

2026-08-24T10:32:43.000Z
Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing said that the company’s biggest current investment in terms of capital and manpower is in world models and that it is “lagging behind” in the real-world application of physical AI models.

Robots poised for ‘ChatGPT moment’: Unitree CEO

2026-08-20T04:14:57.000Z
XPeng intends to launch its humanoid robot, Iron, next year.
THINKING ALOUD

When robots are helping, who is watching?

2026-08-12T23:00:00.000Z
Humanoid robots dance at the Unitree booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026.

Unitree’s Shanghai IPO 5,526 times subscribed by retail buyers

2026-08-11T01:51:57.000Z
A child interacting with Unitree's GO2 robot in Beijing. Unitree will give preference to DeepSeek when procuring model-training services and technical solutions.

DeepSeek invests US$20.8 million in Unitree's Shanghai IPO

2026-08-06T14:35:24.000Z
The official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party has warned of countermeasures against widening US technology curbs.

US ban on Chinese AI components unlikely to dent export engine

2026-08-05T10:10:43.000Z
The move lands just weeks before a planned Trump-Xi summit in the US in September.

The US ban on new Chinese robots could backfire

2026-08-03T23:00:00.000Z