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Arion and Finecokwak Partner on Fixed-Wing UAV and Aerial Target Solutions

Arion and Finecokwak signed an MOU to jointly pursue domestic and international fixed-wing UAV and low-altitude target-aircraft markets. The companies plan to combine Arion’s AI-based drone operations and control software with Finecokwak’s aircraft platforms, cooperate on subsystems such as flight control, communications and ground-control equipment, and consider joint bids or consortiums. The announcement describes planned cooperation, not a completed deployment or contract award.

Robot NewspaperOct 23, 2026Details

learning

Inha University SPARO Wins IROS 2026 Workshop Award and Places Second in IMU Challenge

Inha University’s SPARO lab received the IROS 2026 AI Meets Autonomy workshop Best Paper Award for a vision-language-model method that detects LiDAR–camera misalignment across different environments without additional training. Team SPARO also placed second among 131 teams in the IMU Odometry Challenge, estimating motion across vehicles, quadruped robots, drones and handheld devices with one learned model. The lab additionally presented radar localization, collaborative SLAM and underwater depth-completion research.

Robot NewspaperOct 23, 2026Details

learning

Dream Labs raises $90M and launches Dream API

Dream Labs announced $90 million in seed funding and launched Dream API, which it says converts a robot camera feed and plain-English instructions into motor commands. Its Dream-1 model is trained on video of people performing everyday tasks and is claimed to transfer across robot hardware without robot-specific data. The company says it currently handles tabletop tasks, including picking and placing objects and folding laundry.

The Robot ReportOct 22, 2026Details

humanoid / US

AGCO plans Digit humanoid pilot at Kansas factory

AGCO and Agility Robotics signed a commercial agreement for a U.S. pilot of Digit at AGCO’s Hesston, Kansas, manufacturing site, expected to begin in 2027. The humanoid is intended to support assembly and production work, including sorting and stacking parts and placing totes for storage. The companies describe the planned deployment as a way to automate repetitive or strenuous tasks; the article does not report results from an operating pilot.

The Robot ReportOct 21, 2026Details

robotics

A guide to Day 2 of RoboBusiness 2026

RoboBusiness 2026’s second-day program features a humanoids panel on current capabilities and industrial deployment challenges, alongside sessions on robotic tools for overhead power-line work, synthetic-tendon dexterous hands, and AI troubleshooting demonstrated on an industrial warehouse robot. The agenda also includes a session on SparkE-B, a robot for safer electrical work, and discussions of perception, decision-making, and manipulation in real-world deployments.

The Robot ReportOct 21, 2026Details

robotics

Gecko Robotics’ Navy contract ceiling expands by $300 million

Gecko Robotics says the U.S. Navy and General Services Administration increased the ceiling value of its existing contract by $300 million, six months after an initial $71 million award. The expansion supports wider deployment of inspection robots, including Komodo, which scans through non-skid deck coatings to map corrosion and material thickness. Gecko says its technology can identify structural issues up to 50 times faster than traditional inspections; the article does not report actual shipments or spending.

The Robot ReportOct 20, 2026Details

humanoid

The Robot I Didn’t Expect to Build

Agility Robotics has launched Digit 5, a humanoid warehouse worker designed to lift 23-kilogram bins onto high shelves. The company says its battery can run for 90 minutes on a 9-minute charge, and the robot is designed for safe operation alongside human coworkers. The article describes Digit 5 as a product shaped by deployment requirements, following earlier bipedal robots developed for research and commercial trials.

IEEE SpectrumOct 19, 2026Details

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humanoid

Video-to-Sim-to-Real Pipeline Trains Apollo 2 for Cornhole

In an internal test, Google DeepMind researchers used Gemini 4 Argon to analyze a video of a person playing cornhole, build a MuJoCo simulation, and calculate physics and whole-body control for Apptronik’s Apollo 2 humanoid. The article says the robot then made seven consecutive shots in the real world. DeepMind describes the pipeline as reducing modeling work from weeks to a few hours.

IEEE SpectrumOct 16, 2026Details

locomotion

Perseverance Sets a Mars Rover Distance Record With Autonomous Driving

NASA’s Perseverance rover reached 28.10 miles (45.22 kilometers) of travel on Mars, surpassing Opportunity’s rover-distance record. Its AutoNav system handles about 90 percent of driving, using onboard terrain mapping to find safe routes; a second processor with an FPGA speeds image processing. The team also added Mars Global Localization to reduce position uncertainty, while human planners continue to set goals and review routes.

IEEE SpectrumOct 13, 2026Details

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robotics

ERF2027 Scientific Track Extends Call for Papers Deadline

The ERF2027 Scientific Track invites peer-reviewed work on robotics and AI for robotics, emphasizing sustainable and circular industrial applications such as repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and material recovery. The submission deadline has been extended from 12 October to 26 October 2026. Accepted papers are slated for an open-access volume in Springer’s Proceedings in Advanced Robotics series.

euRoboticsOct 11, 2026Details

learning

Video Friday: Robot Decommissioning Takes a Fun Turn

The roundup highlights Workhorse, a system that learns contact-rich whole-body manipulation from human demonstrations without requiring a robot during demonstration. On a real Unitree G1, it sorts boxes using its hands and a kick, catches a thrown box, and topples and climbs a suitcase. The article also features MIT’s SANDO navigation system and a soft underwater robot with three swimming modes.

IEEE SpectrumOct 9, 2026Details

manipulation

This Disembodied Hand Is All the Robot You Need

ETH Zurich researchers turned an off-the-shelf robotic hand into a self-contained mobile manipulator, adding an 80-gram backpack with a battery, IMU, and Raspberry Pi Zero. Reinforcement learning trained it to crawl and perform separate skills including righting itself, pressing keys, and pushing objects. In tests, it crossed 14 surfaces at an average 9 cm/s and pushed a 41-gram cube to targets up to 40 cm away in 15 consecutive trials.

IEEE SpectrumOct 8, 2026Details

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