Key Takeaways

· At Unit 4 of Canada's Bruce nuclear station, a single six-axis robotic arm installed all 480 calandria tubes, 25 days faster than on Unit 3

· NTSB preliminary findings: a Waymo drove past a school bus in Austin because a remote assistance operator answered one question wrongly

· Waymo has been approved to join Ontario's autonomous vehicle pilot, giving its Toronto testing provincial permission

· Nvidia open-sourced the robot agent framework ASPIRE; with GPT-6 Astra as the underlying model, its success rate on 80 LIBERO-Pro tasks reached 99%

· CAICT report: in global humanoid shipments in the first half, entertainment/commercial performances and education/research/data collection together account for more than 60%, with smart manufacturing at about 13%

· Aitu, the sewing-robot unit of Jack Technology (Chinese sewing machine maker), has started production at its manufacturing base, with planned annual capacity of 10,000 units

An electronic skin with over 10,000 sensing units, read out in parallel along the human tactile pathway · perception

If electronic skin is to cover a humanoid robot's whole body, readout is the unavoidable hurdle: as sensing units multiply, the latency, crosstalk and bandwidth cost of polling them one by one all grow together. This NI-skin ionic electronic skin integrates more than 10,000 sensing units at a density of 1,110 per square centimeter; each unit has its own characteristic frequency, so all signals can be transmitted simultaneously over a single channel, with a full-frame sampling rate of 100 frames per second.

Team of Chuan Fei Guo (Southern University of Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, MBZUAI, et al.) · Nature Machine Intelligence · Coverage: Bioengineer.org source

Allied Universal (US) ｜ SoftBank in talks to acquire ｜ about $18 billion · adjacent ⚠️ Rumor-based

According to a report cited by the Japan Times, SoftBank is considering acquiring Allied Universal, a leading US security company; FourWeekMBA reported a figure of about $18 billion and tied the deal to AI robotics. Neither side has confirmed. This month the FT reported that Masayoshi Son is putting together a fund of up to $100 billion, planning to acquire companies and then transform their operations with AI and machines, including technology from SoftBank's robotics business Roze. Source: Japan Times source; FourWeekMBA source

Faraday Future robotics business ｜ Definitive agreement to merge into FFR ｜ valued at about $200 million · humanoid

What was signed on September 28 was a non-binding term sheet; this time Faraday Future (FFAI) has signed a definitive agreement with FFR to merge all of FFAI's robotics business into FFR. According to the announcement's headline, the business is valued at about $200 million, priced at $2.246 per share, roughly a 50% premium. Source: Menafn source

120ft (Sweden) ｜ Angel round ｜ €576,000 · industrial ⚠️ Company-reported

This Stockholm company plans to fit a micro-factory operated by humanoid robots into three 40-foot shipping containers, with material preparation, assembly, inspection and packaging all done inside. The factory is owned and operated by 120ft, and brands pay per finished unit. The company says the time to teach a robot one end-to-end assembly skill has fallen from seven weeks in 2025 to seven hours in 2026, with a target of seven minutes in 2027. Unite.AI notes that the announcement gives no success rate, no range of tested products and no frequency of human intervention. The round drew 22 angel investors, including EQT partner Ted Persson and Cherry Ventures partner Sophia Bendz. Source: Unite.AI source

Qingtian Zhilian (Xi'an) ｜ Strategic round ｜ amount undisclosed · adjacent

Co-invested by iFlytek (Chinese AI company) and Feikuo Technology. The company was only founded on March 26 this year; it does feature customization, motion choreography and multimodal interaction development on various makers' robot bodies, serving scenarios such as cultural-tourism shows, government and corporate reception, and campus inspection; it is also the northwest China flagship operator of the robot rental platform "Qingtian Zu". Source: Sohu source

Zhuge Robotics (Shandong) ｜ Pre-A round ｜ amount undisclosed · adjacent

Co-invested by the Pudong Science and Technology Innovation Investment Fund, Shijiazhuang Quchuang Technology and Xunwei. The core product is the AI LOOK assistant robot for blind users, which needs no pre-scanned maps or human teleoperation and can help blind people travel independently. Source: Sohu source

China's embodied-AI funding in September (Gasgoo tally) ｜ 49 deals ｜ only 2 at the RMB 1 billion level · adjacent ⚠️ Compiled figures

According to Gasgoo's embodied-AI tally (Gasgoo is a Chinese auto and industry media outlet), in the first 9 months of this year China's embodied robot and core component sector disclosed 51 rounds at the RMB 1 billion level, with 10 each in April and June; only two crossed that threshold in September, a $400 million Series C for D-Robotics (Chinese robotics-chip firm) and a new round of over RMB 1 billion for Sudu Technology, neither directed at general-purpose humanoid complete machines. September still had 49 deals in total, with seed and angel rounds making up about 37%, and companies in the force/tactile-sensing segment raising money most densely. The tally includes 10 unlisted companies reported to be valued at RMB 20 billion or more. Source: Gasgoo source

A six-axis robotic arm installed 480 calandria tubes on a reactor face, 25 days faster than on the previous unit · industrial

Bruce Power announced on October 13 that all 480 calandria tubes at Unit 4 of the Bruce nuclear station in Ontario have been installed and sealed at both ends, 25 days faster than the same milestone on Unit 3; Unit 3 was the first reactor this robotic arm worked on. CANDU reactors have no pressure vessel and load fuel through 480 channels running across the heavy-water tank, each channel made of two nested tubes: the pressure tube inside and the calandria tube outside. After about 30 years of neutron irradiation the tubes lengthen and become brittle, and must be pulled out and replaced in a batch. The robotic arm follows an automated program to push a metal liner into the end of each calandria tube, then roll-expands the joint to the target diameter, 960 joints in all, with no one in front of the reactor face during the work. Unit 4 shut down in February last year to begin a three-year major component replacement; the next step is installing the fuel channels. Source: Autonocion source

Aitu's sewing-robot manufacturing base starts production, planned at 10,000 units a year · industrial

In August, Aitu put a dual-arm humanoid into a garment factory to do pre-sewing steps such as separating cut pieces and aligning them. Now parent company Jack Technology says Aitu's sewing-robot manufacturing base in Taizhou Bay New Area has formally started production, with planned annual capacity of 10,000 units. Aitu released a prototype in 2025 and has since iterated it with customers on real production lines across different fabrics, styles and processes. Aitu CEO Zhang Hanwen said the company aims to help garment makers solve "labor shortages, low efficiency and unstable quality". Next it plans to enter footwear, bags and home textiles. Source: Chao News source

Deep Robotics' wheel-legged robot joins a scientific expedition into Ailao Mountains · embodied

In a press release, Deep Robotics (Chinese quadruped robot maker) said its Lynx M20S helped researchers scout routes, observe wildlife, record footage and carry supplies in the Ailao Mountains in Yunnan. With visibility of only 20 to 30 meters in the mountain fog, the robot goes ahead to scout and streams wide-angle video back to researchers' devices in real time. The robot has an IP67 protection rating and a stated operating temperature range of -30 to 55 degrees Celsius. Source: FinancialContent source

NTSB: Waymo drove past a stopped school bus because a remote operator answered wrongly · autonomy

At 7:55 a.m. on January 12, an empty Waymo Jaguar I-Pace was the first vehicle stopped behind a school bus loading students in Austin, with the bus's red lights flashing and stop arm extended. The vehicle asked Waymo's remote assistance team whether the bus's signals were on. According to the NTSB's preliminary findings, an operator in Novi, Michigan answered "no," and the car then drove past the bus. Waymo had just launched recall 25E-084 over this issue, covering 3,067 vehicles: the software fix was pushed to the entire driverless fleet eight weeks before the incident, and the recall was filed with federal regulators about a month before it. Before the recall, the Austin school district had already logged 19 similar incidents, and Waymo knew of 12 citations itself. The Auto Wire's analysis argues that recall rules, Austin's camera citations and Texas's newly issued robotaxi permits all govern the code on the vehicle, while the remote-assistance link is covered by almost none of them. Source: The Auto Wire source

Waymo approved to join Ontario's autonomous driving pilot · autonomy

Waymo began manually driven mapping in Toronto this week, and the announcement at the time mentioned no permit. Now Ontario has approved it to join the province's autonomous vehicle pilot program. The process is the usual one: first manual HD mapping, then testing on public roads with a safety driver, then removing the safety driver, and finally opening to the public, with the first passengers targeted for 2028. The fleet will be managed by local company Element Fleet Management. Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana called this an important milestone in Waymo's global expansion; Toronto is also the northernmost city it has entered and perhaps the hardest in winter. The pilot regulation this permit relies on expires on October 13, 2027, more than a year before the passenger target. Source: TechCrunch source; TokenPost source

CAICT report: over 60% of first-half humanoid shipments went to entertainment/commercial performances and education/research/data collection · humanoid

The Artificial Intelligence Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), together with Tsinghua University's Department of Electronic Engineering and others, released the English edition of the Embodied Intelligence Development Report (2026) in Hangzhou on October 16. The report says global humanoid robot shipments in the first half exceeded 22,000 units, up nearly 300% year on year. By use, entertainment/commercial performances and education/research/data collection together exceed 60%, guided tours and shopping guidance about 19%, smart manufacturing about 13%, and warehousing and logistics about 5%. The total matches the figure Counterpoint published in August; China News Service's report does not say whether the report drew on that firm; over the same period Frost & Sullivan gave 36,000 units and IDC nearly 25,000. By number of companies covered in the report, Beijing has 109, Guangdong 84 and Shanghai 58, together about 62%. Source: China News Service source

Shenzhen's robot exports in the first 8 months reached RMB 11.13 billion, up 12.2-fold year on year · adjacent

Shenzhen customs data show that in the first 8 months of this year, Shenzhen's separately itemized robots of all types were exported to a total value of RMB 11.13 billion, up 12.2-fold year on year; for the first 7 months it was RMB 8.58 billion and 10.5-fold. According to CCTV Finance, a senior US delegation visited Nanshan's "Robot Valley" on the afternoon of the 16th. Liu Tuo, founder of Shenzhen Tuoji Technology, said that prototyping in Silicon Valley takes two months because parts have to be sourced globally, while in Shenzhen "perhaps 90% of parts can be found in 'Robot Valley'". Source: National Business Daily / Sina Finance source

Whether a robot costs $2 or $35 an hour comes down to hours worked · adjacent

Roland Berger's figure is $2 per hour, JPMorgan's is $10 to $12, and reports on early industrial deployments exceed $35. A Fortune commentary breaks these numbers apart: Roland Berger counts only electricity, software, networking and routine maintenance, excluding the cost of buying or leasing the machine. A $90,000 industrial robot amortized over five years at 2,000 hours a year works out to about $9 per hour for hardware; at only 1,000 hours, that cost doubles. JPMorgan estimates that it currently takes about two humanoid robots to match one worker's output. The piece cites Agility's S-4 as the clearest public evidence: Digit has run a cumulative 65,000-plus hours across 9 customer sites, and 2025 net sales were only $1.78 million. Source: Fortune source

Free pipe repairs in exchange for data: HUMXN puts capture gear on repair workers in three cities · adjacent

Data company HUMXN is subsidizing plumbing, electrical, HVAC, duct-cleaning and carpet-cleaning services in three cities; homeowners get them free on condition that they allow technicians wearing "wearable capture devices" into the home to work, with the recorded repair video used to train robots. Founder Thomas Unise said home-service technicians complete millions of highly skilled tasks every day, "but that expertise barely exists in a form AI systems can learn from". Source: Tom's Hardware source

Asleep with FSD on, a Tesla hits a California police vehicle at a crash scene · autonomy

On the night of October 13, in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 near Fairfield, California, a Tesla sped into a lane closed after an earlier fatal crash and hit a parked California Highway Patrol vehicle, seriously injuring the two officers inside. The 22-year-old driver told investigators he fell asleep after turning on FSD. In releasing the dashcam video, the CHP pointedly reminded the public that FSD is only Level 2 driver assistance and the driver must supervise at all times. Source: Sina News source

China proposes revising its technology export catalog, adding three categories including AI · adjacent ⚠️ Compiled figures

According to PBS, China said it will tighten exports of technology including AI on national security grounds. Details relayed by a CNFOL account: the relevant authorities plan to revise the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export, adding 40 technologies across three fields, AI, biomedicine and photovoltaics; technologies already open-sourced and normal international technology cooperation are unaffected. Source: PBS source; CNFOL source