Imitation learning Latest coverage

Humanoid Robot Patents: China Claims 60% Share, What Next?

The article analyzes China's leading position in the field of humanoid robot patents, noting that as of the first half of 2026, China holds 60.8% of relevant patents, significantly surpassing the United States and South Korea. The article examines the evolution of patent strategies, the trend of technological shift from hardware to software, and the progress made by Chinese companies in patent quality, application scenarios, and global layout. It also points out that patent quantity does not equate to comprehensive technological leadership, emphasizing the challenges of manufacturing costs and quality, as well as the dual role of patents in industrial competition.

Robotics Roadmaps from Around the World: Spotlight of the Month - China

China is pursuing a strategic roadmap through its Five-Year Plans to dominate the global robotics industry, focusing on embodied AI and humanoid robotics. The 13th and 14th FYPs laid the foundation for industrial automation, while the 15th FYP emphasizes embodied intelligence, with state support for R&D and mass deployment of humanoids. Despite achievements in market share and production scale, challenges remain in precision hardware and semiconductor self-sufficiency, with risks of overcapacity and market volatility.

Robotic Systems Lab@leggedrobotics· 15:13SignalEditorial score6363

PragmaBot enables robots to learn from real-world failures through online in-context learning, reflecting on past experiences, storing lessons in memory, and retrieving them for new tasks. This approach avoids the need for retraining, addressing limitations in using VLMs for embodied robotics.

Robots Are Learning to Feel

This article explores how tactile data is helping robots improve their dexterous manipulation skills. Researchers are creating large tactile datasets and models that can use tactile feedback to enhance robot performance in tasks like folding laundry or turning keys. Challenges include the difficulty of integrating tactile data with vision-based models and the need for more diverse and scalable datasets to achieve significant improvements in robot dexterity.

Cyborg Roaches Can Stab You With Needles

Researchers at the University of Queensland have developed 'Paraborgs'—cyborg cockroaches equipped with needles and cameras to assist in search-and-rescue missions. These insects, grafted with electronic interfaces, can navigate rubble, deliver drugs, and operate in teams. The study addresses challenges in autonomy, communication, and human interaction with the technology.

Hy-Embodied-0.5-VLA — LeRobot Model Conversion

LeRobot has released a converted version of the Hy-Embodied-0.5-VLA-UMI model, ensuring full tensor compatibility and validation. The model supports a 16D dual-arm embodiment but cannot express 12D mobile-manipulator actions, indicating limitations in the current representation.

Gemini Robotics 2 brings whole body intelligence to robots

Google DeepMind has released Gemini Robotics 2, a new model that enables robots to perform complex tasks with whole-body intelligence, advanced dexterity, and multi-robot collaboration. The model supports real-time reasoning, on-device adaptation, and safety features for human-robot interaction.

NVIDIA Open Sources First GPU-Accelerated Medical Physics Simulation Framework

NVIDIA has released an open-source, GPU-accelerated Medical Physics Simulation framework as part of its Isaac for Healthcare platform. This tool enables developers to model anatomy-device interactions, generate complex scenarios, and train robot policies in simulation, significantly reducing development time and improving regulatory readiness.

New flapping robot swims and flies like a diving bird

Engineers at MIT and EPFL have developed a flapping-wing robot, or FAAV, that can swim underwater and then flap into the air, mimicking the movement of diving birds. The robot, weighing less than 300 grams, can transition between water and air using optimized wing size, flapping frequency, and tail angle. The study, published in Science, could enable new aerial-aquatic drones for oceanographic research and environmental monitoring.

NVIDIA Releases GR00T N1.7 Model for Generalized Humanoid Robot Reasoning and Skills

NVIDIA has released a cross-embodiment foundation model for humanoid robots, leveraging a Cosmos-Reason2/Qwen3-VL backbone and a flow-matching action transformer. The model is trained using LeRobot and is available for training and deployment under the Apache 2.0 license.

NVIDIA Releases Cross-Embodiment Foundation Model for Humanoid Robots

NVIDIA has released a cross-embodiment foundation model for humanoid robots, leveraging a Cosmos-Reason2/Qwen3-VL backbone and a flow-matching action transformer. The model is trained using LeRobot and is available for training and deployment via Hugging Face.

NVIDIA Releases Cross-Embodiment Foundation Model for Humanoid Robots

NVIDIA has released the 'gr00t17-lerobot-libero_object-640' model, a cross-embodiment foundation model for humanoid robot reasoning and skills. It uses a Cosmos-Reason2/Qwen3-VL backbone and a flow-matching action transformer, trained with LeRobot and available under the Apache 2.0 license. The model supports training and deployment through LeRobot, with detailed instructions provided.

NVIDIA Releases Cross-Embodiment Foundation Model for Humanoid Robots

NVIDIA has released a cross-embodiment foundation model for humanoid robots, leveraging a Cosmos-Reason2/Qwen3-VL backbone and a flow-matching action transformer. The model is trained using LeRobot and is available for training and deployment via the Hugging Face Hub.

Can football teach a robot to move?

Boston Dynamics explores how football can inform robot movement by using human demonstrations and reinforcement learning to train Atlas to perform a complex 'Ghost Rabona' kick, highlighting the intersection of sports and robotics in developing dynamic, whole-body control.

Helix 02 Living Room Tidy

Helix 02, a single neural system that controls the full body directly from pixels, now performs end-to-end living room cleanup, including tasks like cleaning surfaces, handling flexible objects, and bimanual manipulation. The system learns new capabilities through data without requiring new algorithms or specialized engineering.

Introducing Foresight

Dexterity introduces Foresight, a world model that enables robots to reason about the physical world, predict outcomes, and act confidently in real environments. Trained on over 100 million autonomous actions in production, Foresight is designed for interpretability, safety, and performance, with capabilities like predictive branching and pragmatic decision-making. It addresses complex tasks like spatial packing and includes a game and API challenge for further exploration.

Transactable World Models

Dexterity introduces 'Transactable World Models' as a foundational component for Physical AI, emphasizing interpretability, physics integration, and real-time consistency. The approach treats world models as operators rather than data stores, enabling multi-agent coordination and robust manipulation in complex environments. This contrasts with traditional world models that focus on data compression and replay, lacking causal reasoning and physical grounding.

LeRobot v0.4.0: Supercharging OSS Robot Learning

Hugging Face announces LeRobot v0.4.0, a major upgrade for open-source robotics with Dataset v3.0, new VLA models like PI0.5 and GR00T N1.5, and a plugin system for hardware integration. The release also adds support for LIBERO and Meta-World simulations, multi-GPU training, and a new Hugging Face Robot Learning Course.

MoveIt Pro Newsletter September 2025

PickNik announces the release of MoveIt Pro, a commercial robotics software platform built on the open-source MoveIt project. The update highlights new features such as support for FANUC and Kawasaki robots, integration with Meta Quest for AI data collection, Diffusion Policies for end-to-end AI training, and enhanced simulation capabilities with IMU and 3D Lidar support. The platform is designed for unstructured environments, providing tools for motion planning, grasping, perception, and behavior sequencing.

Robots, Rovers, and Regolith: NASA Brings Exploration to FIRST Robotics 2025

NASA showcased its robotic technologies and future space exploration vision at the 2025 FIRST Robotics World Championship, engaging over 55,000 students and 75,000 parents and mentors. The event featured interactive exhibits, including lunar rovers, robotic arms, and the Mars Perseverance Rover, with NASA centers highlighting innovations like automated assembly systems and surface manipulation technologies.