Latest news with #humanoid
Fox News
02-06-2025
- General
- Fox News
Humanoid robot malfunctions, sparks viral panic
A chilling video circulating on social media has reignited old anxieties about robots turning against their creators. The footage shows a Unitree H1 humanoid robot, a machine about the size of an adult human, suddenly flailing its arms and legs with alarming force during a test, coming dangerously close to two technicians. The scene has sparked heated debate about the safety of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence. But is this truly the beginning of something out of our worst fears, or is there just a straightforward technical explanation for what happened? In the viral clip first posted on Reddit, the Unitree H1 is seen suspended from a crane at a Chinese factory, surrounded by two handlers. Without warning, the robot loses control, thrashing its limbs, knocking over equipment and forcing the technicians to scramble out of harm's way. The chaos is palpable, and the images quickly drew comparisons to movies like "The Terminator" and "I, Robot," with many viewers wondering if the age of rogue machines had finally arrived. The Unitree H1 is not a prototype but a commercially available, general-purpose humanoid robot. Standing 5.9 feet tall and weighing 104 pounds, it's designed to walk, run and even perform dynamic movements like backflips and dancing. Its joints are powerful and capable of generating 365 pound-feet of torque, enough to lift heavy objects or, in the wrong circumstances, cause serious harm. Despite the frightening visuals, the reality is far less sinister. According to engineers and robotics experts, the root cause of the malfunction was a combination of software and design oversight. During the test, the H1 was tethered by its head for safety, a common practice during public demonstrations. However, this physical restraint was not accounted for in the robot's balance algorithm. The robot's sensors interpreted the resistance from the tether as if it were constantly falling. In response, the H1's stabilization software tried to correct its position, but the tether prevented normal movement. This created a feedback loop: the robot made increasingly aggressive corrections, resulting in the violent flailing seen in the video. Investigators concluded that this was not a case of emergent AI behavior but rather a known failure mode triggered by an unanticipated physical constraint and software flaw. Although no one was seriously injured, the incident set off a wave of panic online. Many viewers saw the video without any technical context, fueling fears of a robot uprising. The imagery alone was enough to make people question whether advanced robots are safe to have around humans. Experts, however, were quick to clarify that the malfunction was not evidence of a conscious or rebellious machine. Instead, it highlighted the importance of thorough safety protocols and testing, especially when deploying powerful machines in environments shared with people. This event highlights some important lessons for both the robotics industry and the public. First, safety protocols are essential. Even with the most advanced hardware, unexpected interactions between software and the physical world can create dangerous situations. Second, transparency from manufacturers plays a crucial role. When companies provide quick and clear explanations, they can help prevent panic and stop misinformation from spreading. Finally, it is important to remember that artificial intelligence is not sentient, at least not yet. The Unitree H1's behavior was caused by programming and sensor misinterpretation, not by any independent thought or intent. The viral Unitree H1 video is a reminder that technology, especially when it's powerful and autonomous, demands respect and caution. While the footage is unsettling, the true story is one of technical error, not a robot rebellion. As robots become more common in our workplaces and public spaces, incidents like this will serve as important lessons for engineers, regulators and the public alike. For now, the machines are not plotting against us, but they do need careful supervision and thoughtful design to keep everyone safe. If you saw a robot lose control right in front of you, would you trust having machines like this in your daily life? Why or why not? Let us know by writing us at For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Follow Kurt on his social channels: Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions: New from Kurt: Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
Forbes
02-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Strategy Behind Hugging Face's Acquisition Of Pollen Robotics
Reachy 2 In April 2025, Hugging Face acquired Pollen Robotics, a France-based company that develops humanoid robots, including Reachy 2. This marks a milestone in the convergence of generative AI and robotics, known as physical AI. This article analyzes the strategic reasons behind Hugging Face's acquisition of Pollen Robotics. Hugging Face's acquisition of Pollen Robotics demonstrates a long-term vision for the future of AI technology, as it evolves from digital intelligence to physical form. The strategy is based on three core pillars: 1) Vertical integration of the AI-to-robotics stack 2) Ecosystem leverage through their massive developer community 3) Timing advantage as foundation models become capable of controlling physical systems. The acquisition gives Hugging Face immediate access to Pollen's flagship Reachy 2 humanoid robot, a $70,000 research platform already deployed at prestigious institutions such as Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon. With 7 degrees of freedom, bio-inspired arms capable of handling 3 kg payloads, advanced VR teleoperation and fully open-source hardware designs, the Pollen Robotics Reachy 2 offers a proven platform for Hugging Face to build upon instead of starting from scratch. The timing proves particularly strategic given several converging factors. Nvidia recently chose Hugging Face as the preferred platform for its GR00T N1 humanoid robot foundation models, signalling industry recognition of Hugging Face's platform capabilities. Meanwhile, the remarkable growth of Hugging Face's LeRobot library to over 12,000 GitHub stars in just 12 months demonstrated strong developer demand for open robotics tools. The acquisition also follows Hugging Face's strategic hire of Remi Cadene, a former Tesla Optimus engineer, who now leads their robotics division. While Hugging Face has emerged as the largest collection of open-source and open-weight models, Pollen Robotics focuses on the vision of open hardware for robotics. This acquisition combines the strengths of open-source software with open hardware design in the field of robotics. The embodied AI market has reached an inflection point where theoretical capabilities meet practical applications, driven by breakthroughs in foundation models for robotics and dramatic cost reductions in hardware components. AI models such as Pi0 from Hugging Face, Nvidia's GR00T N1 and Google's Gemini Robotics extend the power of generative AI to robotics. Instead of generating text or media content, these models are trained to send commands directly to the robotic hardware. They leverage multimodal AI by combining video content and policies to generate commands that control robots. The combination of Hugging Face's AI infrastructure and Pollen's robotics expertise creates technical synergies that neither company could achieve independently. Hugging Face brings 1.5 million models and datasets hosted on its platform, proven infrastructure serving 12 petabytes of data, and deep expertise in transformer architectures and diffusion models. This AI foundation provides the intelligence layer essential for next-generation robotics. Hugging Face's acquisition of Pollen Robotics represents more than a product expansion. It marks a fundamental shift in how AI and robotics will evolve together. By combining proven AI infrastructure with capable robotics hardware under an open-source philosophy, Hugging Face creates unique value that neither pure software nor pure hardware companies can replicate. The broader implications extend beyond corporate strategy. If Hugging Face succeeds in democratizing robotics as they've democratized AI, we may see an explosion of innovation similar to what followed the open-sourcing of deep learning frameworks.
South China Morning Post
21-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's army of robot makers jostle for attention in overcrowded market
Chinese robotics developers showcased their products at an exhibition in Guangzhou this week, as the market began to look like the country's electric vehicle industry a few years ago when hundreds of players battled for survival. Many of the firms at the Guangzhou International Intelligent Robot Exhibition, a three-day event with 800 exhibitors, have plans to achieve large-scale production this year, with many feeling upbeat after the US slashed tariffs as part of an agreement between Beijing and Washington. Robotic arm maker Li-Gong Industrial – based in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province – plans to produce 1,000 units of its first bipedal Lidian D1 humanoid, company account manager Marin Ma said at the exhibition. Launched in August 2024, the 170cm tall Lidian D1 is a general purpose machine that can be used for research, manufacturing and services. Robotic arms carry out packaging operations at the Global Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 17, 2025. Photo: Xinhua Ma said the product, now mainly used in manufacturing plants for applications such as car assembly, would be able to fulfil service needs in three years. Shenzhen DX Intech Technology, which develops robotic receptionists and tour guides, said it would reach a monthly production capacity of up to 200 units this year. The robots, which cannot walk, are able to talk and interact with humans, and can be made with a customised appearance. They have been adopted in Beijing's Forbidden City and Summer Palace, as well as in the airports of Shenzhen and Hangzhou, said Zhu Wen, DX Intech's channel director. The start-up is preparing to expand overseas, noting that distributors in the US are now more willing to negotiate on purchases given the lowered tariffs, Zhu said. Both firms showcased their products at the Guangzhou exhibition that kicked off on Wednesday. The event attracted more than 500 firms that provide the technology to power robots, smart manufacturing and smart warehousing.
Associated Press
21-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Realbotix and 10Things Partner to Demonstrate Real-World Embodied AI at Humanoid Summit
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2025-- Realbotix Corp. (TSX-V: XBOT) (Frankfurt: 76M0.F) (OTC: XBOTF) (' Realbotix ' or the 'Company'), a leader in AI-powered humanoid robotics, is partnering with 10Things, an innovator in language-to-action AI, to showcase a joint demonstration at the Humanoid Summit in London, UK, on May 29–30. The demonstration will feature a Realbotix humanoid integrated with 10Things' robotic arms, creating a responsive, voice-controlled system capable of performing tasks like operating a tablet, grasping objects, and handling tools - all in real time. What Makes This Different: 'This collaboration is about using robotics to improve daily living,' said Andrew Kiguel, CEO of Realbotix. 'By combining physical embodiment with responsive dialogue and task execution, we're showing how these systems can offer real support in the home. Our AI robots have mastered human social interaction. Combined with the ability to take verbal instructions to complete household tasks, will be a game changer for our humanoids.' 'Our first product focus will be a robotic platform designed for human interaction and safety, developed in partnership with Realbotix,' said Kimate Richards, CEO of 10Things. 'This collaboration will showcase a human-centered robotic solution. Realbotix's technology is built to make interactions with robots more natural and personal. As these platforms may involve private information and biometric data, safety and privacy are essential. At 10Things, we are building our core framework using the latest in generative technologies, with safety, reliability, privacy, and security as foundational pillars to ensure consumer trust and deliver truly human-first robotic experiences.' Visit Realbotix and 10Things at the Humanoid Summit, May 29–30 in London, England, to see the demonstration in person. Brands and businesses interested in partnering with Realbotix can contact [email protected]. Manufactured in the United States, Realbotix specializes in realistic, customizable robots built for entertainment, customer service, and personal well-being. Our patented AI and robotics technologies enable lifelike expression, motion, and social engagement, making us a category leader in the rapidly evolving field of human-centric robotics. Product site Corporate and Investor site Keep up-to-date on Realbotix developments by joining our online communities on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Follow Aria, our humanoid robot, on Instagram and TikTok. 10Things will be launching their new website on May 26, 2025. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain forward-looking statements as well as management's objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward looking statements are frequently identified by such words as 'may', 'will', 'plan', 'expect', 'anticipate', 'estimate', 'intend' and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, as described in more detail in our securities filings available at Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. View source version on CONTACT: Andrew Kiguel, CEO Email:[email protected] Jennifer Karkula, Head of Communications Email:[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Telephone: 647-578-7490 KEYWORD: EUROPE UNITED STATES UNITED KINGDOM NORTH AMERICA NEVADA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ROBOTICS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HARDWARE SOURCE: Realbotix Corp. Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/21/2025 07:30 AM/DISC: 05/21/2025 07:29 AM
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NVIDIA Powers Humanoid Robot Industry With Cloud-to-Robot Computing Platforms for Physical AI
NVIDIA Cosmos New NVIDIA Isaac GR00T Humanoid Open Models Soon Available for Download on Hugging Face GR00T-Dreams Blueprint Generates Data to Train Humanoid Robot Reasoning and Behavior NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstations and RTX PRO Servers Accelerate Robot Simulation and Training Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Foxconn, Lightwheel, NEURA Robotics and XPENG Robotics Among Many Robot Makers Adopting NVIDIA Isaac TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- COMPUTEX -- NVIDIA today announced NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N1.5, the first update to NVIDIA's open, generalized, fully customizable foundation model for humanoid reasoning and skills; NVIDIA Isaac GR00T-Dreams, a blueprint for generating synthetic motion data; and NVIDIA Blackwell systems to accelerate humanoid robot development. Humanoid and robotics developers Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Fourier, Foxlink, Galbot, Mentee Robotics, NEURA Robotics, General Robotics, Skild AI and XPENG Robotics are adopting NVIDIA Isaac™ platform technologies to advance humanoid robot development and deployment. 'Physical AI and robotics will bring about the next industrial revolution,' said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. 'From AI brains for robots to simulated worlds to practice in or AI supercomputers for training foundation models, NVIDIA provides building blocks for every stage of the robotics development journey.' New Isaac GR00T Data Generation Blueprint Closes the Data Gap Showcased in Huang's COMPUTEX keynote address, NVIDIA Isaac GR00T-Dreams is a blueprint that helps generate vast amounts of synthetic motion data — aka neural trajectories — that physical AI developers can use to teach robots new behaviors, including how to adapt to changing environments. Developers can first post-train Cosmos Predict world foundation models (WFMs) for their robot. Then, using a single image as the input, GR00T-Dreams generates videos of the robot performing new tasks in new environments. The blueprint then extracts action tokens — compressed, digestible pieces of data — that are used to teach robots how to perform these new tasks. The GR00T-Dreams blueprint complements the Isaac GR00T-Mimic blueprint, which was released at the NVIDIA GTC conference in March. While GR00T-Mimic uses the NVIDIA Omniverse™ and NVIDIA Cosmos™ platforms to augment existing data, GR00T-Dreams uses Cosmos to generate entirely new data. New Isaac GR00T Models Advance Humanoid Robot Development NVIDIA Research used the GR00T-Dreams blueprint to generate synthetic training data to develop GR00T N1.5 — an update to GR00T N1 — in just 36 hours, compared with what would have taken nearly three months of manual human data collection. GR00T N1.5 can better adapt to new environments and workspace configurations, as well as recognize objects through user instructions. This update significantly improves the model's success rate for common material handling and manufacturing tasks like sorting or putting away objects. Early adopters of GR00T N models include AeiRobot, Foxlink, Lightwheel and NEURA Robotics. AeiRobot employs the models to enable ALICE4 to understand natural language instructions and execute complex pick-and-place workflows in industrial settings. Foxlink Group is using them to improve industrial robot manipulator flexibility and efficiency, while Lightwheel is harnessing them to validate synthetic data for faster humanoid robot deployment in factories. NEURA Robotics is evaluating the models to accelerate its development of household automation systems. New Robot Simulation and Data Generation Frameworks Accelerate Training Pipelines Developing highly skilled humanoid robots requires a massive amount of diverse data, which is costly to capture and process. Robots need to be tested in the physical world, which can present costs and risk. To help close the data and testing gap, NVIDIA unveiled the following simulation technologies: NVIDIA Cosmos Reason, a new WFM that uses chain-of-thought reasoning to help curate accurate, higher-quality synthetic data for physical AI model training, is now available on Hugging Face. Cosmos Predict 2, used in GR00T-Dreams, is coming soon to Hugging Face, featuring performance enhancements for high-quality world generation and reduced hallucination. NVIDIA Isaac GR00T-Mimic, a blueprint for generating exponentially large quantities of synthetic motion trajectories for robot manipulation, using just a few human demonstrations. Open-Source Physical AI Dataset, which now includes 24,000 high-quality humanoid robot motion trajectories used to develop GR00T N models. NVIDIA Isaac Sim™ 5.0, a simulation and synthetic data generation framework, will soon be openly available on GitHub. NVIDIA Isaac Lab 2.2, an open-source robot learning framework, which will support new evaluation environments to help developers test GR00T N models. Foxconn and Foxlink are using the GR00T-Mimic blueprint for synthetic motion manipulation generation to accelerate their robotics training pipelines. Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Fourier, Mentee Robotics, NEURA Robotics and XPENG Robotics are simulating and training their humanoid robots using NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab. Skild AI is using the simulation frameworks to develop general robot intelligence, and General Robotics is integrating them into its robot intelligence platform. Universal Blackwell Systems for Robot Developers Global systems manufacturers are building NVIDIA RTX PRO™ 6000 workstations and servers, offering a single architecture to easily run every robot development workload across training, synthetic data generation, robot learning and simulation. Cisco, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and Supermicro announced NVIDIA RTX PRO-powered servers, and Dell Technologies, HPI and Lenovo announced NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell-powered workstations. When more compute is required to run large-scale training or data generation workloads, developers can tap into NVIDIA Blackwell systems like GB200 NVL72 — available with NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud on leading cloud providers and NVIDIA Cloud Partners — to achieve up to 18x greater performance for data processing. Developers can deploy their robot foundation models to the NVIDIA Jetson Thor platform, coming soon — enabling accelerated on-robot inference and runtime performance. Watch the COMPUTEX keynote from Huang and learn more at NVIDIA GTC Taipei. About NVIDIA NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing. For further information, contact: Paris Fox Corporate Communications NVIDIA Corporation +1-408-242-0035 pfox@ Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, performance and availability of NVIDIA's products, services; NVIDIA's collaborations with third parties and the benefits and impact thereof; third parties using or adopting our products and technologies, the benefits and impact thereof; physical AI and robotics bringing about our next industrial revolution; and NVIDIA providing the ecosystem with the building blocks for every stage of the robotics development journey are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to the 'safe harbor' created by those sections and that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners' products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company's website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Many of the products and features described herein remain in various stages and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The statements above are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and the development, release, and timing of any features or functionalities described for our products is subject to change and remains at the sole discretion of NVIDIA. NVIDIA will have no liability for failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of any of the products, features or functions set forth herein. © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, DGX, NVIDIA Cosmos, NVIDIA Isaac, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, NVIDIA Omniverse and NVIDIA RTX PRO are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
