Technology

Humanoid Robot Timeline 2026-2030

Humanoid robots made big physical gains in 2026, including a robot 100m run of 8.64 seconds, faster than Usain Bolt's human record time. But speed is not usefu…

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RESEARCH ERA

Honda ASIMO and two decades of locomotion research

Honda's ASIMO (from 2000) and Toyota's research made bipedal walking, balance and human-robot interaction serious engineering fields. ASIMO was retired as an active deve…

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MODERN WAVE

Tesla announces the Tesla Bot; the funding rush begins

Tesla announced a humanoid robot in 2021 and showed prototypes from 2022. Figure AI, 1X, Apptronik and Chinese firms raised large rounds in the same window. Cheaper actu…

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PLATFORM SHIFT

Boston Dynamics retires hydraulic Atlas, reveals electric Atlas

Boston Dynamics retired its hydraulic Atlas and revealed a fully electric Atlas the next day. The famous backflip and parkour clips belong to the old hydraulic robot. Th…

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FACTORY PILOTS

Figure 02 completes a 10-month BMW pilot; UBTech starts Walker S2 production

Figures reported jointly by Figure and BMW: Figure 02 contributed to producing 30,000-plus BMW X3 vehicles, placed 90,000-plus sheet-metal parts, logged 1,250-plus opera…

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COMMERCIAL DEAL

Agility Robotics signs a Robots-as-a-Service deal with Toyota in Canada

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada signed a Robots-as-a-Service agreement with Agility Robotics after a pilot, deploying Digit robots at its Woodstock, Ontario plant for…

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SEQUENCING

Figure 03 returns to BMW Spartanburg for multi-step sequencing

Figure 03 was deployed at BMW's Spartanburg plant on a sequencing use case - picking components from unsorted bins into just-in-sequence trolleys for assembly workers. F…

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CHATGPT MOMENT

Unitree CEO: robotics is approaching a 'ChatGPT moment'

At the World Robot Conference on 20 August 2026, Wang Xingxing said the industry is marching toward a 'ChatGPT moment' in embodied intelligence - 2 to 3 years away at be…

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ATHLETIC MILESTONE

Tiangong Ultra runs 100m in 8.64 seconds

At the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing (22-26 August), Tiangong Ultra won the 100m final in 8.64 seconds, faster than Bolt's 9.58-second human record time -…

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ANNOUNCED TARGET

Hyundai plans to deploy electric Atlas at its Georgia plant

Hyundai Motor Group announced it will deploy Boston Dynamics' electric Atlas at Metaplant America in Georgia from 2028, starting with parts sequencing and moving toward…

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