Robotics & Physical AI

Lantronix guided fiscal first-quarter revenue to $31 million to $33 million and non-GAAP EPS to $0.04 to $0.06, while reiterating that unmanned systems will represent 15% to 20% of total revenue in fiscal 2027, with management expecting around $25 million-plus in unmanned revenue for the year. The company reported fiscal Q4 revenue of $31.2 million, up 8% year-over-year, and non-GAAP EPS of $0.04, a 300% increase. Fiscal 2026 revenue was nearly $121 million, up 8% from fiscal 2025's just over $111 million, excluding Gridspertise. Unmanned systems revenue for fiscal 2026 was $12.6 million, driven by policy catalysts including FCC restrictions on China-based DJI and Section 232 tariffs on foreign-made drones. Lantronix also acquired Vecima Networks' Industrial IoT business for $11.7 million, adding about $5 million in annual revenue, and ended the fiscal year debt-free with over $60 million in cash.

Einride posted a 27% increase in revenue for the first half of 2025 following its June 10 IPO, and the company expects that growth rate to roughly double in the second half of the year, CEO Roozbeh Charli said in an interview with FreightWaves. The results represent early progress toward converting approximately $800 million in joint business plans with customers into recognized revenue. Alongside the revenue gains, Einride grew its autonomous driverless operating hours by about 60% in the first half, with roughly 250 trucks deployed on its Saga AI platform across more than 30 customers in seven countries, including Amazon, Heineken, and PepsiCo. The most significant near-term expansion is a 500-truck order for Tesla Semi vehicles, which Einride will purchase, finance through third-party partners, and deploy on its platform as the carrier of record; approximately 75 of those trucks are expected to be deployed before year-end, with the remainder targeted for deployment by the end of next year. Separately, Amazon's middle mile freight network is absorbing 75 Einride electric heavy-duty trucks across five locations, a deal announced in April before the IPO, with the majority expected to be deployed before year-end. Einride is also pursuing a defense business unit built around its Android Driver autonomous software stack, having conducted a pilot for a NATO allied country and added retired General Keith Alexander to its board.

Amazon Web Services and Nvidia announced an expansion of their partnership to meet growing demand for AI infrastructure, planning to deploy 2 million additional Nvidia GPUs across AWS's global infrastructure in 2027-2028. The collaboration covers AI factories, CPUs, networking, open models, data processing, and robotics, with AWS adding Nvidia Blackwell Ultra, Rubin, and Rubin Ultra GPUs, and becoming the first major cloud provider to offer RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs for Amazon EC2 G7 instances. The companies are also bringing Vera CPU-based infrastructure to AWS and building AI factories for the U.S. government, delivering 100,000 GPUs on secure infrastructure for federal and national-security workloads classified at Impact Level 6 and above. AWS CEO Matt Garman emphasized customer choice and seamless integration, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang noted that demand is running ahead of every forecast. Additionally, Nvidia's Nemotron open models are available on Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker, and Amazon Robotics is collaborating with Nvidia on next-generation robots using Nvidia's physical AI platform.

Archer Aviation's shares have surged over 36% in the past month, driven by its acquisition of Boeing's Wisk Aero, SkyGrid, and Insitu units, which will give Boeing a nearly 20% stake in the company. The deal combines autonomy, eVTOL, and uncrewed aircraft capabilities into an end-to-end physical AI platform for aerospace and defense, and adds profitable drone maker Insitu, which generates over $200 million in annual revenue. Additional catalysts include the successful test flight of its Midnight aircraft and Cathie Wood's ARK buying 940,434 shares worth about $4.97 million. However, the company's financials remain weak, with Q2 revenue of only $5 million and a net loss of $263.2 million, while cash burn of $215.3 million per quarter leaves less than two years of runway. Despite the momentum, the stock is down 19% year-to-date, and the deal is expected to close by the end of 2026.

Autonomous trucking provider Gatik raised $200 million in a Series D funding round, its largest to date, to scale its driverless fleet and expand its middle-mile network. The round, led by Qatar Investment Authority and Koch Disruptive Technologies, brings Gatik's total capital raised to about $500 million. The company operates dozens of driverless trucks and targets more than 100 by the end of 2026, with plans to expand to thousands in the years ahead. Gatik has booked over $600 million in contracted revenue and completed 85,000 fully driverless orders, with 99 percent on-time delivery across routes covering up to 400 miles. The funding will support commercial operations, fleet expansion, and continued investment in technology and infrastructure.

Chinese tech and automotive company Xpeng has raised over US$900 million for its robotics business, achieving a post-money valuation of over US$6.3 billion, in what it claims is the largest single-round private financing ever recorded in China's embodied AI industry. The funding round was led by IDG Capital and joined by Gaorong Ventures, with Tencent and Alibaba participating as strategic investors. Xpeng's 'Iron' humanoid robot, which features 76 degrees of freedom and three Turing AI chips, is slated for large-scale deliveries in 2027. The company also reported Q2 revenues of RMB19.74 billion and a gross margin of 20.7%, with overseas deliveries surpassing 20,000 units.

PepsiCo has entered a multi-year commercial agreement with autonomous vehicle startup Gatik to deploy 41 self-driving box trucks for Frito-Lay product distribution, marking a significant step in its logistics automation. Gatik, which raised US$200 million shortly after announcing the deal, will support the rollout of its autonomous middle-mile logistics platform. The partnership targets repeatable distribution routes within PepsiCo's supply chain, aiming to improve efficiency and reduce long-term transport costs. This move aligns with PepsiCo's broader technology-led productivity programs and its focus on supply chain optimization, potentially freeing resources for international expansion and health-oriented product investment. Investors should watch for future disclosures on fleet size, route coverage, and cost savings to gauge the materiality of autonomous logistics to PepsiCo's operations.

Reservoir announced a $10 million, three-year R&D partnership with John Deere to accelerate the development and commercialization of rugged AI technologies for high-value crop agriculture. The announcement was made at Reservoir's inaugural Ruggedize conference. Since opening its Salinas and Sonoma sites in spring 2026, Reservoir Farms has welcomed more than 20 agricultural startups, highlighting early traction for its field-based model. The partnership will also expand innovation opportunities in rural communities by connecting entrepreneurs and deep-tech engineers with growers and industry partners across California, Arizona, and soon other key agricultural regions.

Marti Technologies reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of nearly $20 million, up 141% year-over-year, and achieved positive adjusted EBITDA of $2.9 million for the first time, a $5.3 million improvement from the prior year quarter. Gross profit margin expanded to a record 77%, and the company raised its full-year 2026 guidance to $85 million in revenue and $7 million in adjusted EBITDA. The company, which operates in 30 cities representing about 85% of Türkiye's GDP, saw trips increase 73% to 18.8 million and unique platform consumers grow 76% to 2.4 million. Marti also announced a multiyear partnership with Tensor to deploy autonomous vehicles and is building Türkiye's Autonomous Vehicle Alliance. The company's net loss was $12.5 million, including a one-time noncash loss on debt extinguishment of $8.3 million.

A data collection center for teaching physical AI human tasks, aimed at introducing humanoid robots into factories and logistics sites, went fully operational on the 26th in Narashino City, Chiba Prefecture. Five companies, including the Chinese herbal medicine maker Tsumura and the machinery trading company Yamazen, are participating in its operation, collaborating to collect the vast amounts of work data and conduct AI learning that would be difficult for a single company alone. The consortium "J-HRTI" (Jay Hearty), in which the five companies participate, operates the facility, which houses up to 40 Chinese-made humanoid robots and operators. Operators wearing virtual reality (VR) goggles operate the robots to collect data, and verification for introduction is conducted in an area that reproduces actual work environments. The aim is to introduce the robots for simple tasks such as transportation within this fiscal year. Tsumura Executive Officer Koichi Kumagai said, "As population decline makes it difficult to secure labor, automation and unmanned operations are necessary for stable supply."

Hyundai Motor Company announced an aggressive product offensive at its 2026 CEO Investor Day, reaffirming its 2030 target of 5.55 million global vehicle sales and raising its operating profit margin target to above 9%, up from the previously guided 8–9%. The company plans more than 100 global product launches and refreshes by 2030, including 18+ entries into new segments, with seven new vehicles arriving in the next eight months. Electrified vehicles are expected to reach 60% of sales mix by 2030, up from 23% in 2025, and the first Extended Range Electric Vehicle models launch from the first half of 2027, targeting over 600 miles of range. Hyundai will ramp up U.S. production, building the Santa Fe EREV at its Alabama plant, and expand global manufacturing capacity by 1.27 million units by 2030. The company also plans to scale robotics commercialization with Boston Dynamics, expand its N performance lineup to 100,000 annual sales by 2030, and begin Waymo robotaxi deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2026. In the first half of 2026, Hyundai reported 95.2 trillion won in revenue and a 5.6% operating profit margin.

Venture capitalist Jason Calacanis predicts Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot will become a product bigger than Apple's iPhone, forecasting 1 billion Optimus robots worldwide by 2036. Speaking on the This Week in Startups podcast after watching the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Calacanis said he had recently seen an Optimus demonstration that has not been publicly shown, calling it "the greatest product ever made by humanity." He argued Tesla's hardware is roughly "one and a half generations" ahead of competing robots and predicted Optimus would win 35 of the competition's 51 events. Reuters reported that more than 2,000 robots from 666 teams competed at this year's Games, highlighting China's rapid progress despite robots still struggling with practical tasks. Calacanis guaranteed that in 10 years there will be 1 billion Optimus robots, a scale far beyond the million-unit production targets Tesla has set for its Fremont line, which is being converted from Model S and Model X production. Tesla has committed more than $20 billion to capital spending in 2026, and CEO Elon Musk has cautioned that Optimus will be Tesla's "hardest product to scale manufacturing" due to the need for an entirely new supply chain. Skeptics like investor Ross Gerber and Unitree founder Wang Xingxing question Optimus's near-term prospects, suggesting humanoids may still be years from their "ChatGPT moment."

Robotics startup Generalist has reached a $3 billion valuation after raising nearly $200 million in additional funding, according to a TechCrunch report citing people with knowledge of the matter. The funding was led by 8VC and extends Generalist's $400 million Series B, which was led by Radical Ventures in June at a $2 billion valuation, bringing the total Series B funding to $600 million. Founded in 2024 by former Google DeepMind researchers Pete Florence and Andy Zeng, along with former Boston Dynamics engineer Andrew Barry, Generalist's investors include Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, Radical Ventures, and 8VC. The company's AI foundation model enables robots to learn new tasks from a single 3- to 12-second demonstration without additional training.

Junan Intelligent disclosed its 2026 semi-annual report. In the first half of the year, it achieved operating revenue of 1.23 billion yuan, up 19.13 percent year on year. Among this, embodied intelligent robot business revenue reached 64.5236 million yuan, accounting for 5.25 percent of total revenue, a multiple-fold increase compared with the full year of 2025. The company also completed on-site scenario delivery to a top Global 500 client, marking a shift from strategic investment to industrial implementation. The company's Wuxi robot production base has reached full capacity, forming dual-base coordination with the Ningbo base. In the first half of the year, a cumulative total of 900 embodied intelligent robots rolled off the production line, with annual production capacity exceeding 3,000 units. Automotive intelligent manufacturing equipment revenue in the first half was 869 million yuan, accounting for 70.70 percent of total revenue, focusing on five high-value-added tracks including intelligent driving and electric drive systems, and securing multiple heavyweight orders. The non-automotive equipment segment posted revenue of 288 million yuan, accounting for 23.41 percent of total revenue. The medical equipment field achieved a landmark breakthrough by delivering a high-speed laser marking automated production line to an international leading medical client. In the first half of the year, total new orders signed amounted to 917 million yuan, with an order backlog of 2.592 billion yuan, providing support for future performance.

EVETAR released its 2026 half-year report, with net profit attributable to the parent company reaching 177 million yuan in the first half, up 37.1% year-on-year. Operating revenue was 574 million yuan, up 54.4% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent after deducting non-recurring items was 165 million yuan, up 33.7% year-on-year; net operating cash flow was 234 million yuan, up 49.8% year-on-year; earnings per share were 0.4299 yuan. In the second quarter, operating revenue was 335 million yuan, up 62.1% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to the parent was 106 million yuan, up 47.5% year-on-year. As of the end of the second quarter, total assets were 2.053 billion yuan, up 10.2% from the end of the previous year, and net assets attributable to the parent were 1.623 billion yuan, up 5.7% from the end of the previous year. The company said that during the reporting period, both production and sales volumes of its main optical products increased significantly, strongly driving overall performance growth. At the same time, the company actively followed global AI and intelligent trends, transforming and upgrading from traditional customized imaging components to key components of high-end intelligent optical systems. In the first half of the year, order density for drone optical products in the low-altitude economy sector increased substantially year-on-year, and the gross margin of products in the machine vision sector was also higher than the overall average.

Yongxin Optics disclosed its 2026 semi-annual report on the evening of August 26. During the reporting period, it achieved operating revenue of 564 million yuan, up 28% year on year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 95.5241 million yuan. After excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations, core business profit grew by double digits or more. The optical components segment became the core growth engine, with first-half sales revenue of 386 million yuan, up 45.75% year on year. Within this, LiDAR business revenue more than doubled. The company has deep ties with global leading LiDAR companies such as Hesai, Innovusion, and Valeo, and has extended its technology to emerging scenarios such as service robots and unmanned delivery. The barcode machine vision business continued to deepen cooperation with leading customers such as Zebra and Honeywell, with complex modules delivered in batches, and it won Zebra's Best Supplier award. Medical optics and semiconductor optics maintained rapid growth, with revenue from core endoscope components rising quickly and sufficient order reserves for core subsystem components of lithography equipment. The microscope business achieved first-half revenue of 170 million yuan, up 3.13% year on year, with the sales share of high-end microscopes rising to 45%. The new-generation confocal microscope completed its iteration and secured multiple important orders. The company invested 160 million yuan to acquire a 20% stake in Jiangfeng Bio, becoming the second-largest shareholder and completing its footprint in the medical optics and high-end microscope segments. The company has achieved full coverage of high-end microscope products priced within 3 million yuan, with the localization rate of its commercialized four-color laser confocal microscope reaching 96%, and its domestic market share jumping from zero to 7%. The national major scientific instrument project led by the company, the Multimodal Nanoscale Resolution Microscope, passed its mid-term acceptance, advancing the industrialization of super-resolution imaging technology with sub-2-nanometer positioning accuracy. Going forward, the company will continue to adhere to its 3 plus 2 business layout and seize opportunities in the physical AI industry.

Zongheng Shares released its 2026 semi-annual report, achieving revenue of 177 million yuan in the first half, up 31.22% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to the parent company narrowing its loss by 11.0667 million yuan. The company is transforming from an equipment supplier to a leader in smart low-altitude scenarios, deepening its full-stack capabilities in hardware, software, and operations vertically, while expanding into emerging scenarios such as weather modification, forestry and grassland, and emergency response horizontally. During the reporting period, the company won a 65.18 million yuan low-altitude comprehensive governance project in Xinye County, Henan, and replicated the Bazhong model in multiple locations. Gross profit margin rose to 50.41%, and the loss after deducting non-recurring items narrowed by 22.27% year-on-year. The company's Yunlong-1P ton-class drone completed its maiden flight, and the Yunlong-1 medium-altitude long-endurance multi-purpose drone system received China's first-unit certification. As of the end of the reporting period, the company held 129 authorized invention patents and a total of 639 intellectual property rights.

Xinje Electric released its 2026 interim report on August 26. During the reporting period, the company achieved operating revenue of 1.102 billion yuan, up 25.60 percent year on year. Net profit attributable to the parent company was 155 million yuan, up 21.98 percent year on year. Non-GAAP net profit was 132 million yuan, up 12.54 percent year on year. Among these, drive system product revenue was 564 million yuan, accounting for 51.23 percent of the total and up 30.27 percent year on year. Programmable controller revenue was 366 million yuan, accounting for 33.20 percent and up 16.57 percent year on year. Embodied intelligence business revenue was 60 million yuan, surging 114.70 percent year on year and becoming the largest growth engine. The company said the profit growth mainly benefited from recovering demand in downstream new energy, semiconductor, and robotics sectors, as well as the commercial deployment of core components for humanoid robots. Research and development expenses were 109 million yuan, up 28.15 percent year on year, supporting technological breakthroughs in key components such as coreless motors and frameless torque motors. Looking ahead, the company is optimistic about opportunities brought by equipment renewal and the industrialization of humanoid robots, but it needs to watch for intensifying industry competition and accounts receivable risks.

Leadshine Intelligent released its 2026 semi-annual report. In the first half, it achieved revenue of 1.247 billion yuan, up 39.92 percent year on year, and net profit attributable to the parent of 194 million yuan, up 62.79 percent year on year. Second-quarter revenue and net profit rose 44.1 percent and 92.5 percent respectively from a year earlier. The company's operating revenue has accelerated for six consecutive quarters, with the growth rate climbing from 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 to 44.1 percent in the second quarter of 2026. Servo system revenue in the first half was 661 million yuan, up 54.82 percent year on year, and its domestic servo market share remained firmly in the top two. The humanoid robot business has become a second growth curve. Orders in hand for frameless torque motors exceeded 1 million units, and the company is building an automated production line with annual capacity of 3 million units. It has achieved in-house mass production of core components including planetary joint modules, harmonic joint modules, and multi-degree-of-freedom dexterous hands, and has secured batch orders from mainstream domestic robot manufacturers.

Xinje Electric disclosed its 2026 semi-annual results on August 26. During the reporting period, the company achieved operating revenue of 1.102 billion yuan, up 25.6% year on year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 155 million yuan, up 21.98% year on year. Basic earnings per share were 0.99 yuan. The profit growth was mainly due to higher sales of products such as the company's drive systems and intelligent equipment, including embodied intelligence, during the reporting period.

At a State Council Information Office press conference on the 15th Five-Year Plan, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it will stay application-driven, deepen the implementation of AI plus manufacturing, support research and development of key technologies such as high-end training chips and multimodal algorithms, tackle frontier technologies including brain-inspired intelligence and world models, advance the iteration of intelligent terminals such as humanoid robots and brain-computer interfaces, and distill high-value scenarios by industry while rolling out a batch of lightweight, low-cost, easy-to-deploy industry solutions. Multiple products under China Southern Fund are positioned in the artificial intelligence industry, including China Southern Digital Economy Mixed Fund, China Southern Technology Pilot Mixed Fund, China Southern Yihe Flexible Allocation Mixed Fund, China Southern Emerging Leaders Flexible Allocation Mixed Fund, and China Southern China Dream Flexible Allocation Mixed Fund.

Terra Drone announced that its domestically produced interceptor drone, the Terra B1, has passed the demonstration test in the Defense Equipment Agency's 'Interceptor Drone Early Acquisition Program.' Additionally, CSSHD is investing in TechMagic, which specializes in cooking robots and business automation solutions. Osaka Titanium plans to raise up to 22 billion yen through the issuance of 7 million new shares and the sale of 1.05 million shares, raising concerns about supply-demand deterioration. Toyo Asano has revised down its consolidated earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending February 2027. Tokio Marine announced a stock split of 1 share into 15 shares and the introduction of a shareholder benefit program. JT received dividends from its consolidated subsidiaries, Morinaga Milk changed its shareholder benefit program and record date, and Sasadoku Printing newly introduced a shareholder benefit program. Seirogan (Daiko Pharmaceutical) applied for a market change to the Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard Market, and Intage Holdings announced the establishment of a share buyback framework and a change of its corporate name.

Nvidia unveiled the Jetson Orin Nano 2, an entry-level edge AI computer for robots, drones, and vision AI systems. The new system delivers twice the inference performance of its predecessor, Jetson Orin Nano Super, while using 40% less power at the same performance level. It provides 78 trillion operations per second of AI compute, 8GB of memory, and an 8-core Arm CPU. The product runs Nvidia's open software stack and supports models including Nvidia's Cosmos and Nemotron, Google's Gemma 4, and Alibaba's Qwen 3. Nvidia expects the module and developer kit to become available in the first half of 2027.

Waymo said Tuesday it will launch its robotaxis in Munich next year, marking the US group's first foray into the European Union. The Alphabet subsidiary will start mapping the city's streets and conducting tests with specialist drivers in the coming weeks, with commercial ride-hailing to be offered to the public at the end of 2027. The firm, whose robotaxis currently operate in several US cities, is also planning to expand to London and Tokyo this year. Waymo co-chief executive Tekedra Mawakana called Munich a world-class hub for mobility and engineering, while Bavaria state minister Florian Herrmann welcomed the news as a key technology for the future of mobility.

SpaceX, Tesla, and Intel have broken ground on the Terafab, the world's largest vertically integrated chipmaking factory in Grimes County, Texas. The initial phase will cost $16.8 billion, with total costs across all phases potentially surpassing $119 billion. The 100-million-square-foot facility is expected to meet SpaceX and Tesla's projected computing demand of more than 1 terawatt per year. SpaceX and Tesla will fund construction, while Intel will support development with its licensed chipmaking process and foundry operations. Approximately 75% of the chips will go to SpaceX's orbital data centers and satellite constellations, with the remaining 25% powering Tesla's Optimus robots, self-driving vehicles, and Cybercabs. Texas is supporting the project with a $30 million grant and tax abatements. SpaceX's capex surged more than sixfold year over year in the second quarter of 2026, from $2.8 billion to $18.4 billion, with $15.8 billion allocated to expanding its AI business.

Aptiv PLC announced it is supporting NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 2 to help customers accelerate deployment of production-ready physical AI and intelligent edge systems. The collaboration expands Aptiv's work with NVIDIA across Jetson platforms, including Jetson Thor, and will provide sensing, software, lifecycle support, and systems integration for drones, robotics, industrial automation, and other edge applications. Aptiv will offer its PULSE surround-view camera and ultrashort-range radar, Gen 8 radar, robotics compute solutions running on Jetson Orin Nano 2, Orin NX, and AGX Orin, plus Wind River software and lifecycle support. The Jetson Orin Nano 2 delivers 2x the inference performance of Jetson Orin Nano, consumes 40% less power at the same performance, and features 78 TOPS, 8GB of memory, and an 8-core Arm CPU.

STMicroelectronics has partnered with the National University of Singapore to launch the ST-NUS HELIX Corporate Lab, a four-year research initiative focused on advancing generative and embodied AI at the edge. The lab will develop technologies that allow AI systems to process information locally rather than relying heavily on cloud infrastructure, targeting applications such as robots, humanoids and drones that require real-time sensing, decision-making and actuation under tight power constraints. Research will span AI models and system architecture, heterogeneous accelerators, on-chip memory hierarchies, circuit design, chip integration and silicon implementation, with a focus on memory-centric architectures and in-memory computing. STMicroelectronics will contribute its silicon, architecture, integration and engineering capabilities, including its P18 18-nanometer FD-SOI technology and embedded Phase Change Memory, and will provide NUS with a dedicated design chassis based on that technology. The collaboration builds on ST's broader edge AI strategy, which includes industrial MEMS sensors with embedded AI, a compact 3D LiDAR module, and ultra-low-power global-shutter image sensors, as well as partnerships with NVIDIA and NXP.

First Breach has completed the first flight of its proprietary drone prototype and is targeting the second quarter of 2027 to begin scaling production, with planned capacity of more than 2,500 drones per week as it expands beyond ammunition into unmanned aerial systems. The company expects to complete its initial prototypes in the fourth quarter of 2026 before beginning to scale production in Q2 2027. A strategic agreement with Hellbender provides engineering, design, technical support and component manufacturing, while First Breach retains ownership of the drone platforms and intellectual property. More than 200,000 square feet of contiguous space at the company's Maryland facility is designed to support drone manufacturing, robotic assembly, automated logistics and additional ammunition production.