civil
Beijing's 9 October Opinions put robotics in emerging industries, embodied intelligence in future industries and humanoids in the AI Plus action. Here is what that split means, with the money already moving.
agriculture
About 400,000 DJI spray drones were in use worldwide by the end of 2024, yet farm robotics drew $788M of the $83.8B in robotics rounds we track, 0.9%.
civil
Ranked: the 29 Chinese robotics companies that raised $40M or more so far in 2026. AI² Robotics' $735M Series C leads; humanoid makers account for 11 of them.
civil
Sequoia leads, but the signal is the cap table: Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung and Microsoft are buying into the data robots train on.
editorial
Editorial · Humanoid Humanoid Robot Success Lies in Their Hands The race for industrial dominance is decided not by form factor, but by dexterous manipulation. Behind Robotics Editorial August 26, 2026 ~7 min read While the world watches full-body humanoid robots stumble through factory floors, a quieter revolution is happening
Wire
The Meituan-backed industrial vision-guided robotics maker is set to open its order book for a roughly $300 million Hong Kong listing, with a debut expected in early September. It extends the wave of Chinese robotics IPOs following Unitree, reinforcing Hong Kong's emergence as the go-to
Wire
Unitree has raised 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million) in its IPO, according their prospectus. Shares rose to 968.1 yuan apiece, after hitting as high as 1,100 yuan/share.
Wire
https://www.worldrobotconference.com/en/sara/contributions/callforpaper/ * Dates: August 19–23 * Location: Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (Beijing E-Town), China * Organizers: The Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organisation Key Highlights * Scale & Participation: The event features over 300 exhibitors and more than 2,000
editorial
AgricultureField Robotics/Clarkson's Farm S5/Robot Hive How Clarkson accidentally sold Britain on robot farming In Clarkson's Farm Season 5, a health scare and a budget crisis pushed Jeremy Clarkson toward automation — a Dutch driverless tractor, a Danish seeding robot, and a trip to the hyper-
civil
Company Deep DiveHumanoids/United Kingdom/Robot Hive The jeweller who built Britain's robot In under two years, a Russia-born jewellery magnate turned ~$30M of his own money into Europe's first pure-play humanoid unicorn — and put a wheeled robot on a live Siemens factory floor.
editorial
Supply ChainTechnology ·Actuators & Reducers ·Robot Hive Data Desk The joint problem: who really controls the robotics race The winner won't be decided by the smartest AI. It'll be decided by whoever controls the tiny, backlash-free gears that let a robot bend its arm — and