Colin Angle, co-founder and former CEO of iRobot, has announced his return to the robotics field by founding a new startup, Familiar Machines & Magic, focused on developing an innovative home health and wellness robot. According to the Boston Globe, this robot may take the form of an animal or 'pet', aiming to provide companionship to family members while assisting in health management. Familiar Machines & Magic

On December 16, ZhiYuan Robotics announced the official launch of commercial mass production of general-purpose robots, marking the company's transition from the startup phase to industrialization. Since its establishment in February 2022 in the Shanghai Lingang New Area, ZhiYuan Robotics has rapidly grown and released its first humanoid robot, 'Yanzheng A1'. This year, the company plans to achieve large-scale production of robots by 2024 and has built Shanghai's first humanoid robot mass production facility in Lingang Fengxian. Founder Peng Zhihui expressed on social media: 'In two years, we've forged a sword, from inspiration to blueprint, from prototype to mass production, ZhiYuan.'

Colin Angle, co-founder of the renowned Roomba vacuum maker iRobot, is raising funds for his new home robotics startup Familiar Machines. According to documents filed with the SEC, Familiar Machines is aiming to raise $30 million and has already secured $15 million from eight investors. Image source note: The image is AI-generated and licensed from service provider Midjo.

According to reports from Intelligent Emergence, Jiang Xu, the former senior algorithm lead at OpenAI, has announced the establishment of a new company, Light Robotics, focused on the development of embodied smart companion robots. Jiang Xu is a key contributor to GPT-4 and left OpenAI in 2023, founding Light Robotics in August of the same year. Image credit: Image generated by AI, image licensed through Midjourney. Throughout his career at OpenAI, Jiang Xu participated in several important projects.

In the United States, despite the apparent benefits of recycling, the recycling rate has stagnated in recent years. To address this challenge, AMP Robotics has launched an AI system called AMP ONE to help waste processing plants sort garbage more efficiently. Recently, the company completed a $91 million Series D funding round to further advance the adoption of this technology. Image source note: Image generated by AI, image licensed from MidjourneyAMP Robotics.

In Pasadena, California, the world's first fully automated AI restaurant - CaliExpress - is set to open in the coming weeks. Located at 561 East Green Street near Madison Avenue, the restaurant is dedicated to driving innovation in the food service industry. CaliExpress collaborates with leading tech companies Miso Robotics and PopID, utilizing advanced automation and artificial intelligence technologies. The kitchen of CaliExpress is equipped with Miso R

San Francisco-based startup Physical Intelligence recently announced that it successfully raised $400 million, bringing its post-money valuation to $2.4 billion. This funding round attracted the attention of several prominent investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, Thrive Capital, and Lux Capital. According to a company spokesperson, Bond Capital also participated in this investment.

The world's largest technical professional organization, IEEE, recently released a research report titled 'Technology Impact Beyond 2025'. This report surveyed 355 technology leaders from Brazil, China, India, the UK, and the US to explore future technology development trends. The survey revealed that 58% of respondents believe that smart technologies will be the most influential technology area in 2025, marking its second consecutive year at the top. Following closely are cloud computing (26%) and robotics (24%). Other noteworthy fields include extended reality.

Kind Humanoid is a robotics startup based in Palo Alto, founded by Christoph Kostol, who has a background in Silicon Valley. The company's workspace is filled with various electronic components and fabrication tools, reflecting the spirit of DIY computing that has characterized Silicon Valley. The design of Kind Humanoid's robots is inspired by the surrealistic art style of Belgian painter René Magritte. The company's designer, Yves Béhar, stated that he hopes to convey a message through the design of the robots.

Recently, a study from the Swiss École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) made its debut at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Rotterdam. This research aims to explore how robotic hands can break existing limitations to grasp more objects. The research team noted that deep learning models significantly enhanced the dexterous manipulation capabilities of multi-fingered hands, but the grasping guided by contact information in cluttered environments has not yet been fully explored. To address this issue, the researchers designed an inspired hand that can bend backward to pick up various objects and detach itself to climb.

Today, Tencent Robotics X Lab announced its latest research achievement, the home environment robot 'Xiao Wu'. This robot aims to become an indispensable assistant in households, capable of walking and transporting objects in real environments, and even assisting the elderly. Xiao Wu's design overturns the traditional concept of robots by adopting a four-legged wheel-foot composite structure. This design allows for faster movement on flat surfaces while maintaining adaptability over uneven terrains. This flexibility enables Xiao Wu to operate in various environments such as homes and nursing homes.

Norwegian startup 1X Technologies recently announced significant advancements in developing AI-based world models for robots. Simply put, these models act as virtual testing grounds for robots, allowing them to test and improve in various scenarios without the need for real-world testing. 1X believes this is key to solving the 'robotics challenge' — how to reliably evaluate robots trained for multiple tasks in ever-changing environments.

Noted robotics expert David Hanson has joined WorkFar Robotics as Chief Executive Advisor, focusing on innovations in human-robot collaboration technology. WorkFar is dedicated to providing intelligent humanoid robot solutions for the warehousing and manufacturing industries, aimed at addressing labor shortages. Hanson, along with his team, developed the 'Syntro' synthetic robot, which combines artificial intelligence with remote human control technology to ensure safe operation in high-risk tasks. Additionally, Hanson plans to send his created robot 'Sophia' to Mars.

Amazon has announced the acquisition of a non-exclusive license from robotics startup Covariant and has absorbed approximately a quarter of its workforce, aiming to accelerate innovation in the automation field and enhance the safety and adaptability of robots. The founding team of Covariant will join Amazon's AI and robotics team, marking a further enhancement of Amazon's automation capabilities on top of the 750,000 robots already deployed in its logistics centers. Covariant will continue to support its existing customers and develop warehousing automation technology.

Amazon has announced the hiring of the core team from robotics startup Covariant, comprising about a quarter of its staff, and has signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement to use Covariant's robotic foundation models. This move represents Amazon's strategic positioning in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics, aiming to advance foundational research in AI and robotics technology and apply it to Amazon's existing robotic systems, providing greater practical value to customers. Through a 'reverse acquisition' strategy, Amazon gains new technologies while avoiding a direct acquisition of the startup.

LeRobot is an open-source project released by HuggingFace that provides a comprehensive guide aimed at simplifying the entry barriers for AI-driven robotics technology, supporting the open-source ecosystem in the robotics field. The guide is created by LeRobot co-founder Remi Cadene and targets a broad audience, aiming to popularize the application of AI in robotics and encourage innovation. Based on the open-source robotics kit Koch v1.1, the guide covers the entire process of assembling, configuring, and training AI-controlled robots, focusing on two 6-degree-of-freedom robotic arms.