Today in Robotics — Sunday, October 4, 2026
Sunday's lineup runs the gamut from the factory floor to the living room, with humanoids crowding into Tesla's neighborhood and household bots suddenly wearing friendlier price tags. There's plenty for the research-minded too: a soft gripper proving its dexterity, custom silicon shaking up Nvidia's reign, and a candid look at the people actually building and using these machines.
In today’s roundup
- How robotics and physical AI can responsibly tackle key physical security challenges — The Robot Report
A columnist argues robotics and physical AI can keep pace with fast-evolving cyber and physical threats, with 'responsibly' doing some important heavy lifting. - Rubber ducks and screwdrivers put dexterous new soft robotic gripper to the test — TechXplore Robotics
Spanish researchers built a soft gripper that doesn't just grab objects but manipulates them, a meaningful step beyond the usual pick-and-place routine. - Agility Robotics plants its flag in Tesla’s backyard — TechCrunch — Humanoid Robots
Agility's new Fremont training center for Digit stakes out turf in Tesla's own backyard, a pointed move in the humanoid race. - Why everyone from OpenAI to SpaceX is building their own chips (and turning up the heat on Nvidia) — TechCrunch — Humanoid Robots
With OpenAI's custom Jalapeño inference chip and others following, the era of total Nvidia dependence may finally be loosening—relevant to anyone running robot inference. - Sub-$1,700 household robot promises to handle chores and more — New Atlas Robotics
A sub-$1,700 household robot promising laundry and tidying suggests the price war on chore bots is starting earlier than expected—pre-orders and promises aside. - Eli Lilly, Purdue to share field learnings on human robot interaction at RoboBusiness — The Robot Report
Eli Lilly and Purdue will share real findings on how factory workers perceive robots, a refreshingly human-centered topic for RoboBusiness. - A Day in the Life of a Roboticist: Charlie Kemp — IEEE Spectrum Robotics
Hello Robot's Charlie Kemp makes the case that useful assistive robots start with truly understanding the people who'll use them. - Mexican EPICS in IEEE Team Builds Portable Educational Platform — IEEE Spectrum Robotics
An IEEE team in Guadalajara is building a portable robotics platform to put advanced tools within reach of under-resourced high schools.
Read this roundup on RobotCafe →
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