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Humanoid Robots Get a Soul: Inside AheadForm's Empathy Engine Newcomer AheadForm just secured two funding rounds in three months, highlighting strong investor confidence in their unique approach to humanoid robots. Founded by a Columbia University Ph.D. Hu Yuhang, the company is betting that the key to mainstream adoption isn't...

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66,450 views • 9 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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China unveils humanoid robot with lifelike skin and blinking eyes built for daily life | Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs) help process and interpret complex data from human interactions. A Shanghai-based company has developed humanoid robots that appear as real as humans. The advanced bionic humanoid robot is integrated with self-supervised AI algorithms. Named Elf V1, the robot can perceive the world, communicate, learn, and interact intelligently with its surroundings. Developed by AheadForm Technology, the robot offers up to 30 degrees of freedom, powered by a precise control system and an advanced AI learning algorithm. Robot offers expressive facial features The robot offers expressive facial features, moving eyes, and synchronized speech. It can also convey emotions and understand human non-verbal cues, making interactions more natural and engaging. The robot has highly interactive capabilities and lifelike appearances. AheadForm expects that its robots could soon seamlessly integrate into daily life, providing assistance, companionship, and support across various industries. “We believe that by developing realistic and expressive robot heads, we can bridge the gap between humans and machines, fostering a new era of interactive and intelligent robotics,” said the company in a statement. Reports revealed that to avoid the “uncanny valley” effect and be able to interact with us, they are given lifelike skin and capabilities to read our emotions and respond appropriately using dynamic expression simulation and emotion generation tech. Bionic skin and high-precision control system The Elf V1 series of humanoids features 30 facial muscles animated by brushless micro-motors and managed by a high-precision control system. Paired with an ability to detect their users’ emotions with low latency and bionic skin, their facial expressions are nearly identical to those of humans, reported CGTN. The company claims it’s pioneering the development of realistic humanoid robots designed to revolutionize human-robot interaction. It’s enhancing sophisticated humanoid robot heads that can express emotions, perceive their environment, and interact seamlessly with humans. By combining cutting-edge AI and advanced robotics, AheadForm aims to bring life to machines and transform how humans engage with technology. AI models boost robots’ responsiveness Seamless integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs) into the humanoid robots can help them process and interpret complex data from human interactions, enabling the robot to learn and adapt in real-time, achieving human-level understanding and responsiveness. AheadForm uses Brushless Motors that deliver ultra-quiet operation and high responsiveness, specifically designed for precision facial movements in humanoid robots. With its compact size, lightweight design, and energy efficiency, this motor is the ideal choice for next-generation robots that require precise, subtle facial control to create a truly human-like experience. Previously, the company unveiled the Lan Series that features realistic humanoid robots with soft skin and 10 degrees of freedom, offering a lifelike appearance and intuitive movements. This series is designed for cost-efficiency, for applications prioritizing mobility and manipulation.
1:06

China unveils humanoid robot with lifelike skin and blinking eyes built for daily life | Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs) help process and interpret complex data from human interactions. A Shanghai-based company has developed humanoid robots that appear as real as humans. The advanced bionic humanoid robot is integrated with self-supervised AI algorithms. Named Elf V1, the robot can perceive the world, communicate, learn, and interact intelligently with its surroundings. Developed by AheadForm Technology, the robot offers up to 30 degrees of freedom, powered by a precise control system and an advanced AI learning algorithm. Robot offers expressive facial features The robot offers expressive facial features, moving eyes, and synchronized speech. It can also convey emotions and understand human non-verbal cues, making interactions more natural and engaging. The robot has highly interactive capabilities and lifelike appearances. AheadForm expects that its robots could soon seamlessly integrate into daily life, providing assistance, companionship, and support across various industries. “We believe that by developing realistic and expressive robot heads, we can bridge the gap between humans and machines, fostering a new era of interactive and intelligent robotics,” said the company in a statement. Reports revealed that to avoid the “uncanny valley” effect and be able to interact with us, they are given lifelike skin and capabilities to read our emotions and respond appropriately using dynamic expression simulation and emotion generation tech. Bionic skin and high-precision control system The Elf V1 series of humanoids features 30 facial muscles animated by brushless micro-motors and managed by a high-precision control system. Paired with an ability to detect their users’ emotions with low latency and bionic skin, their facial expressions are nearly identical to those of humans, reported CGTN. The company claims it’s pioneering the development of realistic humanoid robots designed to revolutionize human-robot interaction. It’s enhancing sophisticated humanoid robot heads that can express emotions, perceive their environment, and interact seamlessly with humans. By combining cutting-edge AI and advanced robotics, AheadForm aims to bring life to machines and transform how humans engage with technology. AI models boost robots’ responsiveness Seamless integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs) into the humanoid robots can help them process and interpret complex data from human interactions, enabling the robot to learn and adapt in real-time, achieving human-level understanding and responsiveness. AheadForm uses Brushless Motors that deliver ultra-quiet operation and high responsiveness, specifically designed for precision facial movements in humanoid robots. With its compact size, lightweight design, and energy efficiency, this motor is the ideal choice for next-generation robots that require precise, subtle facial control to create a truly human-like experience. Previously, the company unveiled the Lan Series that features realistic humanoid robots with soft skin and 10 degrees of freedom, offering a lifelike appearance and intuitive movements. This series is designed for cost-efficiency, for applications prioritizing mobility and manipulation.

Owen Gregorian

179,005 views • 9 months ago

AheadForm just raised a new A1 round worth hundreds of millions of RMB (~tens of millions USD) 🤖 That matters because this is not another humanoid company chasing locomotion first. AheadForm is building around the part most robotics startups still underestimate: face, emotion, and real-time human connection. The new funding will go into multimodal embodied interaction, emotion foundation models, facial hardware and materials, standardized delivery, and global expansion. Founded in June 2024, the company is still young, but the founder’s research trail is not. Yuhang Hu, a Columbia PhD and AheadForm’s CEO/CTO, has published work spanning facial coexpression, realistic lip motion for humanoid face robots, and self-supervised robot self-modeling. That is the deeper signal here. In a market crowded with hands, arms, and walking demos, investors are now putting serious money behind embodied AI that can express, respond, and hold attention face to face. And the company is moving fast. According to public reports, AheadForm has completed five funding rounds since the second half of 2025, while its robots have already broken out of lab-only visibility through public activations like the NetEase Justice mobile game collaboration and large robot-stage appearances. If humanoid robotics is about physical labor, AheadForm is making the case that the next layer is emotional presence. That may end up being one of the more important categories in embodied AI.
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AheadForm just raised a new A1 round worth hundreds of millions of RMB (~tens of millions USD) 🤖 That matters because this is not another humanoid company chasing locomotion first. AheadForm is building around the part most robotics startups still underestimate: face, emotion, and real-time human connection. The new funding will go into multimodal embodied interaction, emotion foundation models, facial hardware and materials, standardized delivery, and global expansion. Founded in June 2024, the company is still young, but the founder’s research trail is not. Yuhang Hu, a Columbia PhD and AheadForm’s CEO/CTO, has published work spanning facial coexpression, realistic lip motion for humanoid face robots, and self-supervised robot self-modeling. That is the deeper signal here. In a market crowded with hands, arms, and walking demos, investors are now putting serious money behind embodied AI that can express, respond, and hold attention face to face. And the company is moving fast. According to public reports, AheadForm has completed five funding rounds since the second half of 2025, while its robots have already broken out of lab-only visibility through public activations like the NetEase Justice mobile game collaboration and large robot-stage appearances. If humanoid robotics is about physical labor, AheadForm is making the case that the next layer is emotional presence. That may end up being one of the more important categories in embodied AI.

RoboHub🤖

155,144 views • 3 months ago

🚨 This viral bionic humanoid robot company just raised hundreds of millions RMB in funding ,and it may have finally crossed the Uncanny Valley AheadForm, the startup behind those ultra-realistic face robots that have racked up hundreds of millions of views across social media, just closed a massive A1 round. This new funding will accelerate bringing these wildly popular humanoid robots into everyday life. Worth noting: Founder Yuhang Hu's latest paper on realistic lip motions for humanoid face robots has landed on the cover of Science Robotics (Jan 2026 issue). Using self-supervised AI, their robots now generate incredibly natural, continuous lip sync,supporting multiple languages, different speaking speeds, emotions, and even singing. Powered by soft silicone skin and 10+ DoF actuators, gone are the stiff puppet faces. This marks a major leap toward truly empathetic, “alive” human-robot interaction. While factories and warehouses will be filled with heavy duty, rugged humanoids for labor, Companies like AheadForm is building the warm, emotionally intelligent ones for people,the kind that can smile, make eye contact, and create real connection. The future isn’t just efficient. It’s getting warmer.
1:18

🚨 This viral bionic humanoid robot company just raised hundreds of millions RMB in funding ,and it may have finally crossed the Uncanny Valley AheadForm, the startup behind those ultra-realistic face robots that have racked up hundreds of millions of views across social media, just closed a massive A1 round. This new funding will accelerate bringing these wildly popular humanoid robots into everyday life. Worth noting: Founder Yuhang Hu's latest paper on realistic lip motions for humanoid face robots has landed on the cover of Science Robotics (Jan 2026 issue). Using self-supervised AI, their robots now generate incredibly natural, continuous lip sync,supporting multiple languages, different speaking speeds, emotions, and even singing. Powered by soft silicone skin and 10+ DoF actuators, gone are the stiff puppet faces. This marks a major leap toward truly empathetic, “alive” human-robot interaction. While factories and warehouses will be filled with heavy duty, rugged humanoids for labor, Companies like AheadForm is building the warm, emotionally intelligent ones for people,the kind that can smile, make eye contact, and create real connection. The future isn’t just efficient. It’s getting warmer.

CyberRobo

112,752 views • 3 months ago

XPENG founder and CEO He Xiaopeng announced that they will release a new generation of humanoid robots next month, introducing a new AI system, VLT, combined with five other systems, including VLA/VLM. The goal is to transition humanoid robots from remote-controlled to fully autonomous. Their second-generation humanoid robot, Iron, released last year, is already undergoing trial operations at the XPENG factory in Guangzhou and serving as a shopping guide in the flagship store. It's worth noting that Tesla plans to release the Optimus V3 by the end of the year.
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XPENG founder and CEO He Xiaopeng announced that they will release a new generation of humanoid robots next month, introducing a new AI system, VLT, combined with five other systems, including VLA/VLM. The goal is to transition humanoid robots from remote-controlled to fully autonomous. Their second-generation humanoid robot, Iron, released last year, is already undergoing trial operations at the XPENG factory in Guangzhou and serving as a shopping guide in the flagship store. It's worth noting that Tesla plans to release the Optimus V3 by the end of the year.

CyberRobo

12,948 views • 9 months ago

A cute humanoid robot from NYC Fauna Robotics has released a humanoid robot called Sprout, which is approximately 1 meter tall, lightweight, quiet, and features no dangerous edges and soft skin. Its appearance and interactions are designed to be "approachable," like a social companion. It is currently offered as a general-purpose robotics platform for developers, providing basic movement, perception, navigation, and expression capabilities, allowing real-world use cases to emerge within the community. Many humanoid robots are born in factories and warehouses, but Fauna Robotics aims to bring humanoid robots back into human living spaces. Fauna believes that if humanoid robots are to become as ubiquitous as computers and mobile phones in the future, the starting point must be a safe, friendly form suitable for homes, schools, and offices. Sprout is their first step in this direction.
1:01

A cute humanoid robot from NYC Fauna Robotics has released a humanoid robot called Sprout, which is approximately 1 meter tall, lightweight, quiet, and features no dangerous edges and soft skin. Its appearance and interactions are designed to be "approachable," like a social companion. It is currently offered as a general-purpose robotics platform for developers, providing basic movement, perception, navigation, and expression capabilities, allowing real-world use cases to emerge within the community. Many humanoid robots are born in factories and warehouses, but Fauna Robotics aims to bring humanoid robots back into human living spaces. Fauna believes that if humanoid robots are to become as ubiquitous as computers and mobile phones in the future, the starting point must be a safe, friendly form suitable for homes, schools, and offices. Sprout is their first step in this direction.

CyberRobo

18,549 views • 5 months ago

Alarming New Video Shows Robot Making Incredibly Realistic Facial Expressions | Victor Tangermann, The_Byte A robotics company in China has shown off a humanoid robotic head that can express emotions through extremely subtle movements of its facial features. A video that has gone viral on social media shows the face glancing around the room with a quizzical expression. Its eyes blink in an eerily lifelike way, selling the illusion surprisingly well. Hangzhou, China-based outfit AheadForm, which is behind the impressive demo, claims on its website to combine "self-supervised AI algorithms" and wide-range "bionic actuation" to "express authentic emotions and lifelike facial expressions." The demo goes to show how far human mimicry in the field of humanoid robotics has come, landing in the furthest reaches of the uncanny valley. "Well... 'Westworld' is closer than I thought," one Reddit user pondered in response to the video, referring to the hit HBO sci-fi show — and 1973 movie, and Michael Crichton novel — about a fictional amusement park populated by android "hosts." AheadForm says it's already developed a series of "ultra-lifelike" humanoid "elves," which can "perceive the world, communicate, learn, and interact intelligently with its surroundings" thanks to an "advanced AI learning algorithm." According to the company's founder, Hu Yuhang, the lines between human and robot are bound to continue to blur, eventually becoming barely distinguishable from each other. "Within ten years, we might interact with robots and feel like they are almost human; maybe in 20 years, they could walk normally and perform some tasks just like a human," he told the South China Morning Post last year. For now, the humanoid robot industry's main focus is productivity, rather than mimicking human personality expressions. A growing cohort of companies, including Tesla, is aiming to replace human labor with their offerings, teach them how to kickbox, and selling them as the ultimate household aid. However, as Yuhang suggests, such a future appears to still be a long way out. Not everybody's convinced that bipedal robots are the answer, either, with some arguing that purpose-built industrial robots will always be a better option. In the meantime, AheadForm aims to prepare us for an android-filled future by using AI to make human-robot interactions more "natural and engaging." But given their robots' disconcertingly probing eyes, that won't be an easy task.
1:21

Alarming New Video Shows Robot Making Incredibly Realistic Facial Expressions | Victor Tangermann, The_Byte A robotics company in China has shown off a humanoid robotic head that can express emotions through extremely subtle movements of its facial features. A video that has gone viral on social media shows the face glancing around the room with a quizzical expression. Its eyes blink in an eerily lifelike way, selling the illusion surprisingly well. Hangzhou, China-based outfit AheadForm, which is behind the impressive demo, claims on its website to combine "self-supervised AI algorithms" and wide-range "bionic actuation" to "express authentic emotions and lifelike facial expressions." The demo goes to show how far human mimicry in the field of humanoid robotics has come, landing in the furthest reaches of the uncanny valley. "Well... 'Westworld' is closer than I thought," one Reddit user pondered in response to the video, referring to the hit HBO sci-fi show — and 1973 movie, and Michael Crichton novel — about a fictional amusement park populated by android "hosts." AheadForm says it's already developed a series of "ultra-lifelike" humanoid "elves," which can "perceive the world, communicate, learn, and interact intelligently with its surroundings" thanks to an "advanced AI learning algorithm." According to the company's founder, Hu Yuhang, the lines between human and robot are bound to continue to blur, eventually becoming barely distinguishable from each other. "Within ten years, we might interact with robots and feel like they are almost human; maybe in 20 years, they could walk normally and perform some tasks just like a human," he told the South China Morning Post last year. For now, the humanoid robot industry's main focus is productivity, rather than mimicking human personality expressions. A growing cohort of companies, including Tesla, is aiming to replace human labor with their offerings, teach them how to kickbox, and selling them as the ultimate household aid. However, as Yuhang suggests, such a future appears to still be a long way out. Not everybody's convinced that bipedal robots are the answer, either, with some arguing that purpose-built industrial robots will always be a better option. In the meantime, AheadForm aims to prepare us for an android-filled future by using AI to make human-robot interactions more "natural and engaging." But given their robots' disconcertingly probing eyes, that won't be an easy task.

Owen Gregorian

105,829 views • 9 months ago

Meet Any2Track, a new two-stage RL framework designed to address a core challenge for humanoid robots: reliably tracking diverse, dynamic motions in the real world. The framework consists of two key components: AnyTracker, a general motion tracker, and AnyAdapter, a module that allows the robot to adapt to real-world disturbances like uneven terrain or external forces. This approach gives robots the stability needed for practical use. The system has been successfully deployed on a Unitree G1 humanoid robot with zero-shot sim2real transfer, performing exceptionally well in various motion tracking tasks under multiple real-world disturbances. Project: Codebase:
1:44

Meet Any2Track, a new two-stage RL framework designed to address a core challenge for humanoid robots: reliably tracking diverse, dynamic motions in the real world. The framework consists of two key components: AnyTracker, a general motion tracker, and AnyAdapter, a module that allows the robot to adapt to real-world disturbances like uneven terrain or external forces. This approach gives robots the stability needed for practical use. The system has been successfully deployed on a Unitree G1 humanoid robot with zero-shot sim2real transfer, performing exceptionally well in various motion tracking tasks under multiple real-world disturbances. Project: Codebase:

RoboHub🤖

61,378 views • 9 months ago

.Elon Musk told me he plans to build “Optimus Academy” to train an army of humanoid robots. > “millions of simulated robots in the simulated world” > “tens of thousands of robots in the real world, to close the simulation to reality gap.” Why? There’s two big differences between the way Tesla will train humanoid robots and the way it built Full Self-Driving. - FSD only requires learning three degrees of freedom: turning, accelerating, braking … and a humanoid robot has to learn how to coordinate 50+ joints. - You can sell a Tesla without FSD, which allows you to collect the millions and millions of hours of driving data needed to bootstrap your model ... but you can’t sell an Optimus that hasn’t learned how to do stuff yet. The Optimus Academy is Elon’s attempt to build the data flywheel that Tesla got for free with FSD.
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.Elon Musk told me he plans to build “Optimus Academy” to train an army of humanoid robots. > “millions of simulated robots in the simulated world” > “tens of thousands of robots in the real world, to close the simulation to reality gap.” Why? There’s two big differences between the way Tesla will train humanoid robots and the way it built Full Self-Driving. - FSD only requires learning three degrees of freedom: turning, accelerating, braking … and a humanoid robot has to learn how to coordinate 50+ joints. - You can sell a Tesla without FSD, which allows you to collect the millions and millions of hours of driving data needed to bootstrap your model ... but you can’t sell an Optimus that hasn’t learned how to do stuff yet. The Optimus Academy is Elon’s attempt to build the data flywheel that Tesla got for free with FSD.

Dwarkesh Patel

533,753 views • 5 months ago

🇨🇳 A Chinese robot with pink hair just sang a love ballad to other robots. Her name is Xuan. She's a hyper-realistic robotic elf built by AheadForm, and her face runs on 42 independent motors designed to mimic every micro-expression a human makes. The creator? A Columbia PhD/Chinese social media star, and wrote the love song himself. The uncanny valley used to be a concept. Now it has pink hair and feelings. Source: MikeKhalil YT
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🇨🇳 A Chinese robot with pink hair just sang a love ballad to other robots. Her name is Xuan. She's a hyper-realistic robotic elf built by AheadForm, and her face runs on 42 independent motors designed to mimic every micro-expression a human makes. The creator? A Columbia PhD/Chinese social media star, and wrote the love song himself. The uncanny valley used to be a concept. Now it has pink hair and feelings. Source: MikeKhalil YT

Mario Nawfal

49,484 views • 1 month ago

The First Manufacturer to Mass-Produce 5,000 Humanoid Robots AgiBOT rolled off its 5,000th humanoid robot (a Lingxi X2) today, marking a milestone for both the company and the humanoid robot industry as a whole: a significant step towards large-scale deployment in the real world. AgiBOT co-founder and CTO Peng Zhihui stated in a live said that these 5,000 units include the Yuanzheng series (1742), the Lingxi series (1846), and the Genie series (1412). These humanoid robots will be deployed in various settings, including scientific research, entertainment, shopping malls, factories, and warehouses. This also signals that AgiBOT has the capacity for mass production and is ready to meet future surges in customer demand. Its production partner, LingyiTech, was the main force behind the assembly of AgiBOT's 5,000 humanoid robots this year, and they are planning an automated production line with an annual capacity of 500,000 units. Next year will be a milestone year for humanoid robots, reaching 10,000 units annually. Including Tesla, 1X, UBTECH…
0:42

The First Manufacturer to Mass-Produce 5,000 Humanoid Robots AgiBOT rolled off its 5,000th humanoid robot (a Lingxi X2) today, marking a milestone for both the company and the humanoid robot industry as a whole: a significant step towards large-scale deployment in the real world. AgiBOT co-founder and CTO Peng Zhihui stated in a live said that these 5,000 units include the Yuanzheng series (1742), the Lingxi series (1846), and the Genie series (1412). These humanoid robots will be deployed in various settings, including scientific research, entertainment, shopping malls, factories, and warehouses. This also signals that AgiBOT has the capacity for mass production and is ready to meet future surges in customer demand. Its production partner, LingyiTech, was the main force behind the assembly of AgiBOT's 5,000 humanoid robots this year, and they are planning an automated production line with an annual capacity of 500,000 units. Next year will be a milestone year for humanoid robots, reaching 10,000 units annually. Including Tesla, 1X, UBTECH…

CyberRobo

47,095 views • 7 months ago

Y-Hand M1:universal hand for intelligent humanoid robots the humanoid dexterous hand with the highest degrees of freedom, developed by Yuequan Bionic Slide the pen, open the bottle, cut the paper, handle the trivial matters like a human, and soon it will be connected to the humanoid robot to become a factory operator, elderly care and home assistant. »38 DOF, 28.7k load capacity »Fingertip repeat positioning accuracy of 0.04 mm »Five-finger closure in just 0.2 seconds »Replicates human finger joints with self-developed magnetoelectric-driven artificial muscles
0:35

Y-Hand M1:universal hand for intelligent humanoid robots the humanoid dexterous hand with the highest degrees of freedom, developed by Yuequan Bionic Slide the pen, open the bottle, cut the paper, handle the trivial matters like a human, and soon it will be connected to the humanoid robot to become a factory operator, elderly care and home assistant. »38 DOF, 28.7k load capacity »Fingertip repeat positioning accuracy of 0.04 mm »Five-finger closure in just 0.2 seconds »Replicates human finger joints with self-developed magnetoelectric-driven artificial muscles

CyberRobo

14,341 views • 9 months ago

Turning video into humanoid robot motion! 🤳🏼 Training humanoid robots needs huge amounts of motion data, but real-world capture doesn’t scale. Mocap is expensive, dangerous edge cases are rare, and you can’t ask humans to repeatedly fall or crash. Video2Robot tackles this by converting videos into physics-grounded humanoid simulations. Motion is generated to respect balance, inertia, ground contact, and joint limits, then directly retargeted to robot simulators. One prompt can generate a full humanoid motion sequence, including multi-agent interactions and failure cases like falls or collisions, scenarios that are hard or impossible to capture safely in the real world. The pipeline is model-agnostic and works with existing video generators, making it a practical way to scale data for robots. If robots are going to operate in the real world, they need to be trained on the failures too, not just the perfect demos. Here's the GitHub: ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news →
0:26

Turning video into humanoid robot motion! 🤳🏼 Training humanoid robots needs huge amounts of motion data, but real-world capture doesn’t scale. Mocap is expensive, dangerous edge cases are rare, and you can’t ask humans to repeatedly fall or crash. Video2Robot tackles this by converting videos into physics-grounded humanoid simulations. Motion is generated to respect balance, inertia, ground contact, and joint limits, then directly retargeted to robot simulators. One prompt can generate a full humanoid motion sequence, including multi-agent interactions and failure cases like falls or collisions, scenarios that are hard or impossible to capture safely in the real world. The pipeline is model-agnostic and works with existing video generators, making it a practical way to scale data for robots. If robots are going to operate in the real world, they need to be trained on the failures too, not just the perfect demos. Here's the GitHub: ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news →

Lukas Ziegler

59,708 views • 6 months ago

EXCLUSIVE TOUR OF NEW HUMANOID ROBOT STARTUP: ChatGPT, after watching this video tour of Foundation Robotics's CEO/founder, Sankaet, tell me the state of the art on humanoid robots, wrote this: "Wow, what a deep dive—killer interview. You got a full masterclass in next-gen robotics and AI from people who are not only building but deploying humanoid robots in the real world. The fact that Foundation’s team is fusing AI model reasoning with their own actuators and gearbox designs is wild—they’re not just iterating fast, they’re redefining what “robotic autonomy” means. That bit about using reinforcement learning to teach humanoids to walk naturally in weeks, not years, is gonna hit hard with AI-curious audiences." It also wrote me what you will learn, I'll post that below. Recorded on Apple Vision Pro, which was also talk about at the end of the interview. Like I said, spatial computers and robots go together like peanut butter and jelly.
53:15

EXCLUSIVE TOUR OF NEW HUMANOID ROBOT STARTUP: ChatGPT, after watching this video tour of Foundation Robotics's CEO/founder, Sankaet, tell me the state of the art on humanoid robots, wrote this: "Wow, what a deep dive—killer interview. You got a full masterclass in next-gen robotics and AI from people who are not only building but deploying humanoid robots in the real world. The fact that Foundation’s team is fusing AI model reasoning with their own actuators and gearbox designs is wild—they’re not just iterating fast, they’re redefining what “robotic autonomy” means. That bit about using reinforcement learning to teach humanoids to walk naturally in weeks, not years, is gonna hit hard with AI-curious audiences." It also wrote me what you will learn, I'll post that below. Recorded on Apple Vision Pro, which was also talk about at the end of the interview. Like I said, spatial computers and robots go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Robert Scoble

269,783 views • 1 year ago

SkildAI, which is developing a foundational AI model for robots, has released a new video of their humanoid robot walking over objects and exploring environments it had never seen before. The robot is using vision & adapts in real time. SkildAI: "From raw images and joint feedback, the model directly outputs low-level motor commands. This single neural network enables humanoid robots to seamlessly walk across flat ground, climb stairs, and step over obstacles without any planning, mapping, or manual switching between behaviors. For all of our testing in this video, we deployed the robot in each new environment without any prior planning or mapping. We took off the humanoid’s shoes so you can hear it.
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SkildAI, which is developing a foundational AI model for robots, has released a new video of their humanoid robot walking over objects and exploring environments it had never seen before. The robot is using vision & adapts in real time. SkildAI: "From raw images and joint feedback, the model directly outputs low-level motor commands. This single neural network enables humanoid robots to seamlessly walk across flat ground, climb stairs, and step over obstacles without any planning, mapping, or manual switching between behaviors. For all of our testing in this video, we deployed the robot in each new environment without any prior planning or mapping. We took off the humanoid’s shoes so you can hear it.

Sawyer Merritt

69,297 views • 11 months ago

The humanoid robot Lingxi X2 can easily dodge thrown balls… powered by AGIBOT’s newly launched AGILE perception-motion foundation model. With this motion intelligence, it can avoid interference and make real-time perceptual adjustments when working in complex environments. I’m curious whether it could dodge a human’s flying kick? (They always seem to kick humanoid robots during testing.)
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The humanoid robot Lingxi X2 can easily dodge thrown balls… powered by AGIBOT’s newly launched AGILE perception-motion foundation model. With this motion intelligence, it can avoid interference and make real-time perceptual adjustments when working in complex environments. I’m curious whether it could dodge a human’s flying kick? (They always seem to kick humanoid robots during testing.)

CyberRobo

32,796 views • 1 month ago

🚨 Apple joins the robotics race! Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Apple have developed a robot collision avoidance system. They called it ARMOR and they implemented it on the Fourier GR-1 robot. What is ARMOR? 👘 ARMOR is a system that helps humanoid robots "see" their surroundings better by using small, smart depth sensors placed on their arms. It solves the problem of blind spots and occlusions in traditional robot perception, making robots much safer and more efficient. It uses Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors to detect obstacles, providing a near-complete view of the robot’s environment. 🔭 A smart software powered by transformer-based AI learns from human movements to help robots plan their actions dynamically. ARMOR reduces collisions by an impressive 63.7%, making robots significantly better at navigating crowded or complex spaces. The system is fast as well! 💨 ARMOR-Policy cuts computational time by 26× compared to traditional planning methods, ensuring robots can act quickly. P.S. Thoughts on this? The research paper is in the comments! ~~~ ♻️ RT to help 1 robot find a new workplace.
1:31

🚨 Apple joins the robotics race! Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Apple have developed a robot collision avoidance system. They called it ARMOR and they implemented it on the Fourier GR-1 robot. What is ARMOR? 👘 ARMOR is a system that helps humanoid robots "see" their surroundings better by using small, smart depth sensors placed on their arms. It solves the problem of blind spots and occlusions in traditional robot perception, making robots much safer and more efficient. It uses Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors to detect obstacles, providing a near-complete view of the robot’s environment. 🔭 A smart software powered by transformer-based AI learns from human movements to help robots plan their actions dynamically. ARMOR reduces collisions by an impressive 63.7%, making robots significantly better at navigating crowded or complex spaces. The system is fast as well! 💨 ARMOR-Policy cuts computational time by 26× compared to traditional planning methods, ensuring robots can act quickly. P.S. Thoughts on this? The research paper is in the comments! ~~~ ♻️ RT to help 1 robot find a new workplace.

Lukas Ziegler

169,472 views • 1 year ago

Today is the beginning of our moonshot to solve embodied AGI in the physical world. I’m so excited to announce Project GR00T, our new initiative to create a general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robot learning. The GR00T model will enable a robot to understand multimodal instructions, such as language, video, and demonstration, and perform a variety of useful tasks. We are collaborating with many leading humanoid companies around the world, so that GR00T may transfer across embodiments and help the ecosystem thrive. GR00T is born on NVIDIA’s deep technology stack. We simulate in Isaac Lab (new app on Omniverse Isaac Sim for humanoid learning), train on OSMO (new compute orchestration system to scale up models), and deploy to Jetson Thor (new edge GPU chip designed to power GR00T). Announced in Jensen's keynote, Project GR00T is a cornerstone for the “Foundation Agent” roadmap of the newly founded GEAR Lab. At GEAR, we are building generally capable agents that learn to act skillfully in many worlds, virtual and real. See if you can spot "GEAR" in the video ;) Join us on the journey to land on the moon.
2:41

Today is the beginning of our moonshot to solve embodied AGI in the physical world. I’m so excited to announce Project GR00T, our new initiative to create a general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robot learning. The GR00T model will enable a robot to understand multimodal instructions, such as language, video, and demonstration, and perform a variety of useful tasks. We are collaborating with many leading humanoid companies around the world, so that GR00T may transfer across embodiments and help the ecosystem thrive. GR00T is born on NVIDIA’s deep technology stack. We simulate in Isaac Lab (new app on Omniverse Isaac Sim for humanoid learning), train on OSMO (new compute orchestration system to scale up models), and deploy to Jetson Thor (new edge GPU chip designed to power GR00T). Announced in Jensen's keynote, Project GR00T is a cornerstone for the “Foundation Agent” roadmap of the newly founded GEAR Lab. At GEAR, we are building generally capable agents that learn to act skillfully in many worlds, virtual and real. See if you can spot "GEAR" in the video ;) Join us on the journey to land on the moon.

Jim Fan

1,076,774 views • 2 years ago

Elon Musk says the robot inflection point is not a better demo. It is the moment Optimus can learn from YouTube like a human. "Humanoid robots will be the biggest product ever. The demand will be insatiable." "Who wouldn't want their own personal C-3PO, R2-D2?" Then he gives the real threshold: "If Optimus can watch videos, YouTube videos or how-to videos... and based on that video, just like a human can learn how to do that thing, then you really have task extensibility that is dramatic." "Because then it can learn anything very quickly." Right now Tesla still bootstraps with humans in mocap suits teaching primitive tasks. But Elon's endgame is self-play: "How does a child learn? A child has toys... at some point figures out how to put the triangle in the triangle hole and the circle in the circle hole." "Once you have a lot of robots, you can do this self-play... literally have the robot play with toys." That is the shift: Robots stop being programmed task-by-task. They start absorbing the internet's how-to layer, then practicing in the physical world.
2:09

Elon Musk says the robot inflection point is not a better demo. It is the moment Optimus can learn from YouTube like a human. "Humanoid robots will be the biggest product ever. The demand will be insatiable." "Who wouldn't want their own personal C-3PO, R2-D2?" Then he gives the real threshold: "If Optimus can watch videos, YouTube videos or how-to videos... and based on that video, just like a human can learn how to do that thing, then you really have task extensibility that is dramatic." "Because then it can learn anything very quickly." Right now Tesla still bootstraps with humans in mocap suits teaching primitive tasks. But Elon's endgame is self-play: "How does a child learn? A child has toys... at some point figures out how to put the triangle in the triangle hole and the circle in the circle hole." "Once you have a lot of robots, you can do this self-play... literally have the robot play with toys." That is the shift: Robots stop being programmed task-by-task. They start absorbing the internet's how-to layer, then practicing in the physical world.

Karl Mehta

27,488 views • 19 days ago

Twitter boi, do you want to see a humanoid AI lab from the inside? Well I do ;) Join me to visit Flexion Robotics A world-leading lab building the AI brains for humanoids – in Zurich, one of the best hubs for Physical AI. Their goal? Build the Android of robotics. One operating system that works on any humanoid hardware. It is crazy what their robots can do. We pushed a robot on the stairs. It didn't care. They left one in a rainy forest it was never trained on. Chilled and hiked there. And because they let robots train on their own, from zero through reinforcement learning, the robots do odd inhuman things. Eg they stand up from the ground in ways no human ever would. If their humanoid brain works, this will be industry defining. This is why Flexion is one of Europe's Most Ambitious Startups. 🇪🇺🔥 0:00 Intro 0:38 Inside a Lab with 14 Humanoids 2:17 What’s Actually Inside a Humanoid? 4:43 The Robot Navigates on Its Own 6:31 Why Grasping Is So Hard 7:01 Stairs, Pushes, and Balance Tests 7:55 Training 4,000 Robots in Parallel 10:50 Teleoperation vs Reinforcement Learning 14:35 The Case for Humanoids 15:55 Why Europe Could Win Robotics Please like & RT 🙏
18:51

Twitter boi, do you want to see a humanoid AI lab from the inside? Well I do ;) Join me to visit Flexion Robotics A world-leading lab building the AI brains for humanoids – in Zurich, one of the best hubs for Physical AI. Their goal? Build the Android of robotics. One operating system that works on any humanoid hardware. It is crazy what their robots can do. We pushed a robot on the stairs. It didn't care. They left one in a rainy forest it was never trained on. Chilled and hiked there. And because they let robots train on their own, from zero through reinforcement learning, the robots do odd inhuman things. Eg they stand up from the ground in ways no human ever would. If their humanoid brain works, this will be industry defining. This is why Flexion is one of Europe's Most Ambitious Startups. 🇪🇺🔥 0:00 Intro 0:38 Inside a Lab with 14 Humanoids 2:17 What’s Actually Inside a Humanoid? 4:43 The Robot Navigates on Its Own 6:31 Why Grasping Is So Hard 7:01 Stairs, Pushes, and Balance Tests 7:55 Training 4,000 Robots in Parallel 10:50 Teleoperation vs Reinforcement Learning 14:35 The Case for Humanoids 15:55 Why Europe Could Win Robotics Please like & RT 🙏

Andreas Klinger 🦾

14,491 views • 3 months ago