Robotics Special: The robots go for a run

You can finally stop dreading 'leg day' at the gym. A Chinese startup has unleashed a robotic exoskeleton that gives you a 30% strength boost straight out of the box. Meanwhile, humanoid robots in Beijing decided to step out for a run, but it didn’t quite go as planned.

P.S. The Robotics Special is designed to help you stay on the cutting edge of the latest breakthroughs and products in the industry. Our regular AI and Tech updates will resume as usual on Monday.

WHAT’S NEXT

The most important news and breakthroughs in robotics this week

Marathon Mayhem: Humans and robots squared off in what’s billed as the world's first humanoid half-marathon in Beijing — and let's just say the robots won't be qualifying for the Olympics anytime soon. The first-of-its-kind event revealed just how much ground robotics still has to cover, with only 4 of 21 robots completing the course, while others crashed, emitted smoke, or barely made it past the starting line. In case you missed it, you can catch the event here.

Home Helper: The holy grail of robotics has always been open-world generalization — machines that can walk into any room and lend you a helping hand without extensive reprogramming. Physical Intelligence just got close with π-0.5, a new robot model that successfully tackles the challenge of operating in unfamiliar environments. They placed robots in unseen homes to test the adaptability of the model, which apparently "performed quite well." Watch the entire video footage from the tests here.

Budget Bionic: After months of hype, Chinese startup Hypershell has finally launched the world's first AI-powered exoskeleton that reduces physical strain by up to 30%. The lightweight system uses advanced sensors to tweak its power in a fraction of a second as users navigate different terrains or activities. With models starting at $799, the wearable gadget can add up to 10 extra miles of motion to a user’s hike. You can buy one for yourself here or watch it in action here.

Jumbo Jump: Sometimes, the most effective design solutions come from nature’s most unexpected places. Engineers from Georgia Tech have built a tiny robot that can leap 10 feet into the air — without any legs. Inspired by roundworms, the device uses a silicone body with a carbon-fiber spine that, when kinked, can store and explosively release energy in one-tenth of a millisecond. Watch it make some unbelievable leaps here.

PRESENTED BY AUTH0

Focus on your product, not identity

Don’t waste time building authentication from scratch. With Auth0 for Startups, eligible orgs can score one year of the B2B Professional plan at no cost—no credit card, no catch.

Perfect for startups ready to scale. Ship faster with secure login, MFA, social sign-ins, user management, and more. It’s all the enterprise-grade tools you’d expect at startup-friendly pricing, so you can focus on your product (not identity).

Who it’s for: Startups less than 2 years old, with less than $5M in funding and $1M in revenue.

Apply today.

ROBOTS IN ACTION

How robots are transforming the world around us

Storm Trooper: Japan has successfully tested the world's first drone system that can trigger and safely guide lightning strikes. This breakthrough technology could help prevent the estimated $702M to $1.4B in annual lightning damage across Japan while potentially harvesting electricity from induced lightning for practical applications.

Digital Dealer: China just unveiled Mornine, a full-fledged humanoid sales consultant stacked with "capabilities across perception, cognition, decision-making, and execution." The multilingual android can lead showroom tours, explain vehicle specs, and potentially charm buyers into making a purchase.

Skyline Sculptor: Scientists have successfully demonstrated that flying robots could revolutionize how we build skyscrapers. Their Aerial Additive Manufacturing system helps drones autonomously deposit building materials mid-flight, reaching locations inaccessible to traditional construction methods.

Surgical Squad: 11 cutting-edge robotic surgical systems have gotten the green light for use across England's National Health Service (NHS), potentially revolutionizing treatment for thousands of patients. From tumor removal to knee replacements, each system promises shorter hospital stays, faster recovery times, and fewer complications.

Mind Control: London's Extend Robotics tested VR-controlled humanoid robots at Leyland Trucks' factory in Preston, UK, where the technology tackled dangerous work that normally requires 20 minutes of safety gear prep. The telepresence approach is expected to dramatically boost both safety and productivity at the plant.

ROBO REEL

Watch: Netflix’s chatty robot COSMO comes to life

Lights, camera, action! The casting crew for Netflix's "The Electric State" tapped UCLA’s Robotics Lab for the role of the robot sidekick.

COSMO packs 28 degrees of freedom into an exceptionally small frame. Unlike traditional humanoids, this beach-ball-headed, big-booted android was made specifically to emote — with tiny motors delivering eyebrow twitches and ear tilts. Watch it take its first steps here.

PRESENTED BY VESPA

Need RAG where performance and accuracy matter?

With Vespa, Perplexity can handle 100M+ queries/week and 15M+ users with fast, accurate, low-latency RAG. Vespa removes all the traditional roadblocks–latency, cost, accuracy, flexibility—so you can build enterprise-grade copilots and generative AI search apps at scale.

Level up your RAG here.

ROBOT OF THE WEEK

A robot that caught our eye this week

iRobot’s latest Roomba Max 705 vacuum is great news for pet owners.

• It’s got the same design and lidar navigation as the rest of the new lineup.

• It brings back Roomba’s excellent dual rubber roller brushes and a dirt-detect feature to pick up every stray furball

• It’s packed with AI-powered obstacle detection to avoid any unfortunate pet accidents

You can check it out here.

MARKET MOVEMENTS

Acquisitions, investments, funding, and more

Here are the biggest developments in the robotics space that you should know about:

• Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus is facing production delays due to China's rare earth export curbs. In an earnings call, Elon Musk said the company is working with Beijing to get an export license to use rare earth magnets.

• ABB plans to spin off its robotics division as a separate publicly listed company by Q2 2026. The move comes as ABB Robotics sees rising demand despite recent revenue dips, holding the No. 2 global market position.

• Mining company Durin has picked up $3.4M in funding to build automated drilling rigs for mineral exploration, aiming to cut labor costs and boost efficiency.

• Tesla has begun testing its “FSD Supervised” ride-hailing service in Austin and the Bay Area, ahead of a planned robotaxi launch this summer. The service uses Tesla vehicles with driver oversight, as they await the go-ahead on full autonomy.

Your opinion matters!

You’re the reason our team spends hundreds of hours every week researching and writing this email. Please let us know what you thought of today’s email to help us create better emails for you.

Until next time,

Zain and the Superhuman AI team