Caterpillar Expands Autonomous Hauling to Two More Virginia Quarries

Humanoid robots are making meaningful progress in autonomy, dexterity and repetitive real-world tasks, but widespread commercial deployment remains a work in progress, according to a report published Wednesday by Citrini Research. After a week meeting robotics labs, engineers and investors across the San Francisco Bay Area, the firm found most humanoid robots remain in development, training and tele-operated demonstrations, with real-world deployments closer to pilots than clear return-on-investment opportunities. The report examined whether robotics is approaching its own ChatGPT moment and highlighted advances from GeneralistAI and Skild AI, along with Figure AI's demonstration involving 250,000 packages, suggesting the field may advance through a mosaic of signals rather than one defining breakthrough. Basic humanoid locomotion is effectively a solved problem while complex dexterity remains more difficult, and simple repetitive tasks are already trainable. Investment in the broader robotics infrastructure is keeping pace: Tesla Inc has been preparing production lines for Optimus, XPeng Inc has launched an automated production line for its IRON humanoid robot, and Figure AI is securing access to up to 100,000 Vera Rubin GPUs from NVIDIA Corp to train the models powering its humanoid robots. The report concluded robotic autonomy is developing along a curve rather than arriving through one decisive breakthrough, with broad generalizability remaining the longer-term goal.

Gao Yang, co-founder and chief scientist of Chinese startup Spirit AI, told Reuters that humanoid robots capable of handling most basic tasks on verbal command could become a reality as early as next year. "By mid-2027, you will be able to speak to a robot in natural language and it will complete a series of actions to carry out a task," he said, expressing confidence in the pace of software advances. The company has already achieved a roughly 90 percent success rate on simple tasks, but challenges remain with fine movements such as loosening a bottle cap and with handling unexpected situations, and adoption in ordinary households is still expected to take time. About 1,000 contract workers at the company wear data-collection devices at home and in factories, gathering movement data to train the robots. Spirit AI was founded in 2024 and has about 300 full-time employees. It has raised more than 670 million dollars to date and has deployed dozens of humanoid robots at battery giant CATL and online retail giant JD.com.

AMC Robotics Corporation announced it has entered into a $50 million standby equity purchase agreement, with an institutional investor loaning the company $3.88 million in exchange for convertible promissory notes funded in two tranches. Under the agreement, AMC Robotics has the right but not the obligation to issue and sell up to $50 million in aggregate gross purchase price of newly issued common stock, subject to conditions including that a registration statement covering resale of the shares be filed and declared effective by the SEC. The company cannot draw on the funds, and the common stock may not be sold, until that registration statement is declared effective. The notes mature one year after issuance and may be repaid in shares at the lower of $4.017 per share or 92% of the lowest daily VWAP over the 5 consecutive trading days preceding the payment date, with the company holding the right to prepay in cash plus a 6% prepayment premium on the outstanding principal being prepaid. Net proceeds are expected to fund the buildout and production line commissioning of the company's robotic manufacturing facility, targeted for completion by November 2026, which Chief Executive Officer Sean Da said should allow production to start ahead of the original schedule.