Short, frequent briefs on funding rounds, product launches, and policy moves across humanoids, drones, and autonomous systems in the US, China, and Japan.
Robotics Center of Silicon Valley's annual report sizes the robotics/physical AI market at roughly $38B, tracking a dozen humanoid programs and the shift toward vision-language-action (VLA) models as the common "brain" architecture.
Robotics Center of Silicon Valley →JETRO reports that China's humanoid robot output is projected to nearly double year-on-year in 2026, part of a policy-driven push positioning embodied AI as a pillar industry in the country's next five-year plan.
JETRO →A new closed-end fund began trading under ticker BOT, giving public-market investors diversified exposure to a mix of private and public robotics and physical AI companies through a single listed security.
The AI Insider →ABB abandoned an earlier plan to spin off and IPO its Robotics division, instead agreeing to sell it outright to SoftBank Group. SoftBank's Masayoshi Son framed the deal explicitly as a physical AI acquisition; it's expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.
ABB Newsroom →Agility Robotics, maker of the Digit humanoid already deployed at Amazon and Ford, announced a definitive SPAC merger agreement expected to close later in 2026 — a candidate to become the first true US-listed pure-play humanoid robot company. The deal has not closed yet; shares trade today under the SPAC's own ticker (CCXI), not yet as the combined company.
Agility Robotics →Neura Robotics closed a Series C backed by Tether, Amazon, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Bosch, Schaeffler, and the European Investment Bank, with an order book above $1B. It's targeting 6,000 humanoid units produced in 2026 from a new facility in Baden-Württemberg. The company remains private with no announced IPO plans.
CNBC →Annual funding tallies show 2025 as the largest year on record for robotics and physical AI investment, led by large rounds into humanoid and robot-foundation-model companies.
aInvest →