Week 46, 2026 (so far)
What happened in robotics this week, explained in plain words, with the source every time.
The news, explained
- UC Berkeley and NVIDIA propose agentic robotics as an alternative to data-hungry trainingAt the 2026 Conference on Robot Learning, UC Berkeley and NVIDIA presented a way to program robots through AI coding agents instead of huge sets of demonstrations.
- Xynova's Flex 2 robot hand mixes tendons and motors in a 400-gram palmHangzhou startup Xynova says its 23-joint Flex 2 hand lifts up to 12 kg at peak while sensing slip and controlling force down to 0.05 N.
- UBTECH and China Telecom unit sign deal aiming for one million home robotsUBTECH and Tianyi Telecom Terminal signed a deal on 9 November 2026 to help home companion robots pass one million units within three years, via telecom channels.
- UBTech and Tianyi Telecom Terminal aim to sell 100,000 humanoid robotsUBTech Robotics and Tianyi Telecom Terminal signed a strategic deal on 9 November 2026 to sell humanoid robots through telecom channels, with large unit targets.
- Pakistani engineer builds home-made waitress robots for a Karachi restaurantEngineer Syed Osama Aziz built robots Robia and Jojo mostly from local parts, and they now serve pizza at a Karachi restaurant that has seen more customers.
- Lisbon Web Summit 2026 puts Chinese humanoid robots on stage as official speakersWeb Summit's tenth edition in Lisbon lets humanoid robots speak on stage for the first time, backed by the largest Chinese delegation the event has hosted.
- Six robots ran a Shanghai store for 24 hours. Four passed.AgiBot put six G2 robots to work in a real convenience store for a full day and night, livestreamed to two million viewers. Four met the bar, two did not.
- PrimeBOT built 10,000 home robots in six weeks. Built, not sold.The Chinese personal-robot brand says unit 10,000 left the line on 8 November, two weeks after unit 5,000. It has not said how many are in homes.
Also this week
- Atlas on a Roll | Classical Motor Controls and Whole-Body RL | Boston Dynamics YouTube: Boston Dynamics, Mon 9 Nov
- How a Mac mini powers a staggeringly capable robot without human training AppleInsider, Mon 9 Nov
- Can Agentic Robotics Solve Robotics’ Data Scaling Problem? IEEE Spectrum Robotics, Mon 9 Nov
- US-based Agility IPO attracts investors as humanoid tech grows Fierce Sensors, Mon 9 Nov
- First humanoid robot attempts to run a Marathon in Antarctica! News.com.au, Mon 9 Nov
- UBTECH Partners with Tianyi to Scale Humanoid Robot Adoption Unite.AI, Mon 9 Nov
- UBTech Teams Up with Tianyi Telecom Terminal in Push for 100,000 Humanoid Robot Sales BigGo Finance, Mon 9 Nov
- Optical motion capture for humanoid robots and drones Robotics & Automation News, Mon 9 Nov
- China’s UBTech, Tianyi team up to scale humanoid robot market Tech in Asia, Mon 9 Nov
- Lisbon Web Summit 2026 opens with humanoid robot speakers and record Chinese delegation Euronews.com, Mon 9 Nov