iRobot co‑founder Brooks recounts a near‑miss with an Agility Robotics Digit humanoid that fell when he got too close, leading him to keep a three‑meter distance from moving bipedal robots. He argues that current walking mechanisms make safety certification for shared human‑robot zones virtually impossible, limiting the deployment of humanoids in health‑care and factories. Looking ahead, Brooks predicts that within 15 years “humanoids” will look nothing like today’s bipedal machines, favoring wheels, varied arm counts, and novel sensor placements. He notes that billions spent on vision‑only, rigid humanoids may be misplaced, while academic work such as MIT’s tactile glove shows promise but remains far from true human‑like dexterity. Read more →

NVIDIA announced the Jetson AGX Thor, the latest generation of its robot‑brain platform. Built on the new Blackwell GPU architecture, Thor delivers roughly 7.5 times the AI compute and 3.5 times the energy efficiency of the prior Jetson Orin. The system‑on‑module supports generative AI models, enabling robots to interpret visual and language data in real time. Development kits are priced at $3,499, while production‑grade T5000 modules are offered wholesale at $2,999 for large orders. Existing customers such as Amazon, Meta, Agility Robotics, and Boston Dynamics are expected to adopt the new hardware for advanced physical‑AI applications. Read more →