Robotics Special: Amazon invests $100M in robot manufacturing

Welcome back, Superhuman. When startups start handing out exposure to Nvidia and Apple stock in exchange for videos of you doing basic chores, you get a sense of just how valuable physical-world data has become. One dark-horse robotics startup is betting big on exactly that.

Meanwhile, a human stepped foot inside an MMA cage with a humanoid robot in a first-of-its-kind bout, and it went just as well as you’d imagine.

1. Viral startup claims to pay people in stock tokens for recording chores: A new startup called HANDO Labs says it’s building a crowdsourced data network where users record tasks like fastening buckles or sorting objects for robotics teams to license, getting tokenized exposure to stocks like Nvidia or Apple in return. Though it’s still early, the idea has pulled in over 1.2M views. If it pans out, it’ll be a clever way to get access to valuable physical data. Learn how the innovative idea will work here.

2. A humanoid robot just sent an influencer flying in a first-of-its-kind MMA bout: In a video that’s raging across social media, content creator Frankie LaPenna stepped inside an MMA cage with REK's six-foot "Rekbot" in what's being billed as the first human-robot fight. Held in San Francisco to promote a VR game, the fight showed LaPenna seemingly holding his own before things took a turn for the worse — a glimpse at how quickly humanoids are moving into mainstream entertainment. See the fight here.

3. Amazon is shelling out $100M+ to double down on robot manufacturing: The company is building a 585,000-square-foot robotics plant in Greenwood, Indiana, set to open by 2028 and create 300 manufacturing and engineering jobs averaging nearly $100,000 annually. Alongside a new Texas facility, the site will double Amazon’s robot-making capacity. Amazon says it has already built more than one million robots, now supporting 75% of customer orders across 300+ facilities worldwide.

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Hit Out of the Park: Chinese robotics firm AGIBOT has deployed humanoid robots across more than 100 interaction points at Zhuhai’s Chimelong Spaceship Park, where they guide visitors, staff hotels and shops, and even perform aerial acrobatics. The move comes alongside an important milestone for the company, as it delivers its 20,000th production robot. You can see the unique theme park in action here.

It’s Showtime: Unitree’s robots closed Vogue World Milan’s “Age of Intelligence” segment, dancing inside the Galleria as baffled fashion insiders looked on. Though the stunt went viral online, it drew immense criticism from fashion enthusiasts over Vogue’s embrace of Silicon Valley — a sign that as tech pushes deeper into culture, novelty alone may not be enough to win over audiences. See the robots take the stage here.

Pitstop Station: San Francisco startup PitPro Automation has deployed its first tire-changing robot at a Kal Tire shop in Calgary, and it can swap all four of your tires in under 15 minutes. The two-robot setup loosens lug nuts, removes wheels, and installs replacements inside a standard service bay. PitPro is targeting fleets and tire chains, betting that automation can ease chronic labor shortages.

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

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Safe to say this wasn’t how the centuries-old Chinese water-sleeve dance was originally performed.

Eight Unitree G1 robots joined 27-year-old dancer Wu Yufei for a synchronized water-sleeve routine in the AGT Season 21 finale, months after their June audition of dance and backflips won over all four judges. The act, called "Homies," blends traditional Chinese theater with robotics Wu has trained alongside for months. Wu has said working with the robots made them feel more like teammates than machines.

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Zain, Faiq, and the Superhuman AI team