Robotics Special: OpenAI eyes huge manufacturing push

Welcome back, Superhuman. Here’s an interesting fact about humans: it takes us about 30 muscles to pull off a smile. At Columbia University, researchers are giving robots nearly the same setup — with results that are equal parts impressive and unsettling. In other news, your next Walmart delivery could (literally) drop right out of the sky.

WHAT’S NEXT

The most important news and breakthroughs in robotics this week

1. OpenAI eyes a major robotics manufacturing push: The ChatGPT maker is actively hunting for US-based suppliers to fuel an aggressive push into robotics, alongside expansions in consumer devices and data centers. According to Bloomberg, the company's request for proposals covers silicon, motors, and manufacturing components, building on its recent acquisition of Jony Ive's AI device startup and a November partnership with Foxconn for US-based hardware production.

2. Walmart set to launch largest drone delivery expansion yet: The retail giant is partnering up with delivery drone startup Wing to scale "the world's largest residential drone delivery" service. It’s expected to cover over 270 locations by 2027, adding markets like LA, Miami, and Cincinnati to its network. Early metrics show some serious traction: Wing's most active customers order 3x per week, while overall deliveries have tripled in six months as shoppers get used to getting everyday items delivered in minutes.

3. Columbia's EMO robot teaches itself to lip-sync like a human: Researchers at Columbia University claim to have built a robotic head that can mirror human facial expressions with uncanny accuracy. The robot, which packs 26 motors under its silicone skin exterior, trained itself by watching its own face in a mirror make thousands of random expressions, then studied hours of YouTube videos to learn which mouth movements match which sounds. See it in action here.

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ROBOTS IN ACTION

How robots are transforming the world around us

👶 Baby Boom: New York-based startup Conceivable Life Sciences has built AURA, a robotic assembly line that's the only system in the world capable of handling every step of creating human embryos outside the body. Early results from patient trials show AURA creates viable blastocysts 51% of the time, and has already helped bring 19 babies to life. The company envisions "superlabs" producing thousands of embryos daily to slash costs.

🚗 Park Pilot: Tired of circling for parking? Korean startup HL Robotics is rolling out Parkie, an automated system where robots take control of your vehicle and position it autonomously in cramped parking lots. The system allows cars to park closer together, boosting capacity, eliminating the stress of hunting for spots, and slashing door-ding risks from tight squeezes.

🏭️ Working the Floor: Robotics startup Humanoid just completed a proof-of-concept at a live Siemens facility, where its wheeled HMND 01 Alpha humanoid handled logistics tasks for two weeks straight. The robot moved 60 totes per hour, achieved 90% pick-and-place accuracy, and ran autonomously for 30+ minutes at a time — an early step toward deploying humanoids in active production environments. Watch it in action here.

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Everything else you need to know this week

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

• Skild AI has surged to a $14B valuation after raising $1.4B in a SoftBank-led funding round, underscoring investor appetite for robot foundation models.

• 1X has released a “world model” that lets its Neo humanoid robot learn simple new tasks from video — a step toward self-teaching robots for the home.

• Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, has moved to legalize robotaxis statewide, but there’s a major exception: the Big Apple remains off-limits (for now).

• Lyft and Uber drivers took to the streets in San Francisco this week, demanding tougher rules for Waymo as safety incidents mount and scrutiny picks up.

• The UK government has named robotics as a priority sector, cutting red tape to speed up innovation, boost national security, and back the push with £52M.

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ROBOT OF THE WEEK

A robot that caught our eye this week

A spa day for your pair of kicks.

Brolan's ClearX robot debuted at CES 2026 as the first intelligent shoe-cleaning system that washes, dries, and sanitizes footwear automatically. Using micro-bubble technology, it cleans with water without any harsh detergents, while built-in sensors analyze materials and adjust treatment accordingly. At $500-$800, it's launching on Kickstarter in May.

You can check it out here.

ROBO REEL

Watch: The reportedly first-ever unscripted conversation between humanoid robots

Two humanoid robots pulled off a completely unscripted, two-hour conversation with each other at CES 2026 last week. Sure, the exchange had awkward pauses and the robots looked more like "rubber mannequins with speakers," but that's the point: unlike polished, pre-scripted demos, this was raw physical AI in action.

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Until next time,

Zain and the Superhuman AI team