Robotics Special: Russia's humanoid robot makes a disasterous debut

Welcome back, Superhuman. You’d think if anyone (or anything) is impervious to stage jitters, it’d most likely be a robot. You obviously haven’t met Russia’s latest humanoid. The robot walked out to sky-high anticipation and a heroic theme song, and sure enough, delivered a truly unforgettable performance — just not in the way it would have liked.

WHAT’S NEXT

The most important news and breakthroughs in robotics this week

1. One of Russia’s first humanoid robots makes headlines for all the wrong reasons: The much-hyped humanoid robot from Russian startup AIDOL walked out to Rocky’s iconic theme song “Gonna Fly Now” and waved to the crowd, before face-planting on the stage and breaking into pieces. AIDOL is hardly the first humanoid to glitch on debut, but the incident has exposed just how much ground Russia still has to cover in the robotics race. You can watch the disastrous debut here.

2. Chinese startup demos autonomous AI for humanoid robots: Shenzhen-based MindOn Robotics just dropped footage of Unitree's G1 humanoid nailing household tasks without teleoperation. The video shows MindOn testing its AI system on Unitree’s G1, seemingly enabling the robot to water plants, carry packages, and vacuum floors with remarkable fluidity. The demo has impressed social media users, though some remain skeptical about the startup’s claims. You can see the viral footage here.

3. China's UBTech racks up $112M in humanoid robot orders: The Shenzhen-based startup has revealed that it has secured over $112M in orders for its Walker S2 humanoid robot this year, with Chinese factories snapping up the industrial models. The company made the announcement by dropping a video of its robot fleet standing in unison. Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock accused the Chinese company of using CGI, a claim that some social media users are contesting. Watch the video to decide for yourself.

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ROBOTS IN ACTION

How robots are transforming the world around us

🧠 Remote Repair: In a world-first, US firm XCath has achieved a major breakthrough with its EVR robotic system, successfully treating three brain aneurysm patients in Panama. With sub-millimeter precision, physicians guided the triaxial neurovascular robot through delicate brain vessels to deploy stents and implants. The technology's remote operation capabilities could potentially expand access to lifesaving care.

🍽️ Bon Appétit: A German supermarket in Düsseldorf has become home to the world's first in-store autonomous kitchen. Developed by Munich-based company Circus SE, the CA-1 Series 4 reportedly handles everything from collecting ingredients to cooking, plating, and self-cleaning, for up to 120 restaurant-quality meals hourly without any breaks or staffing issues.

🕛️ Nick of Time: A Florida surgeon just performed the world’s first robot-assisted transatlantic thrombectomy—operating on a body in Scotland through a Lithuanian-made Sentante surgical robot. The system mimics real fingertip resistance with just 120 ms of lag (about a blink), potentially cracking the brutal math where every six-minute delay in stroke care cuts survival odds by 1%.

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Everything else you need to know this week

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

• Waymo announced its robotaxis will zip through freeways across San Francisco, LA, and Phoenix, potentially giving passengers quicker, more efficient routes.

• iRobot is still in big trouble. The Roomba-maker’s revenue fell 25% in Q3 as it warns that it has “no sources” of new capital, raising the risk of bankruptcy.

• Joby Aviation has completed the first flight of its autonomous VTOL aircraft, accelerating plans for commercial and US military deployment.

• Elon Musk has claimed that Tesla may build a massive chip factory to supply the semiconductors needed for its rapidly growing AI and robotics efforts.

• Foxglove, a San Francisco-based robotics startup, has raised $40M in funding to scale its data and visualization platform for robotics companies.

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ROBOT OF THE WEEK

A robot that caught our eye this week

A robot dog that won’t burn a hole in your wallet.

Chinese startup Dobot just dropped the Rover X1, a $1,030 robot dog that can haul your groceries, follow you around for filming, and patrol your home. The hybrid wheel-leg design lets it walk on everything from hardwood floors to grassy hillsides while carrying loads, thanks to a dual-vision system that makes autonomous decisions in real time.

Watch it in action here.

ROBO REEL

Watch: YouTuber builds talking robot head that answers like Aristotle (and other Greek philosophers)

YouTuber Nikodem Bartnik has created a DIY robot head that answers philosophical questions like a Greek scholar. The metal-masked head features LED mouth lights that sync with speech generated by Google's Gemma 3 model and ElevenLabs voice tech, processing questions in real time. All design files are on GitHub for anyone to replicate.

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Zain and the Superhuman AI team

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