Robotics Special: Swiss scientists unveil detachable robotic hand

Welcome back, Superhuman. Remember Thing, the disembodied hand with a mind of its own, from the Addams Family? A team of Swiss engineers may have brought the iconic concept to life with a unique design. Meanwhile, Tesla’s robotaxis have hit a major milestone in Austin, causing the EV maker’s stock to surge by 4%.

WHAT’S NEXT

The most important news and breakthroughs in robotics this week

1. Swiss scientists unveil a detachable robotic hand: Swiss engineers have unveiled a robotic hand that can detach, crawl around using its fingers as legs, and return to reattach, all while securely holding objects. Videos of the prototype in action have gone viral across social media. The design is way more than a gimmick, and could potentially help rescue workers access tight spaces for disaster response or inspect pipes and industrial equipment where traditional robotic arms can't reach.

2. Tesla finally ditches safety drivers in Austin robotaxis: After months of operating with human safety monitors on board, Tesla just started running a handful of fully unsupervised robotaxis in Austin as part of a limited test. VP of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, says the company is mixing a few driverless vehicles into its broader fleet and will gradually increase the ratio over time. Videos of Tesla’s Model Y vehicles driving on the streets of Austin without safety monitors flooded social media over the week.

3. Oshen's robots survive Category 5 hurricane to collect ocean data: The startup’s micro-robots are the first ocean robots to collect data during a Category 5 hurricane, after three units survived Hurricane Humberto. Oshen cracked the challenge of making robots that are mass-deployable, cheap, and technologically advanced — a trifecta competitors have reportedly not yet achieved. The feat has attracted contracts from NOAA and the UK government for weather and defense operations.

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ROBOTS IN ACTION

How robots are transforming the world around us

💊 Pill Bot: A pharmacy in Benfleet, Essex, is using a robotic dispensing system that can recognize barcodes and prioritize expiry dates to handle its prescription volume with some additional staff checks. Employees report that the system frees up time for clinical consultations with 30 patients daily, letting staff use their medical training instead of just ‘checking boxes.’

🔩 Speed Run: While most companies are still testing humanoid robots, Chinese heavy equipment maker Zoomlion is running them at production scale. The company claims to have deployed embodied-intelligence humanoids across 12 factories and 300+ lines as part of its "Smart City" complex, claiming to crank out an excavator every 6 minutes, scissor lifts every 7.5 minutes, and truck cranes every 18 minutes.

🛟 To the Rescue: Scientists have built Spotless, a quadruped designed for search-and-rescue missions too dangerous for human first responders. The robot can reportedly detect hazardous gases, locate casualties, and remotely assess the patient’s condition before medics arrive. During demos, the robot sped up response times by quickly identifying victim counts, removing a key bottleneck for rescue teams.

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Everything else you need to know this week

• Microsoft has unveiled Rho-alpha, an AI model that turns plain language into real-time actions for two-handed robots.

• Elon Musk has claimed that Tesla will start selling its Optimus robots next year, despite little public evidence that they can reliably work without human control.

• iRobot has exited bankruptcy as a subsidiary of Picea Robotics, restructuring its finances while creating a US-based entity to protect American consumer data.

• UBTECH showcased its Walker S2 humanoid performing human-like assembly and material-handling tasks inside a 5G-enabled wind turbine factory in China

• Zipline, the drone delivery startup, has crossed 2M commercial deliveries and has raised $600M in funding at a $7.6B valuation

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ROBOT OF THE WEEK

A robot that caught our eye this week

You don’t have to spend your Sundays mowing your lawn anymore.

Roborock has unveiled the RockNeo Q1 robotic mower, which maps your yard with AI, trims edges down to 1 inch, and climbs slopes up to 45 percent. It navigates tight spaces and obstacles automatically, so lawns maintain themselves while you sit back and relax.

You can check it out here.

ROBO REEL

Watch: Robots parade through the streets of Davos during the World Economic Forum

Humanoid robots marched through the streets of Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum, serving as a preview for the inaugural Davos Tech Summit scheduled for July. The spectacle drew crowds as the bots paraded ahead of "Touching Intelligence," a new conference bringing together industry, science, and political leaders to explore advanced robotics' physical-world interactions.

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Until next time,

Zain and the Superhuman AI team