Welcome back, Superhuman. You’d think if anyone (or anything) is impervious to stage jitters, it’d probably be a robot. You obviously haven’t met Qualcomm’s humanoid robot. The robot walked out to sky-high anticipation, and sure enough, delivered a truly unforgettable performance — just not in the way it would have liked.
The Robotics Special is designed to help you stay on the cutting edge of breakthroughs and products in robotics. Regular AI updates resume on Monday.
WHAT’S NEXT
The most important news in robotics this week
Click here to see the viral moment when Qualcomm’s humanoid robot fell face-first at Computex 2026. Photo: Qualcomm
1. Qualcomm robot face-plants in viral demo-gone-wrong: A Qualcomm-powered humanoid robot pitched forward and fell flat on its face while walking out to co-present a live keynote at Computex 2026 in Taiwan, in a clip that’s blown up on social media. Qualcomm blamed a communication glitch and said the robot's safe-collapse sequence worked as designed. It’s a timely reminder that reliability, not just capability, is the biggest hurdle to real-world deployment for humanoid robots. You can see the viral moment here.
2. Unitree prices IPO at a staggering $9 billion valuation: The Chinese humanoid robot maker has priced its Shanghai IPO at 150.8 yuan per share, valuing the company at $9 billion, significantly higher than its earlier $7 billion target. The company’s revenue more than quadrupled to $238 million in 2025, with humanoid robots now its largest business. Unitree has flagged US trade restrictions as a risk, with American sales accounting for 13.3% of last year's revenue.
3. US states test pepper spray drones in school to stop school shooters: Several schools across Florida, Georgia, and Colorado are piloting "Campus Guardian Angels", remotely operated drones that can reach a shooter within 15 seconds, traveling at 60 mph, smashing through windows, and blasting pepper spray, sirens, and flashing lights. The drones are teleoperated from Austin, Texas, but serious questions remain about misidentification risks. Read more about the program here.
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ROBOTS IN ACTION
How robots are transforming the world around us
Photo: Getty Images
Demon Droid: A nearly seven-foot centaur robot called Threehalves has gone viral after images of the horned, four-legged robotic centaur blew up across social media. Built by a small California team, it's controlled via a game controller from a safe distance — designed to send machines into hazardous environments. See the viral images here.
Pick & Place: DoorDash's Dot delivery robots can navigate miles of roads and sidewalks autonomously, but they can't pick up an order from a restaurant counter. So DoorDash is paying gig workers through its app to bridge that gap, driving to restaurants and loading orders into robots — a small but revealing glimpse at automation's last-mile problem.
Moon Shot: Elon Musk told investors on SpaceX's debut earnings call that robots will eventually build factories on the moon, enabling solar-powered mass accelerators and an economy 1,000x the size of Earth's. It's the clearest articulation yet of where Musk sees robotics fitting into SpaceX's long-term vision, as the engine of an entirely new off-world economy.
INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
Everything else you need to know this week
Click here to see Figure’s 03 humanoid robot climb a ladder autonomously. Photo: Figure AI
Here are the biggest developments in the robotics space that you should know about:
Figure claims its Figure 03 humanoid robot can climb ladders fully autonomously, marking a notable advance in balance, perception, and real-world mobility.
China has announced countermeasures against Washington, including drone export controls and a ban on dealings with six US entities, as tech tensions escalate.
BYD is entering the humanoid robot race with an August debut at Di Space, positioning the EV giant to take on Tesla’s Optimus.
Wayve and Uber have nabbed Transport for London licenses for robotaxis, moving them closer to launching supervised self-driving rides in the city.
Mitsubishi will mass-produce up to 1,000 humanoid robots a month on an unused Kyoto engine line, signaling automakers’ growing push into physical AI.
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ROBOT OF THE WEEK
A robot that’s caught our eye this week
An AI-powered butler that manages your entire life.
Autonomy has launched NX1, an autonomous hub that monitors your email, finances, health data, calendars, and home cameras. The device processes upcoming events, spending patterns, and even calorie counts from meal photos. The product will start shipping to users this month.
You can check it out here.
ROBO REELS
Watch: Foundation’s new robotic hand catches baseball mid-air with human-like precision
San Francisco-based Foundation Robotics has unveiled a tendon-driven robotic hand that catches a baseball in flight, demonstrating the kind of fast, precise, reactive gripping that has historically eluded robotic systems. The fingers automatically adjust their shape to cup round objects on contact, bringing robotic dexterity meaningfully closer to human-level. You can see the fascinating feat here.
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Until next time,
Zain, Faiq, and the Superhuman AI team
