Inside the Kite-Powered Sailboat Made to Become the Fastest Ever - CNET

Key takeaways

The most recent coverage shows a rapid expansion of humanoid‑robot activity across both industry and research.  By early February 2026 China had more than 140 humanoid‑robot firms and a government‑backed push to own “embodied AI,” with companies scaling production for factories, hotels and offices.  In the United States, Boston Dynamics unveiled a production‑ready Atlas and announced a partnership with DeepMind to add Gemini Robotics AI, while Hyundai disclosed plans to manufacture tens of thousands of Atlas‑type units per year by 2028.  Tesla’s Optimus is now in training at the Austin Gigafactory, performing simple tasks and targeting more complex functions by year‑end.  LimX Dynamics closed a $200 million Series B to accelerate whole‑body motion‑control and cognitive‑planning research, and will showcase its next‑generation humanoid at the Robotics Summit & Expo.  Faraday Future’s new FF AI‑Robotics division began shipping two sizes of commercial humanoids in February, positioning the company as the first U.S. firm to deliver ready‑to‑use robots.  Meanwhile, setbacks remain: XPeng’s IRON robot fell face‑first during a public debut, underscoring the still‑fragile balance control of many new models.  On the software side, Humanoid’s KinetIQ framework was introduced to coordinate fleets of heterogeneous robots, and researchers at NUS and SMART announced a neural‑blueprint that gives soft‑robotic arms human‑like adaptability for assistive tasks.  Together, these developments suggest that humanoid robots are moving from showcase prototypes toward limited industrial and commercial deployment, even as technical reliability challenges persist.

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