New AI brain lets robots move like humans - Fox News

Humanoid robotics is accelerating across both consumer and industrial fronts. In the United States, Palo Alto‑based 1x announced that its NEO humanoid, priced at $20,000, will begin shipping later this year and that the company has booked its full 10,000‑unit annual capacity for 2026, with a goal of scaling to 100,000 units per year by the end of 2027. Meanwhile, Meta has bolstered its humanoid AI ambitions by acquiring Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI), a startup that builds foundation models enabling robots to understand and adapt to human behavior in dynamic settings; the ARI team will join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. In parallel, Genesis AI unveiled the GENE‑26.5 brain, a foundation model that combines large‑scale egocentric video data with a dexterous glove interface to give robots human‑like precision in manipulation tasks, and the company has already raised $105 million to commercialize the technology. Tesla confirmed that its Optimus humanoid will move into mass production at the Fremont plant in Q2 2026, retooling existing lines to target a million‑unit annual capacity, although analysts note that actual market demand may be limited to internal factory use. A consulting report from Roland Berger projects that, if current trends continue, the global humanoid robot market could generate $300 billion in revenue by 2035 and as much as $750 billion in optimistic scenarios, with operating costs potentially dropping to $2 per hour. In Asia, Shanghai’s DroidUp released Moya, a biomimetic robot that uses pneumatic muscles to achieve fluid, human‑like facial expressions, eye contact and gait, aiming at healthcare and education environments where prolonged human interaction is required. Together, these developments illustrate a rapid shift from experimental prototypes toward large‑scale production, advanced AI control, and niche applications that prioritize safety and social acceptance.

Mentioned in this article