🤖 Surgery Buys Another Door
Good Morning, Roboticists!
The robots have barely figured out general intelligence and somehow already have exams, subscriptions, career changes, and continuing education.
Surgery Buys Another Door
TL;DR: Medtronic announced a strategic partnership with Cornerstone Robotics, including about $700 million in investment and rights to distribute the Sentire surgical system in select markets outside the U.S. The CE-marked multi-port platform adds another robotic-assisted surgery path beside Medtronic's Hugo system for minimally invasive procedures across general, gynecologic, thoracic, and urologic workflows, and broader worldwide access. Read more →
Badminton Finds a Robot
TL;DR: A used Denso VS-050 industrial arm has been turned into an automated badminton trainer that serves shuttlecocks from repeatable angles and positions. Built by Travis Mitchell, the setup stores up to 127 robot positions, turning an old factory machine into a consistent practice partner for solo drills without needing a human feeder nearby, inside a low-cost workshop build. Read more →
Heavy Machines Lose Hydraulics
TL;DR: RISE Robotics received a $100,000 MassVentures START Grant to commercialize Beltdraulic, its electric actuation technology for heavy machinery and defense applications. The Somerville company is eligible for up to $800,000 in total program funding, using the state-backed award to move a cleaner hydraulic alternative closer to real industrial and robotic equipment deployments. Read more →
Humanoids Face A Real Exam
TL;DR: Robotics pioneer Dr. Scott Walter proposed a strict autonomous humanoid decathlon to push robots beyond cherry-picked demos. The rule set targets single-task optimization by requiring anthropomorphic bodies, no hardware swaps, self-dressing, and repeated real-world events, reframing performance around general capability instead of whatever a team can tune for one showpiece across the same unchanged body. Read more →
Robot Hands Lose The Robot
TL;DR: X Square Robot introduced TwinDEX, a matched three-finger dexterous interface that lets operators collect manipulation data without tying up a robot. The wearable and robotic end effector share nine degrees of freedom, synchronized vision, wrist, joint, and tactile sensing, and showed up to 5.3 times the throughput of on-robot teleoperation for contact-rich everyday tasks. Read more →
Small Bodies Get An SDK
TL;DR: Zeroth launched Bridge, an 88 cm, 13 kg AI-native embodied robot, alongside the OpenBridge open-source ecosystem. The compact humanoid ships with bipedal walking, obstacle avoidance, motion libraries, SDKs, motion-control APIs, and VR or motion-capture integration, while a builder program will give 200 selected developers complimentary access. The Geek Edition is now available for global booking. Read more →
Roomba Chases Carpet Physics
TL;DR: iRobot launched the Roomba Max 875 Combo with an AutoWash Dock, positioning it as the company's most powerful robot cleaner yet. The system combines 35,000 Pa suction, 20 L/s airflow, heated-mist mopping, mop lifting for carpets, hot-water dock washing, warm-air drying, and up to 90 days of self-emptying at a $1,199 starting price. Read more →
Warehouse Robots Sell Subscriptions
TL;DR: Geek+ reported 2026 interim results showing orders up 35.5% and subscription-based services up 75%, as warehouse automation customers keep shifting toward recurring robot services. The company says it now serves more than 1,000 end customers across over 40 countries and regions, including 85-plus Fortune Global 500 enterprises and an 80% repurchase rate overall. Read more →
Subsea Robots Clock In Together
TL;DR: Nauticus Robotics said both of its Comanche ROV systems are now deployed on commercial offshore projects during the third quarter. One is supporting offshore wind development in the U.S. Northeast, while the other is handling platform inspection work in the Gulf Coast, giving the company simultaneous utilization in two U.S. offshore markets at once. Read more →
Factory Arms Teach Themselves
TL;DR: Agile Robots and subsidiary Franka Robotics demonstrated a physical AI stack across recent events in Zurich and Bremen. Diana 7 and Thor automation systems handled industrial showcases, while a Franka GELLO Duo teleoperated an FR3 Duo robot and captured bimanual demonstrations as training data for future manipulation policies without separating data capture from physical robots. Read more →
READ MORE
Let the Future Come to Your Inbox
Stay ahead without drowning in information. We turn the most important signals across AI, tech, marketing, and future products into 5-minute reads you can actually finish.
- AI Secret uncovers what really matters in AI
- Bay Area Letters decodes tech and business shifts from Silicon Valley
- Robotics Herald tracks how robots move from labs into daily life
- Marketing Secret breaks down real growth and go-to-market playbooks
- The Hardwire explores hardware, consumer tech, and what’s coming next
TOGETHER WITH US
AI Secret Media Group is the world’s #1 AI & Tech Newsletter Group, reaching over 2 million leaders across the global innovation ecosystem, from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft to top AI labs, VCs, and fast-growing startups.
We've helped promote over 500 Tech Brands. Will yours be the next?
Email our co-founder Mark directly at mark@aisecret.us if the button fails.