Silicon Valley Robotics

08/29/2026

We’re turning ourselves into robots faster than we’re commercializing robots! Plus some great events coming up and insights from the humanoid patent landscape.
https://robotsandstartups.substack.com/p/learning-about-robots-from-science?r=3k8pj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

08/24/2026

Quori is an NSF-funded, multi-award-winning, community-informed, not-for-profit, open, modular, social robot platform for the robotics research community (https://quori.org). You can see the latest version of Quori in the one-minute YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/VFLEs2hwCtY
As we continue testing and refining the prototype robot, we are gauging global interest in purchasing Quori robots, which will help inform how many units we need to manufacture in our initial production run. If you are interested (noncommittal) in purchasing a Quori robot, please complete the Google Form here: https://forms.gle/hLmcfMoqVeEhJSKu7
You are encouraged to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in Quori. The more units we manufacture, the less each unit will cost!
If you have any questions or comments, please contact [email protected] and/or join the Quori Community Discord server (https://discord.gg/k5kfPcgRUM).
Thanks again for your interest! We are excited to welcome you to the Quori community!

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The Quori Project Team
* Ross Mead (Semio)
* Bill Smart (Oregon State University)
* Mark Yim (University of Pennsylvania)
* Simon Kim (University of Pennsylvania)
* Naomi Fitter (Oregon State University)

Check out the Quori Community community on Discord - hang out with 57 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

08/22/2026

Mission accomplished for Actuate, finding the signal in the physical AI noise, Evan Ackerman asks ‘How does a high jumping humanoid help humanity?’ and unpacking the new FCC robot bans.
https://robotsandstartups.substack.com/p/actuate-takeaways-and-inside-the?r=3k8pj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

08/22/2026

I hear that you appreciate the robotics funding data, so here’s some robotics founding data too. (Especially for my paid subscribers on substack)
https://robotsandstartups.substack.com/p/whos-new-in-the-bay-area?r=3k8pj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

08/20/2026

HUMANOIDS: Swings and roundabouts… or is it snakes and ladders?
Unitree’s massive IPO pops 460% to a $51 BILLION market cap yesterday. Dropped a bit today though that’s to be expected. Founder says ChatGPT moment for robotics is still 10 years away.
Speakers at Actuate2026 in SF showcasing some of the best in physical AI are a bit more optimistic saying that robotics is currently at the GP2 era and capability is scaling.
However, robotics OEMs and integrators still see slow deployment growth rates and the ongoing complexity of meeting real world customer requirements.
https://robotsandstartups.substack.com

08/20/2026

Unitree hits $51 BILLION market cap as the IPO value increases 460%. Are humanoids really that valuable now? NO. Will they be in the future? YES. And from what I see that future is moving rapidly faster towards us.

Humanoid robots don’t deserve their superhuman valuations https://www.ft.com/content/ba2a65de-7b9a-4938-bde6-91d41722ea08?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Machines are currently far too pricey for industrial viability, let alone consumers

08/18/2026

Foxglove 3.0 announced. 5x faster than 2.0. Plus hardware acceleration. Faster search. Remote access. Live connection via web RTC. Comparison mode. Semantic search, powered by NVIDIA Cosmos. Agents at the core with mutlimodal reasoning.

08/18/2026

"Now robotics companies are shipping production deployments" Adrien Macneill of Foxglove opening Actuate talkIng about the huge curve up and to the right in robotics.... also talking about the new issues emerging of course. (ACTUATE is the place to be for sure!)

08/15/2026

If you want to build hardware like robots then we’ll see you in the East Bay. Sooner or later! https://robotsandstartups.substack.com/p/east-bay-becoming-home-to-physical?r=3k8pj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

08/08/2026

In Silicon Valley robotics startups are focused on building right now. Across the United States the broader issues remain.
Can we create a local robotics manufacturing ecosystem? If so, where and what resources do we need? What are some strategies to support innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies?
Is it always true that where the US innovates, China scales? What do you think?

Announcing first keynote speaker for Humanoids: Jerry Pratt CTO of Persona