Oh, you like humanoids do you? You can explore the market here: 🔗korthos.xyz/ecosystem/produc…

Laser-powered drones are this week’s most unique funding story. Tokyo-based SolaNika raised seed funding to develop laser wireless power transmission for UAVs; a ground system tracks the drone in flight and beams power to an onboard receiver. 🔗korthos.xyz/research/laser-p…

Robotics precision-transmission supplier Laifual Drive listed in Hong Kong this week after raising up to HK$1.15B (~US$147M). The listing has direct humanoid relevance. According to its prospectus, Laifual was China’s No.2 harmonic reducer supplier by 2025 shipment volume, with a 21.4% market share. It also says it was one of only two domestic manufacturers to have achieved mass deliveries of harmonic reducers for humanoid robots by the end of 2025. Around 55% of IPO proceeds are earmarked for production expansion, including capacity for an additional 800,000 harmonic reducers annually. Image: Laifual Drive Source: hkexnews.hk/listedco/listcon…

Quantum Systems raised $1.2B at an ~$8B valuation this week. The German drone maker built its base in aerial intelligence, and is now scaling software-defined autonomous systems across air, land and sea. STARK, also co-founded by Quantum co-founder Florian Seibel, raised €500M last week at a reported €3.2B valuation. Quantum says the new capital will go into production scale-up, supply-chain resilience, allied-market expansion, and software/AI development. Here's the rest of this weeks capital moves in robotics, drones and autonomy: 🔗korthos.xyz/record/briefings… Image: Quantum Systems

Permissionless, open-source humanoids. Very cyberpunk, I love it.

Amazing overview of all humanoid #robots in a single website. Great work! 🤖🚀

We’re still early…

SKF and Leaderdrive are forming a joint venture in China to develop and supply precision transmission components for humanoid robot joints. SKF will own 60% of the venture, which is expected to become operational by the end of 2026. The customer target is industrial humanoids, where joints need reliability for continuous operation in factory environments. Leaderdrive is not a small component bet, The company says it has more than 1,800 global clients, 160 national patents and over 60% domestic market share. Its core product area is strain wave reducers; one of the key mechanical components inside robot joints. This is also Leaderdrive’s second international humanoid-joint move this year. In February, Minth and Leaderdrive announced a North American JV focused on core joint modules for humanoid robots. Source: prnewswire.com/news-releases… Profile: korthos.xyz/ecosystem/compan…

The current generation of humanoid and humanoid-adjacent robots represents the worst the technology will ever be

The current generation of humanoid and humanoid-adjacent robots is producing some great designs.

We are finally seeing the launch of cheap, capable robot hardware that is at consumer price levels. new announcements from Weave, Nori Robotics, and Bracketbot show the wave of future consumer robot products that will live in your home and do your chores. more: open.substack.com/pub/itcant…

Quantum Systems has raised $1.2B at an approximately $8B post-money valuation. The German drone maker’s Series D was co-led by Blackstone, Noteus, Airbus and Advent. The round more than doubled Quantum’s valuation and gives the company capital to scale production, strengthen supply-chain resilience, expand software and AI capabilities, and build out its MOSAIC UXS multi-domain autonomy stack. Quantum says it expects 2026 revenue above €700M, around €200M EBITDA, and is targeting €1B revenue in 2027. Germany has seen a recent capital cluster around defence autonomy and robotics. STARK raised fresh funding last week for autonomous defence systems. Helsing has also been reported to be raising at a significantly higher valuation, after expanding from defence AI software into uncrewed systems across additional domains. Outside defence, the robotics stack is drawing larger rounds too. NEURA Robotics recently announced an up to $1.4B Series C, while Agile Robots has reportedly been preparing another major round targeting $800M Quantum is also evaluating adjacent product areas, including robotics and more software-led systems. A potential STARK merger has also been reported. Source: quantum-systems.com/news/qua… Profile: korthos.xyz/ecosystem/compan…

Isaac 1 has opened for orders, the new home robot from @Weaverobotics. It is a clear step up in design and function. Isaac 0 only opened for orders in February and was a stationary laundry-folding robot for Bay Area homes. Isaac 1 is mobile, has an 8-hour battery and is designed for broader home tasks including laundry flow, daily reset, picking up clothes, handling hampers, making beds and putting clutter back where it belongs. Pricing starts at $449/month, or $7,999 upfront, with first California shipments planned for fall 2026. More context: korthos.xyz/research/weave-s…

Lower-cost mobile manipulators are being pushed into more people’s hands. Today, San Francisco-based @bracketbot said it is building 100 Gen 2.5 robots for offices, retail, research labs, startups and homes. Pricing will be under $3,000 with option to buy planned by end of summer. Current efforts position around scaling data collection on embodiment and training models. At the same time, @NoriRobotics has opened orders for Nori L2, targeting an initial batch of 100. The company says the robot is made in SF, with pricing starting at $1,288 and the larger version listed at $1,388. Nori is also building a marketplace where trained tasks can be shared across robots, effectively turning lower-cost deployed hardware into a route for learning data and reusable skills.

I feel like humanoids are already being commercialized But there are things that industrial robots do better and probably always will

How far from commercialisation are humanoids? Sanctuary AI, the Canadian company behind the Phoenix humanoid line, is showing one answer with its latest disclosure; applying the Physical AI layer to industrial robots first. 🔗 korthos.xyz/research/sanctua…

Apptronik has opened Robot Park, its expanded humanoid robot training and data collection facility in Austin. The company says the site is nearly 90,000 sq ft and is being used to train fleets of Apollo 2 robots across logistics, manufacturing, retail and customer-driven tasks. Apptronik also recently quietly unveiled Apollo 2 in both bipedal and wheeled-base configurations. The wheeled version is designed to fit existing industrial mobile-robot safety standards and customer operations. The bipedal version keeps the platform moving toward more complex human-built environments. The data angle is the important part, Apptronik says Apollo 2 fleets are collecting real-world data across Robot Park, customer sites and partner sites to help advance Gemini Robotics models with Google DeepMind. Apollo 2 uses Apptronik’s patented actuator technology, and Apollo has previously been described around custom linear and rotary actuators supported by TI functional-safety, motor-control and power-management work. Apptronik raised a $520M Series A extension earlier this year, taking total Series A financing above $935M, with backing from investors including Google and Mercedes-Benz. Source: apptronik.com/news-collectio… Profile: korthos.xyz/ecosystem/compan…