Robotics 9 August 2025 - 5 January 2026

Robot Dog Climbs Mount Etna to Sniff Volcanic Gases — Here’s What It Found
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Robot Dog Climbs Mount Etna to Sniff Volcanic Gases — Here’s What It Found

ETH Zurich researchers sent a four-legged robot equipped with a mass spectrometer onto Mount Etna to autonomously sample volcanic gases in hazardous areas. The robot achieved up to 100% autonomy in some missions but struggled with wind and rough terrain, which scattered gas plumes and sometimes required manual control. The system detected sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and five out of eight helium sources.
February 4, 2026
Honor Robot Phone at CES 2026: First Look at the Robotic Gimbal Camera Smartphone Ahead of MWC 2026
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Honor Robot Phone at CES 2026: First Look at the Robotic Gimbal Camera Smartphone Ahead of MWC 2026

Honor’s Robot Phone prototype debuted at CES 2026, featuring a fold-out robotic gimbal camera arm for stabilized, AI-tracked video. Reporters saw physical hardware during pre-show previews, though the device remains unfinished and not ready for market. The camera arm extends from the phone’s rear, aiming to deliver steadier shots and flexible angles without external equipment.
January 5, 2026
artificial intelligence predictive maintenance
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AI Maintenance Is Quietly Saving Trillions: Guide to Predictive & Prescriptive Maintenance – What It Is, Who’s Winning, and How to Start

Siemens launched an Industrial Copilot for maintenance, integrating Senseye analytics and Azure. IBM added AI agents to Maximo. Studies show AI-based maintenance can cut downtime by up to 45% and reduce costs by 25–35%. Ford is deploying AI vision at scale to prevent rework and recalls.
August 17, 2025
Asteroid Mining
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The New Gold Rush: How Asteroid Mining Could Create Trillionaires and Change Earth’s Future (2025 Update)

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx returned 250 grams of Bennu material in 2023, revealing water-rich clays and organics. The DART mission altered Dimorphos’s orbit by 32 minutes in 2022. Psyche launched in 2023 to a metal-rich asteroid valued at $10,000 quadrillion, with arrival set for 2026. China’s Tianwen-2 and AstroForge’s Odin and Vestri missions target asteroid sample return and mining by 2027.
August 14, 2025
How Smart Production Lines Are Transforming Manufacturing
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Inside the Industry 4.0 Revolution: How Smart Production Lines Are Transforming Manufacturing

Xiaomi’s Changping “Dark Factory” runs 11 fully automated lines where robots produce a device every three seconds. Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory and BMW use AI-powered robots and vision systems to coordinate production and inspect defects. Analysts estimate Industry 4.0 could reach $3.7 trillion in value by 2025. The World Economic Forum projects 85 million jobs lost and 97 million created by 2025 due to automation.
August 10, 2025
Autonomous Mobile Robot Revolution
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The Autonomous Mobile Robot Revolution: How AMRs Are Changing Industry and Society

Amazon uses thousands of Kiva-designed AMRs to move shelves in fulfillment centers. Starship Technologies’ sidewalk delivery robots completed over 8 million deliveries by early 2025. The global AMR market hit $4 billion in 2024, with double-digit growth forecast. U.S. state laws on delivery robots vary, with Georgia allowing up to 500 pounds at 4 mph.
August 9, 2025