EP.70 HUMANOIDS, HUMANOIDS EVERYWHERE
Chinese humanoid leader prepares for IPO, a robot that swaps batteries itself, another week, and a cost-effective hand from HF & much more...
AEON: The humanoid robot that's built for work 🦾
Hexagon has officially entered the humanoid robotics space with the launch of AEON, a robot purpose-built for industrial deployment across sectors like automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, and logistics. AEON made its debut during the company's flagship Hexagon LIVE Global event.
AEON features wheel-based locomotion that allows it to move up to four times faster than human walking speed, enabling high-efficiency operations across large industrial spaces. It's equipped with advanced sensor fusion, including a 360-degree panoramic perception system and collision avoidance sensors in the torso for safe navigation in dynamic environments.
AEON also features self-swapping battery capability, allowing for continuous operation without downtime-a key asset for around-the-clock workflows.
With advanced AI capabilities and Hexagon’s heritage in precision measurement and sensor technology, AEON is designed for complex industrial tasks such as material handling, defect detection, and asset inspection.
Together with 10 robotics experts, I explore the future of robotics and why adoption is becoming a necessity, not an option. Check out the full report below.
Unitree is preparing for an IPO in China! 📈
As of July 18, 2025, Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics has entered the “tutoring” stage in its pursuit of a public listing—marking the beginning of regulatory preparations for a potential IPO expected in Q4 2025
Backed by CITIC Securities, Unitree is leveraging its strong position in the humanoid and quadruped robot market. Known for its G1 humanoid model and agile robot dogs, the company has attracted significant government and academic contracts—90 deals worth approximately 39 million yuan ($5.4 million) over the past five years, with over half of that revenue coming in the last year.
China boasts robust manufacturing capacity and state-level incentives for robotics, which fuel Unitree’s momentum. While G1 robots are currently being tested in industrial environments, the company is heavily investing in AI technologies to enhance autonomy and commercial viability.
An IPO would inject new capital to accelerate R&D, scale production, and expand international operations. It would also highlight growing investor confidence in hardware-led AI and reinforce China’s position in the global robotics landscape.
Meme of the week 🤖
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?
Robot that powers itself to work endlessly! 🔋
UBTech has unveiled the Walker S2, a humanoid robot capable of fully autonomous battery swaps—enabling continuous, 24/7 industrial operation without human intervention. In a recent demonstration, the robot detached its depleted battery and installed a fresh one in under three minutes, highlighting a significant step toward self-sustaining robot labor.
Designed for dynamic industrial environments, Walker S2 integrates dual-battery balancing, voice control, and intelligent power management to optimize uptime. The robot intelligently decides between charging or swapping batteries based on task priority.
This innovation builds on UBTech’s broader vision for humanoid automation. Earlier in 2025, the company debuted “BrainNet,” a distributed cloud-to-edge framework allowing multiple Walker S1 robots to collaborate across complex factory workflows. Using shared perception, semantic mapping, and multimodal decision-making, these humanoids now perform coordinated tasks such as assembly, inspection, and logistics in real-world industrial settings.
‘Amazing hand’ for less than €200 from Pollen Robotics! 🤚🏽
Pollen Robotics has released the “Amazing Hand,” a fully 3D-printed, open-source robotic hand that delivers eight degrees of freedom (DOF) at a sub-€200 price point. Designed for accessibility and modular experimentation, the project simplifies the complex ILDA hand mechanism, offering a compact, self-contained alternative to traditionally bulky and expensive anthropomorphic robotic hands.
Each of the four fingers is actuated with two hobby-grade servo motors enabling flexion/extension and abduction/adduction via differential motion. The mechanical design uses rigid internal bones and soft TPU shells to ensure object-friendly contact and durable performance, all while maintaining a lightweight 400-gram profile. A mechanical linkage simplifies joint control while preserving motion range.
The hand is designed to mount directly to the Reachy2 robot, but thanks to its open CAD files, it can be adapted for other robotic arms. Its modularity encourages customization—users can add sensors, redesign the finger structure, or adjust the wrist interface for different platforms.
With all files available on GitHub, the “Amazing Hand” pushes open-source robotics forward, inviting builders to modify, fork, and improve on a capable, low-cost platform for robotic manipulation research and prototyping.
