August 2026 Robotics Recap

Hello again, everybody, and welcome back to “Robotics Recap,” a monthly breakdown of all the news from Robotics 24/7 at Peerless Media. I'm your host, Tim Culverhouse, Editorial Director of Robotics 24/7, and it's time to look back at all the robotics and automation news from August 2026.

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• And July

July’s “Robotics Recap” saw a lot of M&A news alongside robotics deployments in the manufacturing and warehouse industries. This episode tackles all the news and notes from around the robotics world in August, including the release of our agenda for the 2026 Robotics Applications Conference.

Now, without any further ado, let's get into our podcast.

Robotics Applications Conference 2026 is September 16

The first talking point from our August 2026 “Robotics Recap” will be the release of our speakers and agenda for the 2026 Robotics Applications Conference, RAC 26. This is our fifth annual virtual event, and it's a one-day virtual summit featuring speakers from around the robotics and automation world. The conference begins at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday, September 16th. We hope you join us then. We'll have six sessions at this year's Robotics Applications Conference. Here are the sessions that you can register for today:

• The Future of Warehouse Optimization: Unifying WMS, WES and WCS
• AI-Enhanced Virtual Twins for Automotive Production Lines
• From Automation to Orchestration: Unlocking the Next Level of Warehouse Performance
• The Future of Sortation: Get Higher Throughput and Greater Flexibility at a Lower Cost with the Autonomous Magnetic Platform
• Keeping Robots on the Floor: How Smarter Charging Infrastructure Maximizes Fleet Performance
• The Business Case and Technology Case for Warehouse Automation: Why Now, Why Collaborative

The sponsors of RAC 26 are:

• enVista
• GreyOrange
• Dassault Systèmes
• WiBotic
• Robust.AI

We hope you'll join us on Wednesday, September 16th for our one-day virtual event. Sessions begin at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific. If you can't make it on September 16th, all the sessions will be available on demand following RAC 26. We hope to see you there.

Robotics adoption accelerates

Now, we'll take a look at some of the headlines from around the robotics and automation world in August 2026. We'll start with continued coverage of how robotics adoption is accelerating.

A new report from Intel found that 60% of company leaders are betting big on robotics, but only 40% of them are ready.

A3 released its Q2 2026 report and found that robot orders are increasing as automation demand broadens across industries.

Market research firm Interact Analysis had two research reports from this month. First, it found that the robotic picking market is forecast to almost triple in size by 2030. Then, they examined the FCC ruling on advanced robotic devices and what that means for the United States mobile robot market.

Lastly, we had a contributed piece from Kumar Anand of QKS Group entitled, “As automated grocery fulfillment declines, quick commerce reveals where warehouse automation pays off.”

We're continuing to see the market growing, but deployments are still uneven. This interesting question is where robotics is actually making economic sense.

Physical AI advancements grow

Let's take a look at some physical AI and robotic intelligence news from this month. Dyna Robotics unveiled the DYNA=2 World Action Model.

Google DeepMind announced Gemini Robotics 2, another world model.

At Actuate 26 in San Francisco, Foxglove introduced the agentic data platform for physical AI and Semantic Search features.

Limitless Labs raised a $20 million Series A that the company said it will use to expand a physical AI foundation model and platform for precision manufacturing.

And Generative Bionics introduced Gene.01, which it says is a smart skin humanoid robot platform for safe human collaboration.

Robotics technology stack news

Now, let's take a look at some news from the robot technology stack.

NVIDIA unveiled the Jetson Orin Nano 2 robotics computer.

Allient added new sizes to the ElectroFlux Series of frameless torque motors.

Texas Instruments said it is advancing next-generation industrial systems with its CAN XL transceiver.

FARO CREAFORM updated its Laser Line Probe portfolio with the addition of the Quantum X and Quantum Max FaroArm Series.

And ENCY debuted 3.0 CAD/CAM and robot programming software.

So, there's a massive technology stack of compute, motors, sensors, communication and programming tools driving all of the hype and turning AI into physical reality.

Warehouse and logistics automation headlines

Let's take a look at some highlights from the warehouse and logistics space.

Logic highlighted its Octopus overhead picking robot.

Geekplus unveiled the Robo Shuttle Hyper tote-to-person climbing AMR.

AutoStore and Amazon established a global strategic supply agreement. There weren’t a lot of details coming out of that news, but we’re keeping our eyes on it moving forward for any further financial or deployment stories.

LG CNS unveiled the Mobile Shuttle, which it says is an intralogistics automation robot that operates at temperatures as low as -15° Fahrenheit.

FedEx and Dexterity expanded their physical AI deployment for autonomous trailer loading.

And then, there was a merger between Intelligrated, Trew and Transnorm. Those companies united to create what they call a unified warehouse automation provider.

Manufacturing and robotics news

In the manufacturing space, Hirebotics’ cobots help data center infrastructure company Tate deliver 12 times output per welder in those applications.

HII signed a performance-based production agreement worth up to $900 million. They did so with Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics.

Fives announced that it is exporting its industrial maintenance services and also accelerating digitalization in Mexico.

Robostore launched Robo Inc., which it says is a New York-based manufacturing and systems integration company.

And Avatar Robotics raised $6.5 million in a seed funding round that the company said it will use to build the “unlimited industrial workforce.”

Robots in construction and hospitality settings

We'll see some robots leave the factory in our next section here.

Gravis Robotics raised $200 million for its construction autonomy platform.

MBody AI took its autonomous services outdoors, expanding its addressable market into gaming and hospitality segments.

Avride announced that it surpassed 100,000 autonomous rides on the Uber platform in Dallas, Texas.

Faraday Future released its target of 2,000 robot shipments by the end of 2026.

NEURA Robotics acquired ADLATUS Robotics, and NEURA said that it will bring physical AI into the professional cleaning segment.

Automation financial news from August 2026

And lastly, a couple more financial and merger and acquisition moves from around the robotics and automation space in August 2026.

FORT Robotics announced that it will go public via its business combination with Newbury Street 2 Acquisition Corp.

And Gritt launched with $32.4 million in funding, and the company said it will use it to build a physical AI that accelerates global infrastructure buildout.

Looking ahead for Robotics 24/7

Thank you once again for tuning in to the August 2026 episode of “Robotics Recap.” Don't forget you can download and subscribe to “Robotics Recap” on the podcast platform of your choosing.

We look forward to seeing you again at the end of September as we take a look at more news and notes from around the robotics and automation space.

This is Tim Culverhouse, Editorial Director of Robotics 24/7. Thank you again for listening, and we'll see you in September.