May 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 May 2026.

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on whatever medium you listen to it, and also get the latest episode of Robotics Recap as soon as it's released. Our release cadence is the last Wednesday of each month.

Also you can catch up on our four earlier editions of the Robotics Recap podcast from January, February, March and April.

April's “Robotics Recap” was filled with a lot of MODEX 2026 news. It was looking back at all of the incredible innovations and technological advancements that we saw on the show floor at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

And as we turn the calendar to May, and specifically look ahead to June, we're starting to make our focus on Automate 2026 in Chicago.

Automate 2026 preview

As part of our Automate coverage on Robotics 24/7, we released our May Special Focus Issue titled “Robots generate precision in assembly and inspection tasks.”

There are three original articles in that SFI that I'd like to highlight as part of this podcast.

First, we did a Q&A with Jeff Burnstein, President of A3. Now in that article, Jeff was kind enough to share his thoughts, previewing Automate 2026, what he's most excited about for the show, and also provide an update on the ongoing conversations related to developing a national robotics strategy in A3's efforts in the United States government conversations.

A couple of other features in that SFI, we took a look inside GFT Technologies’ AI-powered assembly line robots, and how those assembly line robots can detect and remove defective automotive parts.

Additionally, we highlighted Kuka's assembly robot portfolio and how those families of robots can handle tasks of small and high payloads with precision from 3 to 1,500 kg. You can download the May 2026 SFI here.

Also in that Special Focus Issue, we rolled out a product preview ahead of Automate 2026. We broke down our products into two photo galleries that you can view on Robotics 24/7.

The first one, AMRs, cobots, humanoids, orchestration platforms, and software systems.

And the second, featuring the cameras, components, drives, motors, grippers, sensors, and more.

You can find those photo galleries on the site and also inside our Special Focus Issue. Now for those who will be in Chicago for Automate 2026, you can pick up a copy of our May 26 SFI at the Peerless Media booth, Number 4444.

Sticking to the theme of North America, A3 also released its Q1 2026 robot orders report. Now the data found that robot orders held steady in Q1, but demand is broadening across non-automotive industries. It's interesting to note that it was a 0.1% uptick in robot orders in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025, but really spearheaded by demand in those non-automotive segments.

Tying that in, as well with our conversation with Jeff Bernstein, Robots for America launched in May, as a national coalition to advance US robotics deployment policy.

And on the awards front, Flexware Innovation and the company's LIFT Orchestration platform won the 2026 Mira Tech Innovation of the Year Award.

Humanoid robot news from May 2026

As we wrapped up May 2026, there was an abundance of humanoid robotics-related news. So let's take a look back at some of the main headlines from this month.

We'll start off with a research report from market research firm Interact Analysis. Now IA said that humanoid robots represent a premium growth market for the motion control segment and all those components related to operating humanoids.

1X opened its NEO humanoid robot factory in California for its largely consumer-facing humanoid robots.

Colin Angle, the inventor of Roomba and also co-founder of iRobot, launched his newest venture called Familiar Machines and Magic, another consumer-facing humanoid robot entity.

Then the company Humanoid based over in United Kingdom made waves with two announcements this month. First, the company announced that it will deploy its humanoid robots on Schaeffler factory floors. And then at the end of the month, Humanoid announced a  partnership with Bosch where they will scale humanoid robot production targeting especially the European marketplace.

A couple of other humanoid robot related hem lines from May 2026. Boston Dynamics released a YouTube video going behind the scenes of how the company trains its new Atlas humanoid robot.

Startup Rotaku opened reservations for the company's Domo humanoid robot platform coming with an under $3,000 price tag.

And another report from Interact Analysis found that humanoid robot revenue is expected to reach $15 billion by the year 2035, largely driven by U.S. and China adoption.

The state of robotics investment

Now let's take a look at some investment and funding news in a package we published on the site from Cybernetix Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm located in Boston. Founder and general partner, Fady Saad wrote an article titled “The venture capital and investment view from inside Robotics defining decade.”

And in that article, Fady examined how early-stage investment has changed over the years and dug into some of Cybernetix Ventures investments, and the ongoing evolution of investing in robotics industries and robotics companies in 2026.

Now, Fady and I also had a chance to connect about that article and preview Robotics Invest, which will take place in Boston in the last week of May, and recorded our own podcast titled “The state of investment and funding in the robotics industry in 2026.” You can listen to that podcast here.

May 2026 mergers & acquisitions, partnership and expansion news

Now let's take a look at some mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and global expansion news from this month.

GeekPlus and Mindugar partnered to accelerate warehouse adoption across Latin America.

Nyobolt, a battery organization, closed its Series C round with a $1 billion valuation.

Aptiv and Comau partnered. And now, the companies said that they are looking to co-develop next-gen offerings for robotics, autonomous systems and industrial logistics.

Nomagic and Brack.Altron, a Swiss entity, expanded their partnership that will include vision language action systems in production driven by Nomagic's platforms.

Anthro Energy and EnPower Inc. signed a master MOU that will see the organization scale U.S. lithium-ion cell production.

Doozy Robotics announced its intent for global expansion and to scale its physical AI industrial workforce platform.

And, Locus Robotics acquired Nexera Robotics, targeting grasping technology as the next wave of expansion for Locus and the Locus Array platform for warehouse fulfillment.

Amir Sharif, a member of Robotics 24/7's Executive Advisory Board, wrote a case study that we published on the site this month. Titled “Developing a sales strategy with an AMR ROI platform,” Amir examines how organizations can harness the power of data, both legacy and ongoing data collected during a test or a pilot, and use that to convert a contract offer to a signed contract.

Now you can read that case study on the site, and you can also download an Excel template right to your desktop that allows you to import data from an AMR deployment in your organization and calculate the ability of returning your investment based on the different platforms that you integrate in your facility.

Human-robot interaction news

Let's take a look at some more interactions between humans and robots, both in the consumer and the manufacturing and warehouse segments.

Robotics 24/7 will host our next round table webinar. That will take place on Wednesday, June 3rd, starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Noon Pacific. You can join Kate Peterson of Locus Robotics and Alan Zengut of RealSense to discuss the continued evolution of human-robot collaboration.

Kate and Alan will highlight the advancements of Locus and RealSense, and also how organizations are managing robot and human interactivity in various settings. We'll finish that webinar with a live Q&A.

Other news, Hello Robot unveiled its Stretch 4 Robot. The company said can actively assist people at home and on the job.

And autonomous delivery company Starship Technologies announced that it had surpassed 10 million autonomous deliveries with its robots.

May 2026 product launches

The last segment of our May 2026 “Robotics Recap” podcast features new product launches in the hardware, software and component side.

ABB Robotics launched the PickMaster Lite, which the company said can simplify and accelerate robotic picking.

LS Electric launched BeyondX Safety, which is an offering including the XSC Safety PLC and XSR Safety Relays.

Genesis AI unveiled the Gene 26.5 robotic brain. Now Genesis says that enables human level physical manipulation of robots.

Ouster released the Rev8 OS native color lidar family. The company said that it will enhance robotic perception and navigation.

And finally, OLO Robotics launched and announced three international manufacturing and distribution partnerships at the same time.

Those were the headlines from May 2026 on Robotics 24/7. Automate is right around the corner, and with North America's largest Robotics and Automation event coming so close. We'll spend some time in Chicago next month to take in all of the news and notes from this major event.

Robotics innovation continues at a breakneck pace, and it's very difficult to keep up, but we're so glad that you can do so with us here at Robotics 24/7 and Peerless Media.

Thank you once again for tuning in to our May 2026 "Robotics Recap" podcast. Don't forget you can download and subscribe to "Robotics Recap" on the podcast platform of your choosing. And we look forward to seeing you again at the end of June, as we get ready to recap Automate 26 and all the news, notes, and highlights that come before, during and after the event in Chicago.

This is Tim Culverhouse, Editorial Director of Robotics 24/7. We look forward to seeing you for the next episode of “Robotics Recap.”