Industrial Robotics, Drones, Automation, Geospatial & AI
January 21, 2025: Issue 130
Humanoid AI robots are transforming industries like manufacturing, construction, and maintenance, offering cost efficiency, superhuman capabilities, and solutions to labor shortages—all while raising ethical and integration challenges. Citi’s report, The Rise of AI Robots, predicts 1.3 billion AI robots in operation by 2035, revolutionizing the way we work.
For a deeper dive, revisit Microsoft’s session, The Rise of Humanoids: Transforming the Landscape of Robotics, from EDRS 2024 for expert insights into the future of this game-changing technology. ⛄ U.S. readers, stay safe and warm as an Arctic Blast sweeps the nation this week!
What’s Inside:
🤖 New Industrial Coworkers: The Rise of Humanoid AI Robots
🚀 Hydrogen-Powered Drones: Sustainable Ops Take Flight
⚡️ PGE's AI Power Move: Asset Management Gets an Upgrade
🚁 BVLOS Waiver Secured: Remote Operations Just Got Easier!
🎨 Robo-Picassos Unleashed: Boston Museum Hosts Painting Dogs
Thanks to advances in technologies like AI, machine learning, 5G, and robotics, humanoid AI robots are stepping into industries like manufacturing, construction, and beyond — forever changing the way we work.
This week’s article dives into Citi’s report The Rise of AI Robots, which predicts 1.3 billion AI robots operational by 2035 (and 4 billion by 2050!). These bots are poised to revolutionize industries like manufacturing, construction, and maintenance.
Cost-efficient Coworkers: With labor shortages and aging workforces, robots offer a serious ROI. Some pay for themselves in just weeks.
Superhuman Capabilities: From threading needles to scaling skyscrapers, they can handle what humans find tedious—or downright dangerous.
Challenges Ahead: Sure, they’re incredible, but integrating robots into our world isn’t without its hurdles, like the obvious ethical concerns.
Humanoid AI robots are making industries safer, smarter, and more efficient. That’s the promise of a cutting-edge tech that’s not just futuristic but already shaping industries today.
Want to delve into more intel on humanoid AI robots from our 2024 Energy Drone & Robotics Summit? Check out The Rise of Humanoids: Transforming the Landscape of Robotics with Ade Famoti from Microsoft for an in-depth look into the state of the industry today as well as a peek into the future of this cutting-edge technology!
WHAT'S UP
Hydrogen Hustle:Inside Unmanned Systems connected with two hydrogen fuel solution providers to explore the energy efficiencies, extended flight times and improved logistics for unmanned fleets that this innovative propulsion technology provides. According to the U.S. Department of Energy National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, achieving net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 requires transformational advances in energy infrastructure.
Digital Twin Spin: Pacific Gas & Electric has signed a 5-year agreement with Sharper Shape to use their CORE (Cloud Optimized Remote Evaluation) software for utility asset management. This partnership, which began in 2019, will help PG&E create a digital twin of its infrastructure using LiDAR and RGB imagery analysis.
SPONSORED BY:Us! 🎉 Raise a Glass to Innovation at Bots and Brews 2025! 🍻 Mark your calendars for March 26 and join over 150 industry leaders for an unforgettable evening!
➡️ What’s on tap? 🍺
Exclusive insights into 2025’s most exciting projects.
A sneak peek at what’s brewing for 2026 in cutting-edge tech and groundbreaking initiatives.
Energy and industrial robotics that fly, crawl, walk, and even swim on display!
Reserve a table and put your industrial drone and robotics innovations front and center with decision-makers from Houston’s top energy, engineering, oil and gas companies, and beyond. Tickets are limited—don’t miss your chance to gather with the Houston drone and robotics crew this March! Get involved today.
WHAT'S NEXT
Unitree Robotics has updated its humanoid robots with an open-source full-body motion dataset to make them capable of more fluid, natural movement. The Unitree H1, H1-2 and G1 humanoid robot models are able to demonstrate new, smoother movement trajectories to dance, breakdance and drop kick.
NVIDIArecently announced Cosmos, a platform comprising state-of-the-art generative world foundation models, advanced tokenizers, guardrails and an accelerated video processing pipeline built to advance the development of physical AI systems such as autonomous vehicles and robots. They also announced generative AI models and blueprints that expand NVIDIA Omniverse integration further into physical AI applications such as robotics, AVs and vision AI.
Ondas Holdings Inc. recently announced that its Ondas Autonomous Systems Inc. business unit's American Robotics subsidiary has secured an additional Federal Aviation Administration Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) waiver.
WHAT'S THE DEAL
XTI Aerospace, Inc. recently announced that it has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding to acquire a 30% fully-diluted equity interest in ReadyMonitor, LLC, a leading AI-powered, autonomous Drone-as-a-Service company, which is expected to close this Q1 2025, with the option to acquire the remaining 70% of ReadyMonitor within 12 months.
As the United States faces a critical shortage of drone batteries driven by rising tensions with China, a European-American collaboration offers a promising solution. Tulip Tech, a European-based company specializing in high-performance drone batteries, has announced the opening of its new US offices.
Robosys Automation, supported by ACUA Ocean and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, has jointly secured grant funding through Innovate UK to enhance collaborative autonomy for maritime robotics.
WHAT ELSE
Robo-Picassos Unleashed: Boston Museum Hosts Painting Dogs
(Image Credit: DroneLife)
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) recently hosted an extraordinary event as part of its “Late Nites” series, captivating audiences with a unique blend of art and technology. On May 10th, the museum presented “Heterobota: The Language of Tomorrow,” featuring the innovative work of Polish-American artist Agnieszka Pilat, in collaboration with Boston Dynamics’ robotic dogs.
Agnieszka Pilat, renowned for her exploration of the relationship between humans and machines, showcased an interactive performance where two of Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots, named Basia and Omuzana, autonomously painted in front of a live audience. This groundbreaking exhibit marked the first live presentation of these robotic artists since their return from a successful stint in Australia.
Pilat, who specializes in rendering portraitures of technology, explained the rationale behind choosing Boston Dynamics‘ robots for her project in a DRONELIFE interview. “Seeing the robots paint at a museum is a uniquely strange experience because these robots are industrial machines made to work, not for glamour,” Pilat said. “By placing them in an art museum, the robots are elevated to the status of high art. By showcasing their creative pursuits, the public is forced to confront an uncomfortable question: ‘If a robot can make art, is art-making as original and unique as we thought?'” Read more--> (h/t DroneLife)
