Welcome, sci-fi realists…

The UK may soon have more tiny grocery robots rolling through its neighborhoods, which is either adorable or the beginning of a Pixar movie with unusually strict parking laws. 

According to The Guardian, Starship Technologies’ six-wheeled delivery bots are already familiar sights in places like Milton Keynes. This six-wheeler robot isn't entirely new in that area per se, but what is new is the expectation that the country’s new laws on micromobility vehicles make it easier to implement these bots. 

The manufacturer, Starship Technologies (aptly titled, by the way. We approve.), must be thrilled. One would imagine locals would be too, since who wouldn’t want a motorized shopping cart delivering groceries right to their doorsteps?

Since more neighborhoods may soon see these bots trundling around, it’s worth knowing what’s actually inside them. The robots are powered by an amalgam of cameras, radars, sensors, and AI algorithms allow Starship’s bots to navigate around obstacles and deliver groceries on time. 

Each six-wheeler comes with a sign that says, “Yup, I deliver groceries!” in case anyone had any doubt about the true intentions of the cursed cooler they just encountered.

Starship says it helps the robots handle curbs, uneven sidewalks, and the general obstacle course that is real-world pedestrian life. It also gives the bots a look people remember, which matters more than you’d think when your product is basically a lunchbox on Mars rover wheels. 

Anyway, here's what you need to know about robotics right now:

Shanghai-based humanoid maker AGIBOT has dramatically increased production in just a few months. In a world where a headline about a single talented (or untalented) humanoid goes viral, we now bring to you a story about 15,000 of them and how quickly AGIBOT was able to produce them. 

The timeline is insane. Through 2025, they went from about 1,000 produced humaoids to 5,000. They then went from that 5,000 number around the end of the year to about 10,000 in March 2026. In the last roughly 3 months since then, they added another 5,000. 

But what specifically did they mass produce? Their AGIBOT G2 model. It’s a tad different than the typical humanoid you’re used to seeing. G2 is a wheeled mobile manipulator with a humanoid torso. Think of it as a humanoid torso that rides around on one of those autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that carries stuff across warehouses. Basically: if a warehouse cart and a robot butler had a very practical child. 

AGIBOT is proving that in order to get attention in a competitive market, you don’t just need flashy displays or viral videos; you need to scale and mass deploy industrial robots when factories or warehouses need them. The robot race is entering its deeply unsexy but extremely important “can you actually ship the thing?” era. 

What this likely means for the future: It’s unclear if other companies will replicate this impressive uptick in production in such a short time. It is clear that AGIBOT is capable of producing another 5,000 G2s in just a few months as expected and far more by the end of the year. This will surely get other companies’ attention. 

Our FYI read: Headlines might shift from who has the best and most impressive robots to who can produce their bots quickly. Boston Dynamics made robots dance and do acrobats, AGIBOT is trying to make the clock-in at work.

The AGIBOT G2’s unique design is showcased in this YouTube video below, which rattles off its impressive dexterity measurements and features. Also, to prove the G2 is well beyond being “just for show,” the video depicts the various tasks it can do. We mean anything ranging from: 

Now, what’s a helpful-to-know tip the headlines don’t necessarily mention? 

There’s a Big Four in industrial robotics companies right now, or at least that’s what they are colloquially known as among other sci-fi realists. They include: FANUC, ABB, Yaskawa, and KUKA. Collectively, they dominate industrial robotics and it makes sense. Their product lines cover so many bases. A factory that needs a new CNC machine can easily turn to FANUC. Another requiring super fast pick and place operations on assembly lines can look no further than the SCARA robot family ABB has. 

There’s another element to this that’s even more basic: their products are basically color-coded. FANUC has these iconic yellow arms, which you heard about if you read last week’s newsletter. Meanwhile, ABB’s are gray, Yaskawa’s are dark blue, and KUKA’s are orange. Remember that whenever you see a line of industrial robots in action. Chances are, the color scheme gives away the brand. 

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