Mercado Libre signs commercial deal for Agility humanoids
PLUS: Deep Robotics lands $70M, Arm’s factory prediction, and Intuitive wins FDA clearance
Welcome back to your Robot Briefing
Agility Robotics just scored its biggest commercial win yet: Mercado Libre will deploy Digit humanoids across its fulfillment network, starting in Texas before expanding throughout Latin America. With Digit already moving over 100,000 totes in live operations, this marks a pivotal shift from pilot programs to full-scale commercial logistics.
Can humanoid robots finally prove they're ready to handle the repetitive, physically demanding work that traditional automation can't touch?
In today's Robot update:
Mercado Libre bets on humanoids with Agility Robotics
Snapshot: Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre signed a commercial agreement to deploy Agility Robotics' Digit humanoid robots at its San Antonio, Texas fulfillment center, with plans to expand across its Latin American logistics network.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: This partnership marks a significant milestone as one of Latin America's largest companies commits to humanoid robotics for its operations. The deployment signals growing confidence in humanoid robots moving from pilot projects to commercial-scale logistics operations that address real labor challenges.
Deep Robotics lands $70M Series C
Snapshot: Chinese robotics company Deep Robotics announced it closed a Series C funding round worth over 500 million RMB (approximately $70 million USD) to accelerate its embodied AI development.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: This funding round signals that investors see real commercial potential in Deep Robotics' dual approach to quadruped and humanoid platforms. The focus on embodied AI suggests the company aims to differentiate itself through more adaptive and intelligent robotic systems rather than hardware alone.
Arm CEO: 'Physical AI' will replace factory workers
Snapshot: Arm CEO Rene Haas predicts that 'Physical AI' robots will automate large sections of factory work within 5-10 years, during his appearance at Fortune Brainstorm AI in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Korea leads the world in robot density but lags significantly in developing the advanced AI capabilities that will define the next generation of manufacturing automation.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: This shift from single-purpose to adaptable robots marks a fundamental change in how factories operate, potentially reshaping global manufacturing competitiveness. Countries and companies that master physical AI integration will gain significant advantages over those that simply deploy high numbers of traditional industrial robots.
Intuitive wins FDA clearance for new procedures
Snapshot: Intuitive Surgical received FDA clearance to perform inguinal hernia repair, cholecystectomy, and appendectomy procedures with its da Vinci SP single-port robotic system, marking the platform's second label expansion this year.
Breakdown:
Takeaway: This clearance positions Intuitive to capture more general surgery procedures where single-port access reduces patient recovery time and surgical trauma. The expansion reflects how robotic surgery continues moving from specialized procedures into mainstream surgical practice across multiple disciplines.
Other Top Robot Stories
Medical Microinstruments Receives FDA Clearance for Robotic Surgical Tools Read more - Medical Microinstruments (MMI) has earned FDA 510(k) clearance for its NanoWrist Scissors and NanoWrist Forceps, expanding the capabilities of its Symani Surgical System. The company has also successfully completed the first fully robotic lymphovenous bypass procedure.
Japanese Researchers Develop Probability-Based Fruit Picking Robot Read more - Takuya Fujinaga at Osaka Metropolitan University has created RoboCrop, a robot that calculates the probability of successfully picking fruit before attempting the task. The system achieved an 81% success rate when harvesting tomatoes in testing.
AGIBOT Open-Sources VideoDataset Library GitHub repository - Chinese robotics company AGIBOT has released VideoDataset, an open-source library for GPU-accelerated video processing designed for robotics applications. The tool aims to streamline video data handling for machine learning and robot training workflows.
Carbon Robotics Showcases Laser Weeding Technology View demonstration - Carbon Robotics demonstrated its autonomous laser weeding machine, which the company claims can replace the work of 100 hand weeders. The system uses computer vision and lasers to identify and eliminate weeds without chemicals.
🤖 Your robotics thought for today:
What's a conversation or connection you have with someone that started because you both struggled with the same difficult task—and what replaces that bond if a robot solves it?
P.S. What's your take on this?
Until tomorrow,
Uli
