Latest news with #NeuraRobotics
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
This Humanoid Robot Can Lift 220 Pounds But Has Super-Sensitive Skin
Neura Robotics' CEO David Reger with the third-generation 4NE-1 humanoid robot Neura Robotics Neura Robotics officially unveiled the third generation of its 4NE-1 humanoid robot this week, along with a household robot named MiPa, an open robotics ecosystem called the Neuraverse, and a vision for an app store for robots. The 4NE-1 humanoid robot is powerful but also sensitive: able to lift more than any other humanoid robot I've seen, but also able to sense human touch. Additionally, Neura said it plans to ship 5,000,000 robots of varying kinds by 2030–significantly more than the 100,000 Figure plans to ship –and that the first shipping 4NE-1 humanoid robots would be delivered this year. 'We are excited to launch a series of robots,' CEO David Reger told me last week on the TechFirst podcast. 'There is also a household device MiPa coming, and also new other industrial robot types, but in the end I think the core is actually the Neuraverse platform, which is combining all of this on one platform and makes it actually scalable and reachable to reach the five million humanoid robots on this planet.' The big news on the hardware side is a full launch of 4NE-1, which Reger says is now production ready. This is a beast of a humanoid robot, with 100kg or 220-pound lift capacity with its legs, and 10kg or 22 pounds with its hands. After teasing this launch in March , Neura delivered. As specced by the company, 4NE-1 is a technological marvel, with seven cameras, LIDAR, and much more. It will be capable of doing a backflip, Reger says, which not only summons up visions of Boston Dynamics' humanoid robots, but also speaks to speed coupled with power. 4NE-1 is one of the first humanoid robots that will have skin. While Neura isn't revealing too many details about the skin on 4NE-1, based on what he did say, it sounds like a capacitive touch sensor capability like that on your smartphone's screen. It can sense near touch, actual touch, and the strength or power of that touch. Interestingly, it will be applied via a spray-on process, and the result won't be visually distinguishable from the rest of the robot. And while it won't cover the whole robot, it likely will be on the hands, arms, and torso. Why put skin on a robot? It's critical for how Neura wants humanoid robots to interact with and work with humans safely in close quarters. 'The skin is actually … of our biggest gifts,' Reger says. "Having the ability to have the feeling of touch gives you a complete different way of how humans interact with each other.' 4NE-1's skin will sense proximity before actual touch, he added, making interactions safer, more precise, and emotionally intelligent. While the hardware news is always the headline-grabber, probably the more important news is the backend technology. That includes Neura's Omnisensor technology, which fuses location and spatial awareness from seven cameras, a LIDAR system, and even a microphone to help each 4NE-1 unit know where it is, proximity to objects and humans, and how to get what it needs while avoiding what it should not hit. Neura Robotics' third-generation 4NE-1 humanoid robot Neura Robotics Integrating all that data will be some fairly serious onboard technology. Reger didn't say what kind of CPUs or GPUs 4NE-1 will include, but it is worth noting that Nvidia is a technology partner of Neura Robotics. Neura is also partnering with Nvidia on 'robot gyms' where robots learn tasks and develop abilities. Another major piece of new technology supporting Neura's robotic roll-out is the 'Neuraverse.' Neuraverse is an operating system, a development platform for robotics, and an app store for skills, abilities, and even microservices that anyone can come to, build capabilities, and release them for sale. What one robot learns, all others can know instantly. Developers and companies employing humanoid robots can buy, sell, or offer for free abilities like welding specific parts or building a specific product. 'We are fundamentally changing how people interact with machines,' says Reger. "Our Neuraverse is the product that connects everything: the operating system of the robotics era." MiPa is a wheeled personal assistant robot John Koetsier Finally, Neura also unveiled MiPa, a wheeled robot that will be more affordable for the home market. While anyone can use it, one specific designed use case is assisting the elderly with being able to remain in their own homes and age in place, Reger says. Neura calls MiPa 'the world's first cognitive household and service robot suitable for real everyday use.' MiPa will be able to vacuum, unload dishwashers, clean up rooms, and monitor health signs. In fact, Neura says, MiPa supports IoT and health device standards and can connect with wearables to collect data, analyze sleep, and more. As all of Neura's other robots, MiPa will be connected to the Neuraverse, meaning it can learn new skills instantly from other robots and apply them locally. Neura is entering an increasingly crowded humanoid robot market that has yet to fully deliver on its promise of an always-on, cheap, capable, and reliable workforce, but 4NE-1 is a compelling entrant. I'm not certain that 4NE-1 delivers on the company's vision of having the most capable humanoid on the planet, but it's a contender. If humanoid robots is our version of the space race, as Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas told me recently, Neura Robotics is Europe's leading challenger. What we haven't seen yet is video on how 4NE-1 walks and moves, which will be critical for starting to understand how capable this robot is in a factory or warehouse.
Bloomberg
20-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
German Startup Neura Robotics Eyes Up to €1 Billion Fundraising
German startup Neura Robotics is targeting to raise as much as €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in new funding as the company prepares to debut a humanoid robot, according to people familiar with the matter. Neura Robotics has started approaching potential investors, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Nvidia, Deutsche Telekom to launch industrial AI cloud in Germany
US-based tech giant Nvidia has collaborated with telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom to introduce Europe's first industrial AI cloud in Germany. This new AI factory aims to advance Germany's manufacturing sector by facilitating applications in design, engineering, simulation, digital twins, and robotics. Deutsche Telekom will manage the AI factory, providing cloud computing resources to support Europe's industrial ecosystem. The initial phase will incorporate 10,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, including Nvidia DGX B200 systems and Nvidia RTX PRO Servers, along with Nvidia networking and AI software. The AI factory will enable customers to utilise Nvidia CUDA-X libraries and run workloads accelerated by Nvidia RTX and Omniverse from software providers such as Siemens, Ansys, Cadence, and Rescale. This initiative is expected to benefit a diverse range of stakeholders, including small and medium-sized enterprises, academia, and major corporations. Neura Robotics plans to leverage these resources to enhance its training centres for cognitive robots, showcasing the potential of interconnected infrastructure in advancing physical AI. Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Hottges said: 'We must seize the opportunities of artificial intelligence now, revolutionise our industry and secure a leading position in the global technology competition. Our economic success depends on quick decisions and collaborative innovations.' The industrial AI cloud aims to enhance AI development and adoption among European manufacturers, promoting AI-driven practices and preparing the country for the transition to AI gigafactories. Backed by the European Union and Germany, this gigafactory initiative, powered by 100,000 GPUs, is scheduled to go live in 2027, providing advanced AI infrastructure for enterprises, startups, researchers, and universities. As of March, around 900 startups in Germany are part of the Nvidia Inception programme, gaining access to these AI resources. Nvidia also supports AI education through its Deep Learning Institute, offering courses and resources throughout Germany's computing ecosystem to facilitate skills development. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said: 'By building Europe's first industrial AI infrastructure, we're enabling the region's leading industrial companies to advance simulation-first, AI-driven manufacturing.' Additionally, other European telecommunications companies are working to build AI infrastructure, enabling regional enterprises to develop and implement agentic AI applications. Recently, Nvidia teamed up with model builders and cloud service providers in Europe and the Middle East to advance the development of sovereign large language models. "Nvidia, Deutsche Telekom to launch industrial AI cloud in Germany" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Humanoid Robot Mass Adoption Will Start In 2028, Says Bank Of America
Neura Robotics shows off 4NE-1, a humanoid robot, in an outdoor ad campaign Humanoid robots will begin a mass adoption trend for commercial use as early as 2028, according to a new Bank of America research report. Annual shipments could hit 1 million by 2030, with a production cost of just $17,000 per unit. 'BofA Global Research believes the adoption of humanoid robots will follow a three-stage development trajectory in the coming decade, starting from industrial and logistic applications, then on to business services, and finally to household use,' a company representative told me via email. 'In the long run, BofA Global Research expects the total units in ownership for humanoid robots to reach an estimated three billion units globally by 2060.' That three billion unit projection is based on three assumptions: According to the report, the first mass commercializations period for humanoid robots will be from 2028 to 2034, and it will focus on commercial use. The second mass adoption period will be for home and all other uses, and will run from 2035 onwards. Futurists like Peter Diamandis have speculated that robots will help us in our homes with laundry, vacuuming, dishes, and all other tasks, and serve multiple purposes in healthcare, elder care, manufacturing, transport, and the service industry. The future is starting now: Bank of America says that humanoid robot manufactures will ship 18,000 units this year, in 2025. By 2030, researchers expect that shipments will reach up to 10 million units globally per year. Projected humanoid robot shipments to 2060. Interestingly, the report suggests that the vast majority of humanoid robots will be household tools, with about two billion of the three billion shipped by 2060 in use in private homes, versus about a billion in the service industry, and only a few hundred million in industrial settings. If so, that could be good news for human workers: many of the household robots will be replacing unpaid work that people do for themselves, rather than paid work by employees. There are still challenges to mass adoption, the Bank of America says: In addition, there is regulatory risk: will nations regulate against humanoid robots in ways that delay or entirely stop deployments? Workers could rise up against them as well, with a historical precedent being the Luddite movement in the early 1800s in which textile workers protested against mechanized looms. Over 100 global manufacturers are working on humanoid robots, and it's a tough challenge. Humanoid robot components, with cost estimates for each part. One of the biggest: dextrous hands. Almost 20% of the cost of a robot is in the hands alone. One of the reasons why: more than half the complexity of a humanoid robot body is in the hands, Sanctuary AI CEO Geordie Rose told me last year. Other major cost components include rotary actuators in joints, linear actuators, and the chips that drive the brain of a humanoid robot.
