Partnership

Agility Robotics has formalized a strategic partnership with FORT Robotics to integrate a multi-layer safety architecture into Digit 5, its next-generation humanoid robot designed for cooperative work alongside humans. The system combines onboard safe human detection with FORT's pendant controls and an offboard safety bridge that connects the robot to external facility systems, extending safety coverage beyond the robot itself.

Vector Informatik, PEM Motion, and FMC³ Robotics have signed an MoU to establish a joint venture focused on building standardized data infrastructure for industrial embodied AI. The collaboration addresses a critical gap: robots moving from pilot projects to production environments require high-quality physical-world data and seamless infrastructure for training, validation, and continuous improvement.

Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific awarded Vantor a contract to deploy Maritime Sentry — an AI-powered maritime surveillance platform that tracks "dark" vessels across the Pacific by fusing satellite imagery, synthetic aperture radar, and vessel fingerprinting. The system feeds intelligence directly into US and Quad partner operational networks, targeting shadow fleets used for sanctions evasion, illegal fishing, and grey-zone operations like undersea cable mapping.

Robot.com has secured a 7-year commercial agreement with Sodexo Group to expand its R-Kiwi sidewalk delivery robots across college campuses in North America. The deal builds on a partnership that began in 2021 and signals enterprise confidence in autonomous delivery as a solution to labor shortages in food service operations.

Medtronic has invested $700M in Cornerstone Robotics and secured distribution rights for the Sentire surgical system in select markets outside the US. The deal positions Medtronic as the only company offering a two-platform robotic surgery portfolio, combining its Hugo system with Sentire to address varying surgeon preferences and hospital operational needs across different markets.

Hermeus has selected Anduril to provide mission autonomy software for its Quarterhorse Mk 2 high-speed drone, which is being developed under Pentagon funding to reach Mach 3. The partnership shifts Quarterhorse from remote-piloted operations to autonomous control, positioning both firms for future high-speed autonomous strike platforms while Anduril gains a testbed for its Lattice autonomy suite beyond its Collaborative Combat Aircraft work.

NVIDIA and Hugging Face are integrating Isaac GR00T 1.7 and Isaac Teleop into LeRobot, Hugging Face's open-source robotics platform. The move connects NVIDIA's 3 million robotics developers with Hugging Face's 16 million AI builders, standardizing workflows for data collection, model training, and deployment across humanoid and generalist robot platforms.

IntBot and Certis Group announced a strategic partnership to develop socially intelligent humanoid robots for Singapore's enterprise and public environments. The collaboration combines IntBot's General Social Intelligence platform with Certis' operational design expertise, targeting deployment in transit hubs, hospitals, retail venues, and mixed-use districts where robots must interact naturally with people while meeting safety and reliability standards.

Fort Robotics has acquired Mapless AI, a Boston- and Pittsburgh-based teleoperation and autonomy supervision company, to expand its physical AI safety platform. The acquisition adds remote human-in-the-loop teleoperation and onboard active safety capabilities, transitioning Fort from safety-certified control to a comprehensive supervised autonomy architecture for industrial and autonomous vehicle deployments.

GE Vernova has signed an agreement to acquire Robotech Automation, a Quebec-based robotics systems integrator with ~35 employees. The acquisition aims to accelerate robotics deployment across GE Vernova's energy manufacturing supply chain, building in-house integration capabilities rather than relying on external vendors.

Brain Corp and UC San Diego have expanded their research partnership to develop contextual 3D semantic mapping technology for autonomous robots in commercial and industrial settings. The collaboration addresses a critical gap: making next-generation AI-powered robots reliable and deployable in dynamic real-world environments by giving them deeper situational awareness beyond basic SLAM navigation.

FANUC announced a strategic partnership with Google to integrate advanced AI capabilities across its industrial robot product line, targeting more adaptive automation in manufacturing. The company has already shipped over 1,000 robots for physical AI applications since unveiling the system at IREX Tokyo in December 2024, signaling strong enterprise demand for AI-enabled factory automation.

Humanoid has signed manufacturing and deployment agreements with Bosch and Schaeffler to scale production of its wheeled bimanual manipulator for European industrial markets. The deals position the 2-year-old startup to deploy a four-digit number of robots across Schaeffler facilities by 2032, while Bosch will serve as contract manufacturer and component supplier. The partnerships represent one of the largest humanoid robot rollouts disclosed to date, with first units going live in Germany by December 2026.

Symbotic will acquire Walmart's Advanced Systems and Robotics business and deploy AI-powered automation across 400 of Walmart's Accelerated Pickup and Delivery centers over multiple years. The deal extends Symbotic's existing relationship with Walmart — already automating all 42 U.S. regional distribution centers — into store-level micro-fulfillment for eCommerce pickup and delivery. It expands Symbotic's addressable market by $300 billion and positions the company as the automation backbone for Walmart's last-mile strategy.