
Robotics in Review: Editors look back at 2025
Dec 23, 2025
01:29:44
Join host Steve Crowe and The Robot Report editorial team (Gene Demaitre, Mike Oitzman, and Brianna Wessling) for the annual end-of-year wrap-up. The team breaks down the most significant stories, trends, and market shifts that defined the robotics industry in 2025 and looks ahead to 2026.
Key Topics Discussed:
- Business Shake-ups: An analysis of iRobot entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ABB selling its mobile robot division to SoftBank.
- The Year of the Humanoid: A look at the $3.5B+ invested in humanoid companies and the rise of physical AI.
- Autonomous Systems: Updates on Waymo’s scaling challenges, Amazon’s 1M deployed robots, and the impact of autonomous systems in the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts.
- Industry Trends: The spin-out of Intel RealSense, the return of a national robotics strategy, and new approaches to home robotics (1X, Sunday, Weave).
Featured Guest Vignettes:
- John Santagate: On tote-to-man methodologies and multi-agent orchestration.
- Chris Matthieu (RealSense): On open-source brains for physical AI and the emergence of robot sports.
- Evan Helda (Nebius): On data pipelines, real-world data collection, and world models for training.
