Good morning, robotics enthusiasts. Chinese scientists have just hacked the hive mind, turning real bees into remote-controlled cyborgs with microchips lighter than a nectar drop.

These brain-hacked bugs can be steered mid-flight, blurring the line between nature and machine in a leap for bio-robotics. But are we ready for a future where the natural world becomes programmable?

In today’s robotics rundown:

• China’s remote-controlled robo-bees

• Hugging Face bot set to ‘disrupt’ robotics

• Diligent hires two Cruise execs to scale humanoids

• RealSense splits from Intel with $50M raise

• Quick hits on other major robotics news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

BEIJING INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

🐝 China’s remote-controlled cyborg bees

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: Beijing Institute of Technology researchers just engineered a breakthrough in bio-robotics: cyborg bees controlled by the world’s lightest insect brain controller, weighing just 74 milligrams.

The details:

• This ultra-miniaturized device is strapped to a bee’s back and interfaces directly with its brain via three ultra-fine needles.

• By delivering targeted electronic pulses, the controller can command the bee to turn, advance, or retreat mid-flight.

• In controlled experiments, bees obeyed these commands with a 90% success rate, showcasing a new level of precision in animal-machine integration.

• The controller’s circuits are printed on polymer film as thin and flexible as insect wings, allowing for seamless integration with minimal impact on flight.

Why it matters: Tethered for now by power cables, these cyborg bees are just one battery breakthrough away from going fully untethered, poised for missions in disaster zones and covert ops, and stirring a hornet’s nest of ethical debate about the future of bio-robotics.

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HUGGING FACE

🔥 Hugging Face bot set to ‘disrupt’ robotics

Image source: Hugging Face

The Rundown: Hugging Face’s Reachy Mini bots just hit the scene, racking up $500K in sales within their first 24 hours. This open-source desktop robot is Hugging Face’s boldest play yet to bring robotics onto every desk, no deep pockets required.

The details:

• These open-source, Raspberry Pi 5-powered robots come as DIY kits, inviting developers to assemble their own desktop companion.

• The $299 Lite version requires a wired connection to a computer, while the $449 Wireless model operates independently with Wi-Fi and a battery. 

• Reachy is designed for users to tap into Hugging Face’s 1.7M AI models and 400K datasets for everything from vision to speech and control.

• Hugging Face’s open-source approach, including freely available hardware designs and simulation SDKs, is fostering a new community-driven ecosystem.

Why it matters: Reachy Mini’s charm lies in its hacker-friendly heart: a Python-programmable playground and a direct challenge to the overpriced, closed-box robotics world. The result? Developers, educators, and even curious kids can now bring AI to life in the real world, one googly-eyed bot at a time.

DILIGENT

⚡️Diligent hires two Cruise execs to scale humanoids

Image source: Diligent Robotics

The Rundown: Austin-based robotics startup Diligent just hired two former execs from Cruise, GM’s now-defunct self-driving subsidiary, to help scale its fleet of humanoids for hospitals and pharmacies.

The details:

• Diligent has recruited Cruise heavyweights — Rashed Haq as CTO and Todd Brugger as COO — as the startup moves from pilots to real-world adoption.

• The company’s robots are designed to automate routine tasks in clinical healthcare settings, such as medicine delivery, supply transport, and logistics.

• Its flagship robot, Moxi, has been deployed in more than 25 healthcare networks, with Diligent raising $90M in venture funding.

• As demand for automation soars and hospitals scramble to fill staffing gaps, Diligent says it is adding firepower to its leadership team to meet the moment.

Why it matters: Diligent’s latest hires bring serious scale-up cred, having helped grow Cruise’s robotaxi fleet past 5M driverless miles. Now they’re steering Diligent’s next phase: deploying thousands of hospital robots by 2030. It’s an ambitious push into one of the toughest arenas for safety, precision, and compliance.

REALSENSE

🌪️ RealSense splits from Intel with $50M raise

Image source: RealSense

The Rundown: Intel is spinning off RealSense, its AI robotics and biometrics unit, with a fresh $50M in funding — freeing the sensor innovator to focus on powering the next wave of autonomous machines.

The details:

• Known for its advanced 3D depth cameras and perception modules, RealSense is now free to chase innovation at startup speed, after 14 years under Intel.

• RealSense cameras are used by robotics companies, drone makers, AR/VR developers, and industrial automation teams, including Diligent and SICK AG.

• The startup also plans to launch entirely new product lines to push the envelope in spatial sensing, edge AI, and biometric authentication.

• The spinout opens doors for new collaborations with robotics startups, OEMs, and AI software providers.

Why it matters: Cut loose from corporate constraints, RealSense is set to fast-track advances in machine vision — fueling everything from agile warehouse robots to cutting-edge biometric security. As automation’s next chapter unfolds, the race to create smarter, more autonomous machines is officially on.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in robotics today

Pollen Robotics, a Hugging Face subsidiary, released Amazing Hand, a 3D-printable robotic hand with four fingers and eight degrees of freedom.

Figure’s founder Brett Adcock predicts that “soon” there will be as many humanoids as humans, with humanoids being “the ultimate deployment vector for AGI.”

Humanoid artist Ai-Da unveiled a new portrait of King Charles last week, adding that it has no plans to “replace” human artists.

Pharm Robotics’ automated robotic bovine “health center” called Sureshot now delivers vaccines and other drugs to dairy cows based on individualized need.

Stanford University students built an AI-powered robot dog named Pupper from scratch, with students training neural networks to boost its capabilities.

An official Chinese military newspaper reportedly published a warning that using humanoids on the battlefield could lead to “indiscriminate killings.”

McKinsey's latest report cites that the market for general-purpose robots could reach $370B by 2040.

MIT researchers developed a new PhysicsGen system to enable robots to discover the most efficient movements for any given task.

Tencent-backed Agibot Robotics is set to acquire a controlling stake in wind blade giant Swancor for 2B yuan ($279M).

DHL announced it is investing $748M to expand its infrastructure, including plans to deploy 1K additional robots in the U.K. and Ireland.

Chinese robotics startup Dobot released a six-legged robot dog, Hexplorer, which can pull forces five times its body weight.

Kraken Robotics, a Canadian subsea tech company, raised over $115M by selling 43.2M shares in its latest public offering.

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team