Nov 27, 2025 3 min read Daily Rundown

🤖 Stunt Replacement

Plus: Google Bets on Bodies, Border Traffic Controllers

Good Morning, Roboticists!

From stunt doubles on film sets to humanoid guides at border crossings, robots are quietly stepping into human roles once defined by risk, reflex, and responsibility.

HUMANOIDS

PHYBOT’s M1 Nails the Backflip but Misses the Point

📌 What’s happening: Beijing-based PHYBOT released a 39-second video of its full-size humanoid M1 performing a perfect backflip and “superman landing.” The team, founded by Tsinghua alumni, calls it “the most powerful humanoid robot ever built.” The specs are heavy-duty: 32 degrees of freedom, 10-kilowatt torque bursts, dual swappable batteries for two-hour runtime, 20-kilogram arm lift capacity, and a 72-volt electric drive meant for industrial deployment in logistics and assembly lines.

🧠 How this hits reality: PHYBOT says the M1 is “built for real work,” yet everything shown screams film set, not factory or logistics floor. Real automation needs grip reliability and downtime data, not superhero landings. If that torque ever hits production lines, it might crush more pallets than it lifts. For now, M1’s most viable career path may be motion-capture or stunt replacement—where its acrobatics actually pay the bills.

🤖 Key takeaway: If this is the future of industrial robotics, Hollywood just got its next warehouse temp.

TRAINING

Alphabet Doubles Down on Embodiment, Inside and Out

📌 What’s happening: San Francisco startup Physical Intelligence just raised $600 million in Series B, led by Alphabet’s CapitalG, joined by Lux, Bond, Sequoia, and Jeff Bezos. The company’s Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model translates RGB-D streams and movement data into joint commands, letting any robot— arm, gripper, or humanoid — understand plain-language tasks like “make a flat white” or “fold this shirt.” Its RECAP training loop let robots finish roughly twice as many tasks without intervention in factory and household trials, positioning it as one of the first serious contenders for general-purpose robot models.

🧠 How this hits reality: The timing is no accident; it’s Alphabet’s standard playbook. Just as Google DeepMind hires Boston Dynamics’ former CTO to internalize robotics expertise into its Gemini stack, CapitalG moves money into one of the ecosystem’s most promising external team. It’s a twin-track strategy: build one version in-house, fund another in the wild, and make sure both roads lead back to Mountain View. Physical Intelligence’s VLA model isn’t a rival to Google’s vision; it’s a strategic insurance policy that keeps Alphabet in control of how physical AI evolves, no matter who wins.

🤖 Key takeaway: When it comes to embodiment, Alphabet doesn’t pick favorites; it picks outcomes.

HUMANOIDS

UBTech Turns Humanoids into Border Traffic Controllers

📌 What’s happening: Shenzhen-based UBTech Robotics signed a $37 million contract to deploy its Walker humanoids S2 at Chinese border crossings near Vietnam. The trial will test how these robots handle real-world chaos—guiding travelers, easing congestion, and assisting security staff—while operating in a high-pressure, high-surveillance zone for the first time. Deliveries start in December, marking the first live border deployment of humanoids anywhere.

🧠 How this hits reality: This isn’t a factory demo or trade-show ballet; it’s a stress test inside one of the most unpredictable human environments imaginable. Walker’s mission is part greeter, part mobile camera tower, designed to blend crowd control with automated monitoring. If it holds up against thousands of travelers, noise, and shifting light, it graduates from showroom prop to infrastructure asset. For now, it’s less “AI companion” and more “walking CCTV with manners.”

🤖 Key takeaway: The humanoid revolution just crossed the border, literally.

QUICK HITS

Thyssenkrupp is selling Automation Engineering to Agile Robots to merge engineering and AI robotics for next-gen industrial automation.
Carles Reina launched London-based Baobab Ventures, a $15M fund backing early-stage AI, robotics and defense, with seven deals already made.
Kinisi introduced the KR1, a wheeled dual-arm robot that learns by demonstration for autonomous industrial handling.
MagicLab’s MagicBot Z1 shows impressive acrobatics and agility, though its industrial deployment still trails leading humanoid robotics players.
DP Gayatri teamed with Kawasaki Robotics, allowing CSM Robotics to integrate its tech to enhance North American manufacturing automation.

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