Videos: Farming Robots, Humanoid Robots, and More

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends on IEEE Spectrum robotics. We are also publishing a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

ICRA 2026: June 1-5, 2026, VIENNA

Enjoy today’s videos!

Our Lynx M20 robots help transport crops in mountainous farmlands, addressing the “last mile” logistics challenge in rural settings.

[ DEEP Robotics ]

Again, I would like to point out that now that we are reaching the peak of humanoid robots doing humanoid things, we are inevitably about to see humanoid robots doing non-humanoid things.

[ Unitree ]

In a study, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the University of Michigan and Cornell University shows that groups of magnetic microrobots can generate fluidic forces strong enough to spin objects in different directions without touching them. These swarms of microrobots can spin gear systems, spin objects much larger than the robots themselves, assemble structures on their own, and even attract or repel many small objects.

[ Science ] via [ Max Planck Institute ]

Autonomous bipedal or two-legged robots can be very agile. This makes them useful for performing tasks in rough terrain, such as transporting equipment in outdoor environments or performing maintenance on an ocean-going vessel. However, unstable or unpredictable conditions also increase the possibility of robot wipeout. Until now, there has been a significant lack of research on how a robot recovers when it changes direction (for example, a robot loses balance when a truck makes a rapid turn). The team aims to fill this research gap.

[ Georgia Tech ]

Robotics is about controlling energy, motion, and uncertainty in the real world.

[ Carnegie Mellon University ]

Delicious dinner cooked by our Robody robot. We asked our investors to explain to us why they are participating in this adventure.

[ Devanthro ]

Tilt-rotor aerial robots enable omnidirectional maneuvering through thrust vectoring, but present significant control challenges due to the strong coupling between joint and rotor dynamics. This work investigates reinforcement learning for omnidirectional control of aerial motion on superactuated tilting quadrotors that prioritizes robustness and agility.

[ DRAGON Lab ]

In the 75,000-gallon water tank at the CMU Robotic Innovation Center, members of the TartanAUV student group worked to develop their autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) called Osprey. The team, which competes in the annual RoboSub competition sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, is primarily comprised of undergraduate engineering and robotics students.

[ Carnegie Mellon University ]

Of course, it seems like the only person who would want a robot dog is a person who doesn’t actually want a dog.

Compact size, industrial capacity. Maximum torque of 90 N·m, over 4 hours of no-load battery life, IP54 rainproof design. With a payload of 15 kg, the range exceeds 13 km. Open secondary development, strengthening industrial applications.

[ Unitree ]

If your robot video includes delicious baked goods, it WILL be included in Video Friday.

[ QB Robotics ]

Astorino is a 6-axis educational robot created for practical and affordable robotics education in schools and beyond. It was created by 3D printing, so it allows for experimentation and possible addition of parts. Through its design and programming, it reproduces the actions of industrial robots, giving students the skills necessary for their future work.

[ Astorino by Kawasaki ]

We need more autonomous driving datasets that accurately reflect how difficult driving can be most of the time.

[ ASRL ]

This Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute seminar is led by CMU’s Victoria Webster-Wood on “Robots as Models for Biology and Biology and Materials for Robots.”

In the last century, it was common to imagine robots as shiny metal structures with rigid, hesitant movement. This imagery contrasts with the fluid, organic movement of living organisms that inhabit our natural world. The adaptability, complex control, and advanced learning capabilities observed in animals are not yet fully understood and therefore have not been fully captured by current robotic systems. Furthermore, many of the mechanical properties and control capabilities observed in animals have yet to be achieved on robotic platforms. In this talk, I will share an interdisciplinary research vision on robots as models for neuroscience and biology as materials for robots.

[ CMU RI ]