Robot Collective, Atlas Acrobatics, and More Videos

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

ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNA

Enjoy today’s videos!

No system is immune to failure. The compromise between reducing failures and improving adaptability is a recurring problem in robotics. Modular robots exemplify this tradeoff, because the number of modules dictates both the possible functions and the odds of failure. We reverse this trend, improving reliability with an increased number of modules by exploiting redundant resources and sharing them locally.

[ Science ] via [ RRL ]

Now that the Atlas enterprise platform is getting to work, the research version gets one last run in the sun. Our engineers made one final push to test the limits of full-body control and mobility, with help from the RAI Institute.

[ RAI ] via [ Boston Dynamics ]

Announcing Isaac 0: the laundry folding robot we’re shipping to homes, starting in February 2026 in the Bay Area.

[ Weave Robotics ]

In a paper published in Science, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the Humboldt University of Berlin, and the University of Stuttgart have discovered that the secret to the elephant’s amazing sense of touch is in its unusual whiskers. The interdisciplinary team analyzed elephant trunk whiskers using advanced microscopy methods that revealed a form of material intelligence more sophisticated than the well-studied whiskers of rats and mice. This research has the potential to inspire new physically intelligent robotic sensing approaches that resemble the unusual whiskers that cover the elephant trunk.

[ MPI ]

Got an interest in autonomous mobile robots, ROS2, and a mere $150 lying around? Try this.

[ Maker’s Pet ]

Thanks, Ilia!

We’re giving humanoid robots swords now.

[ Robotera ]

A system developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo lets people collaborate with groups of robots to create works of art inspired by music.

[ Waterloo ]

FastUMI Pro is a multimodal, model-agnostic data acquisition system designed to power a truly end-to-end closed loop for embodied intelligence — transforming real-world data into genuine robotic capability.

[ Lumos Robotics ]

We usually take fingernails for granted, but they’re vital for fine-motor control and feeling textures. Our students have been doing some great work looking into the mechanics behind this.

[ Paper ]

This is a 550-lb all-electric coaxial unmanned rotorcraft developed by Texas A&M University’s Advanced Vertical Flight Laboratory and Harmony Aeronautics as a technology demonstrator for our quiet-rotor technology. The payload capacity is 200 lb (gross weight = 750 lb). The noise level measured was around 74 dBA in hover at 50-ft making this probably the quietest rotorcraft at this scale.

[ Harmony Aeronautics ]

Harvard scientists have created an advanced 3D printing method for developing soft robotics. This technique, called rotational multimaterial 3D printing, enables the fabrication of complex shapes and tubular structures with dissolvable internal channels. This innovation could someday accelerate the production of components for surgical robotics and assistive devices, advancing medical technology.

[ Harvard ]

Lynx M20 wheeled-legged robot steps onto the ice and snow, taking on challenges inspired by four winter sports scenarios. Who says robots can’t enjoy winter sports?

[ Deep Robotics ]

NGL right now I find this more satisfying to watch than a humanoid doing just about anything.

[ Fanuc ]

At Mentee Robotics, we design and build humanoid robots from the ground up with one goal: reliable, scalable deployment in real-world industrial environments. Our robots are powered by deep vertical integration across hardware, embedded software, and AI, all developed in-house to close the Sim2Real gap and enable continuous, around-the-clock operation.

[ Mentee Robotics ]

You don’t need to watch this whole video, but the idea of little submarines that hitch rides on bigger boats and recharge themselves is kind of cool.

[ Lockheed Martin ]

Learn about the work of Dr. Roland Siegwart, Dr. Anibal Ollero, Dr. Dario Floreano, and Dr. Margarita Chli on flying robots and some of the challenges they are still trying to tackle in this video created based on their presentations at ICRA@40 the 40th anniversary celebration of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[ ICRA@40 ]