1X, K-Scale, Gradient etc. Are humanoids ready for roll out?
Plus The Information's top 50 includes 4 robotics startups and save Nov 22 Robot Party and Brazilian BBQ
The robotics community has got some interesting comments and threads going about humanoids this week, between 1X opening pre-orders for NEO and K-Scale refunding their pre-orders.
Of course, behind each argument is a time scale or an impact area that varies greatly. Will a premature humanoid launch hurt the overall robotics industry, or is it beneficial in terms of increased interest and investment? Inflated expectations generally produce a let down, as per Rod Brooks (via Jeremy Fishel).
I feel for 1x on this one - the haters are being pretty brutal. 1x has made great progress, and those that know the history also know that 1x was years ahead of this wave of humanoids. From an engineering perspective, their progress is impressive, however I also get the reactions… they really are too early for a product. It goes back to Rod Brook’s first law of robotics, which is that what a robot looks like sets an expectation that must be met or over-delivered on. Looking like a human creates one hell of an expectation, that the technology is no where even close to delivering on. via Jeremy Fishel
Serena Ivaldi weighs in on how this is a huge accomplishment, compared to the state of art of most humanoids in research, but also brings up new cybersecurity aspects.
Announcing they are ready to enter homes - in whatever form, teleoperated or not - is a big milestone and we have to applaud them.
The downside of this early announcement is that the teleoperation over internet is a huge privacy threat and by enabling image and audio streaming from your private life you are exposing yourself and your family to every hacker and every AI company that wants to misuse your data. In case of minor and children, this is very alarming.
And some other problem areas - NEO has done a great job on building in more practical consumer friendly features, like IP68 submersible rated hands and bodies, soft padding and IP44 splash-proof machine washable fabric. But are they really practical in regular use?
Neo is wrapped head-to-toe in machine-washable nylon fabric. Sounds nice, right until you think about real-world use. Within weeks, that beige cover will be covered in dust, pet hair, kitchen grease, and everyday grime. Sure, it’s washable, but that’s not convenience, it’s a chore. And how durable is fabric itself? How long before your cats takes it as a scratching post? It would be a $20,000 Raggedy Andy. You’re not buying a helper - it’s high-maintenance luxury.
We went through all that with early automobiles. In the early 1900s, only the wealthy could afford cars, because you not only needed to buy a car, but also needed to employ chauffeur-mechanics to keep the vehicles running - oil changes nearly every week, frequent repairs, specialized knowledge. Cars didn’t become true mass transportation until they stopped being a pain in behind. via Tori Master on LI (ht Aaron Edsinger for the share)
Aaron Prather has called out Moravec’s Paradox as a core problem for humanoids, but also a great opportunity. It’s still an open debate - do humanoids need hands? is humanoid the best form factor? what markets are ready for humanoids?
K-Scale is dead, long live the next stealth humanoid… and the open source humanoid download
One door closes and another door opens. K-Scale picked up a lot of attention for creating an affordable, cute, open source, 3d printed humanoid - and also for being a YC backed, hacker house living Silicon Valley style startup.
Some early backers took to social with the shutdown announcement from K-Scale founder Benjamin Bolte. I personally commend him for shutting down while he could pay out team and early customers - instead of waiting for the last minute save and being left with nothing but debt and disappointment.
I’m curious to see…
if robot startups will stop going to YC (because the success ratio is super low)
what fans do with the open source blueprints (ht Harrison Kinsley for the share),
what Ben does next, and
what the rest of the K-Scale team do next.
The word is now out that some departed K-Scale team members, Scott Carlson and JX Mo, started building another humanoid robot company in September, Gradient Robotics.
“We’ve inherited the K-Scale spirit, mission, and core engineering team at Gradient Robots,” he wrote. “We closed our pre-seed round in Sept and we’re accelerating fast.”‘
He added: “We’re building US-manufacturable robots at scale. We’ll be the open-source Unitree for America.”
The Information’s Top 50 Startups for 2025
Great to see Foxglove recognized by The Information as one of the Top Robotics Startups of 2025 alongside the standout teams at Pickle Robot Company, Chef Robotics, and Reflex Robotics. To qualify, startups must have raised less than $100 million and be valued at less than $1 billion. You can view the list here.
Other highlights from the list:
The vast majority of companies on the list are generating revenue, even if they’re only getting started bringing in dollars. Six, however, generate no revenue.
Twenty of the companies are generating more than $10 million in revenue, up from 13 that reached that milestone in last year’s list. Four of this year’s companies are generating more than $70 million in annualized revenue, which only partly reflects the AI boom; one of the companies is in crypto, while the other sells video and audio streaming software.
The vast majority of companies are small. Only nine companies have more than 100 employees. That’s in line with last year’s list.
Notably, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital led funding rounds in eight of the companies, more than any other firms. Andreessen Horowitz led rounds in seven, up from leading rounds in six of the companies on last year’s list, in keeping with its high-volume investment approach. Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Bain Capital Ventures and Kleiner Perkins each led rounds in three of the companies. Benchmark, Thrive Capital and Menlo Ventures each invested in two of them while Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund backed one.
Outside Asia, corporate investors didn’t show up much in this year’s list, with Nvidia backing two companies and Toyota backing one. That’s in contrast with last year’s list, when OpenAI was an investor in eight companies.
In the Asia part of our list, corporate investors were everywhere, in keeping with their long tradition of startup kingmaking. JD.com and Ant Group each backed two of the companies.
Robot Talk Episode 132 – Collaborating with industrial robots, with Anthony Jules - Robohub
Silicon Valley Robotics Investor/Startup Database
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Robotics News
A&K Robotics Welcomes Melonee Wise to Board of Advisors - Press Release
Excited to support the A&K team. The A&K team is doing incredible work bringing autonomous mobility to life in real-world environments. Melonee Wise
How one founder plans to save cities from flooding with terraforming robots - TechCrunch
Sweetgreen Sells Robotics Unit to Wonder for $186 Million - Bloomberg
Rivian creates another spinoff company called Mind Robotics - TechCrunch
Waabi + Volvo unveil next-gen self-driving truck - Fox News
Carmakers Step Up Autonomous Vehicle Efforts Amid New Competition - PYMNTS
Caterpillar sets out to hit over 2,000 autonomous mining trucks by 2030 - IM International Mining
Etihad Cargo Eyes Autonomous Aircraft - AVWeb
Archer To Acquire Los Angeles Airport As Strategic Air Taxi Network Hub and AI Testbed - Archer Aviation
Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp up - Reuters
Robot rescues Ukrainian soldier trapped 33 days behind Russian lines, navigating minefields and mortar strikes - CBS News
Who is willing to trust home-care robots in Japan? - NEWS Medical LifeSciences
Watch: Chinese company’s new humanoid robot moves so smoothly, they had to cut it open to prove a person wasn’t hiding inside - LiveScience
AI and humanoid robots surge in 2025: Industry sees explosive growth ahead - Fox Business
Why human-shaped robots loom large in Musk’s Tesla plans - BBC
Didn’t I warn you all that Optimus would be dancing at Tesla’s shareholder meeting? I just didn’t expect such bad dad dancing - presumably to make Elon look better?
And reasons to be cheerful… why all humans will want to own humanoids.
Teradyne tightening belt
Due to decreased revenue, Teradyne Robotics and its companies Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots reducing global workforce by another 14%, after a 10% reduction in January.
There’s a lot of factors at play here: global issues, over-hiring during growth periods around COVID, increased cobot competition, and more. But there’s a lot of great folks who just hit the market. via Steve Crowe at The Robot Report
Robotics Events
Sat Nov 22 - Robot Party and Brazilian BBQ at CL MV
Get ready for a full day of food, fun, and robots! Join us for a community celebration featuring:
🍖 Brazilian BBQ – Sizzling Picanha - Brazilian-style grilled beef, juicy and carved fresh. Veggie options too.
🥊 Robot Fight Arena – Watch two humanoid robots square off in a live fight inside a hexagon cage. Sparks will fly (literally).
🤖 Robot Demos – see the latest humanoids, autonomous machines, and hardware projects in action.
🤝 Sponsors & Community – meet the companies and people pushing the future of robotics forward.
If you are interested in Demoing, Presenting, doing a Workshop, please fill out the form here. Check the box on your RSVP if you are interested in Volunteering or Sponsorship opportunities.
MUST RSVP to be served!
Wed Dec 3 - Bots&Beer in SF or CL MV - tbc
Wed Dec 10 - Robotics Investment Summit and Manufacturing Workshop
Dec 11-12 - Humanoids Summit tbc
Join the organizing team at Silicon Valley Robotics - bots&beer@svrobo.org
Great thread, Andra. Don't rush robots to market—they'll flop. Test them on specific jobs first: moving supplies, inspections, patient transport. Prioritize safety, human backup, and privacy. Simple tasks are surprisingly hard for robots, so set clear goals, measure results, and count actual costs. Open designs help, but 2026 must prove real value, make them fixable, and secure them. Fewer flashy demos, more real results.