NIST's competition to benchmark humanoids and call for other proposals - deadline August 3
Plus the best Bay Area event for robotics and physical AI on August 5 in SF
Humanoids 2026 Loco-Manipulation Challenge
Inspired by the DARPA Robotics Challenge (2013-2014), the IEEE/RAS LRC (2023-2026), the RoboCup Rescue International competition (2001-2026), and the NIST Humanoid Robot Baseline Benchmark currently under development. This competition will be designed and run by the same team as the above.
Objectives
Evaluate baseline humanoid robot mobility, manipulation/dexterity, and reasoning capabilities.
Some of the best humanoid robots will be evaluated on similar tests before and after the competition.
Competition participants will be able to compare performance with the best humanoid robots in the world.
Results from the competition will help inform where the research field is relative to the commercial sector.
Rules and Test Procedures
Will be based on variations of the rules and procedures already in place for the IEEE/RAS Legged Robot Challenge (LRC). The tests will consist of several cross-cutting basic tasks arranged in a circuit. Autonomy will be incentivized, but teleoperation or remote operation will still score points. The finalized list of tasks, 3D models, fabrication plans, template for the team proposals, and competition procedure and rules will be made available in summer 2026.
Number of Competition Days and Planned Schedule
Three-day competition (1 practice day and 2 competition days).
Number of Participants
Between 10 and 15 teams.
Submission Deadline for Competition Proposals for IEEE Humanoids 2026 is August 3rd!
The 25th IEEE‑RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots will take place 6-9 December 2026, in Silicon Valley, California, bringing together the world’s leading researchers, engineers, and industry innovators in humanoid and human-centered robotics.
Call for Competitions: https://2026.ieee-humanoids.org/call-for-competitions/
We encourage competitions that promote accessibility and availability to a wide range of participants, from many different academic spaces. Proposals with a set of competition tasks that are compatible with both large and small research groups, and that do not limit the morphology and technical solution of the competing robot will be preferred.To maximize participation, competitions will run on three days of the conference, December 7th-9th (Monday-Wednesday).
Important Deadlines:
Competition Proposal Deadline: 3 August 2026
Notification of Competition Proposal Acceptance/Rejection: 21 September 2026
Conference Day 2, 3 and 4 (Competitions): 7-9 December 2026
General Chairs IEEE Humanoids 2026 :
Andra Keay : andrakeay@gmail.com
Ross Mead : ross@semio.com
https://2026.ieee-humanoids.org/
Dec 6th - 9th at Santa Clara Convention Center, California
Submission Deadline for Workshop and Tutorial Proposals for IEEE Humanoids 2026 is August 3rd!
The 25th IEEE‑RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots will take place 6-9 December 2026, in Silicon Valley, California, bringing together the world’s leading researchers, engineers, and industry innovators in humanoid and human-centered robotics.
Call for Workshops and Tutorials: https://2026.ieee-humanoids.org/call-for-workshops-and-tutorials/
We invite proposals for half-day or full-day workshops and tutorials to be held during Humanoids 2026. These sessions are aimed at exploring the frontiers of recent or emerging topics related to humanoid robotics, mirroring the cutting-edge scope detailed in the conference’s Call for Papers. All workshops and tutorials will run on the second day of the conference: Monday, 7 December 2026.
Important Deadlines:
Workshop/Tutorial Proposal Deadline: 3 August 2026
Notification of Workshop/Tutorial Acceptance/Rejection: 28 September 2026
Conference Day 2 (Workshops & Tutorials): 7 December 2026
General Chairs IEEE Humanoids 2026 :
Andra Keay : andrakeay@gmail.com
Ross Mead : ross@semio.com
https://2026.ieee-humanoids.org/
Dec 6th - 9th at Santa Clara Convention Center, California
Robotics News
This Silicon Valley city is quietly becoming Robot Row. Here’s who’s clanking around. - Business Insider
Why the future of robots is serving humans, not just imitating them - World Economic Forum
San Francisco company offers cleaning service using humanoid robots - ABC News
DoorDash is paying people to load its delivery robots. It points to a shortcoming of automation - Business Insider
Fedex moves closer to deploying robots that can load trailers - FreightWaves
Hyundai Motor taps former Samsung robotics chief to head Autonomous Driving Development Center - Korea JoongAng Daily
TechCrunch Mobility: Two roads diverged — for robotaxis - TechCrunch
Google’s Gemini Can Now Stomp Around as a Humanoid Robot - Wired
Trump administration bans new Chinese humanoid robots - BBC
Trump administration bans new Chinese humanoid robots, to protect US AI buildout - Reuters
Who wins and who loses after US bans foreign robots - ArsTechnica
Northern California inventor of centaur-style robot ‘Three-Halves’ is surprised by online frenzy - KCRA3
Robotics Research
Silicon Valley Robotics Investor/Startup Database
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Robotics Events
Want to host an event or reach the robotics community?
Many companies are reaching out to Silicon Valley Robotics about hosting events, outreach or hiring and we have a great community network, of people looking for work, of investors interested in deal flow and of technologists interested in learning about the latest advances.
Would you be interested in hosting the next Bots, Bevs and Devs? Or something customized specifically for your goals? Reach out here!
More Robotics Events:
You are first to be invited to the next Bots, Bevs and Devs on August 5 at Foxglove in San Francisco.
Bots, Bevs & Devs - San Francisco - Aug 5
Actuate - San Francisco - Aug 18 - Aug 19
Ruggedize - Salinas - Aug 26 - Aug 27
Bots, Bevs & Devs - tbd - Sep 2
SVR Investor Summit and Manufacturing Workshop - tbd - tbd
ROSCon Global - Toronto - Sep 22 - Sep 24
IROS 2026 - Pittsburgh - Sep 27 - Oct 1
Bots, Bevs & Devs - tbd - Oct 7
Bots, Bevs & Devs - tbd - Nov4
Bots, Bevs & Devs - tbd - Dec 2
IEEE Humanoids 2026 - Silicon Valley - Dec 6-9
The annual IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots is the internationally recognized prime event of the humanoid robotics community. The conference is sponsored by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and coordinated by the Technical Committee on Humanoids.
Send me your 2026 progress, plans or posts for potential inclusion in Robots&Startups. Or join the organizing team at Silicon Valley Robotics - bots&beer@svrobo.org
Too much progress is still judged through curated demonstrations, proprietary tasks and videos that conceal teleoperation, retries and environmental preparation. A shared, morphology-neutral test circuit can expose the real gaps between mobility, dexterity, reasoning, autonomy and recovery from failure. The strongest design choice is allowing teleoperation while scoring autonomy separately. That preserves accessibility without pretending all teams are solving the same problem. I hope the final protocol also records intervention frequency, reset time, task completion reliability and safety violations. One successful run proves little; repeatability under comparable conditions is what separates a research demonstration from a deployable system.
One of the biggest challenges is encouraging robotics companies to shared public benchmarks. I hope that the boldest and best companies will see the benefit however.