World Robot Day - 25 January GlobalBritainTechAI

World Robot Day 25 January was created in 2021 to mark 100 years since the word 'robot' debuted in Karel Čapek's R.U.R. play on 25 January 1921. #WorldRobotDay

[Paulina Guzik @Guzik_Paulina]

Christopher Olah, a Canadian billionaire businessman and researcher who co-founded AI giant Anthropic, sitting in the Synodal Hall and speaking next to Pope Leo said, closing his speech:
"I'd like to close with a request.
We need more of the world - religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments - to do what His Holiness has done here: to take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction.
We need informed critics who will tell the labs when
we are failing. We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend.
Today is just the beginning - the start of a long collaboration between those of us who are building this and those who can see what we, from inside, cannot.
Today is a powerful illustration of the form this global project of good will might take.
Let it also be a decisive first step toward a hopeful future for magnificent humanity."

[Ramón Alvarado @ramonalvaradoq]

Unsure how or why. I have no use for it in my work, I have my reservations, I don’t like to read it. I am an ethicist and epistemologist of the technology. I’m a philosopher and an editor… but if I may ask as a colleague, what is the argument @jennfrey ?

[ControlAI @ControlAI]

@s_guilbeault @JonathanWNV @DavidSKrueger Ex-OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo said he was heartened to see Canadian parliamentarians call for an international ban on superintelligence:

[John Sherman @ForHumanityPod]

An International Prohibition on the development of super intelligence.

This a huge piece of a pro-human future.

Without it we’re probably all going to be killed by AI.

Great work @ControlAI keep pushing!

[RoboHub🤖 @XRoboHub]

A Chinese dancer brought eight Unitree robots onto the America’s Got Talent stage, earned four yeses from the judges, and brought the house down. 🔥

[World Robot Day - 25 January GlobalBritainTechAI @WorldRobotDay]

A Veteran FOCUS from the London AI Robotics Hub
@shadowrobot
Shadow Robot reminds us what long-term excellence looks like. The quiet backbone of dexterous robotics in the UK for over two decades. While newer players grab headlines, Shadow Robot has been quietly perfecting the most advanced robotic hands on the planet.
Their iconic Shadow Dexterous Hand delivers 24 precise movements and 20 degrees of freedom - giving robots human-like manipulation that powers everything from cutting-edge research to real-world teleoperation in hazardous environments for mission critical remote work.
Hands used by Google DeepMind, Imperial College, QMUL and labs worldwide. 20+ years of continuous innovation at its HQ in Highgate (employee-owned since day one).
Still pushing boundaries - exhibiting at ICRA 2026 and expanding their Dexterous Hand series. In a world obsessed with flashy new startups, their technology is foundational to the entire London AI Robotics Hub - without reliable dexterity, the humanoid and advanced manipulation revolution simply doesn’t happen.
Follow @shadowrobot and @WorldRobotDay - watch the London AI Robotics Hub series continue.

[ControlAI @ControlAI]

WATCH: Alex Sobel MP (@alexsobel) makes the case for his AI kill switch amendment.

"It would cover two threats: AI-driven cyber-attacks and the development of superintelligent AI that is utilising UK data centres."

[World Robot Day - 25 January GlobalBritainTechAI @WorldRobotDay]

A welcome addition to an important debate! Wishing you every success Elif!

[Elif Biber @elifbiber]

💫 It is finally out!✨

📘I am very glad to share that my #book, A Rights-Based Inter-Legal Approach to Artificial Intelligence, has now been published by @hartpublishing, Oxford.

This book explores how law can protect fundamental rights in a world increasingly shaped by algorithmic systems and automated decision-making. It provides the first account of inter-legality in the context of AI, examining its relevance to the fundamental rights challenges posed by AI systems.

I hope this work helps strengthen awareness of the urgent need to protect democratic safeguards in an era increasingly shaped by #AI. I very much look forward to the thoughtful, critical, and interdisciplinary discussions.✨

📘 Available on Amazon: https://t.co/UU1P2cu18Q

📚 20% discount available directly from Bloomsbury / Hart Publishing with the code: GLR BD8

📖 For academics: your university library may already provide access to the book
@DigitalEU @The_Digi_Con
@ICON_S_Benelux @LuxTimes @StalsPisa @ICON_S_Benelux @EthicsInAI

[Mike Kalil @mikekalilmfg]

“This child is a bit stupid.”

That’s what Unitree founder Wang Xingxing’s teacher told his parents when he was an anxious and awkward middle schooler.

Wang’s company, Unitree Robotics, is on the verge of becoming a household name as its humanoid and quadrupedal robots grow ubiquitous in the age of embodied artificial intelligence. It’s entering 2026 heading toward an IPO an a valuation of $7 billion.

Wang showed a strong curiosity and hands-on talent for engineering from a young age. Born in 1990 in Ningbo in the Zhejiang province, he spent his early years building model airplanes and even assembled mini turbo jet engines in middle school.

Though he excelled at science, Wang struggled with English in China’s exam-focused school system. His weak performance in English nearly prevented him from getting into high school and disqualified him from elite universities.
He enrolled at Zhejiang Sai Tech University in Hangzhou in 2009. Initially described as an introverted and unremarkable student, Wang found his passion in robotics.

During his freshman year, he built a small bipedal walking robot for just ¥200 (or about $30), armed with only basic tools and scavenged parts. The feat gave him confidence and a reputation on campus as an engineer, unafraid of seemingly impossible challenges. Wang became an avid self-learner, immersing himself in technical literature.

After earning his degree in mechatronics engineering, Wang entered Shanghai University for his master’s, focusing on robotics and control systems. His master’s thesis was a brushless DC motor controller.

Crucially, Wang began exploring quadruped robot design during his time in Shanghai. He was convinced that small, electrically actuated four-legged robots would be the future. By 2015, he developed a quadruped prototype called XDog. The quadruped’s performance matched the top academic projects of the era, demonstrating exceptional stability and agility for its cost.

After getting his masters in 2016, Wang initially felt the robotics market was not quite ready for quadrupeds at scale. He sought out industry experience, joining DJI, a world-leading drone manufacturer headquartered in Shenzhen. His tenure was short-lived.

Within months, his XDog went viral in tech media and Wang suddenly had offers. Someone actually wanted to buy his robot and an investor was willing to fund a startup. The 26-year-old jumped at the opportunity, using angel funding of ¥2 million or about $275,000.

In 2026, Wang's company is heading toward an initial public offering, with a valuation of $7 billion. It leads the world in humanoid and quadruped deliveries.

[Luiza Jarovsky, PhD @LuizaJarovsky]

🚨 "Reframing AI Loss of Control: What It Is, How to Have It, How to Lose It" is the most comprehensive paper on control risks in AI you'll find, and it's our AI Ethics Paper Club's 10th recommended paper. [Bookmark it below]

Recommended reading for anyone developing or researching AI ethics or AI safety frameworks, especially those interested in alignment, control frameworks, and safety guardrails.

Below is an excerpt from the paper's conclusion, highlighting the breadth and challenges of control issues in AI.

👉 To receive all my research paper recommendations, join the 1500+ members of the AI Ethics Paper Club below (it's free).

[Adrienne LaFrance @AdrienneLaF]

You really have to read Ted Chiang on consciousness and AI—just published in The Atlantic:

https://t.co/z9eRSlkwQ8

[Junzhe (JJ) He @JayHe748646]

Excited to share our recent work on whole-body humanoid locomotion for challenging terrain traversal!

Diffusion-based planner + RL WBC = general purpose locomotion controller

Led by @ctki49 @mxu_cg @KehanWen170077 at @leggedrobotics and @xbpeng4.

[Lukas Ziegler @lukas_m_ziegler]

🚨 BREAKING:

@Robotiq_Inc just launched IQ, an AI platform that automates the entire robot integration process from first assessment to deployment-ready workcell.

This is a direct attack on one of the most stubborn problems in industrial robotics.

Integration has always been manual, a bit unpredictable and quite expensive.

Thousands of small details can make or break a project. Long site visits. Weeks waiting for quotes. Custom engineering every single time.

It looks like their IQ platform might replace all of that:
→ Instant assessment, whether palletizing fits your floor, what deployment looks like, and whether the financial return makes sense, including in 1-shift operations

→ No site visit, no engineering hours upfront, no waiting weeks for a quote

→ Validated Workcell design simulated in your actual factory environment, cycle time, reach and payload all confirmed before the customer commits

→ Built on the know-how from over 1,000 Robotiq deployments

The vision here is bigger than one product. Robotiq is calling it Automatic Integration, the idea that deploying a robot workcell should be as predictable and repeatable as ordering one.

For the thousands of small and mid-sized manufacturers who have been priced out of robotics by integration complexity, this changes the equation entirely.

Congrats @V_Duchaine, Samuel Bouchard, Jean-Philippe Jobin!

More info here: https://t.co/jgPtt7Xvo6

~~

♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news → https://t.co/GoA3ZuwoPB

[Apoush @apoushDiv]

Robotics does not only have a model problem, it has a data problem.

Language models had the internet to learn from, image models had billions of pictures, but robots need something much harder: real movement, real rooms, real hands, real objects, and real mistakes.

That is the part @RoboX_to is trying to solve by turning normal smartphones into first person data sensors for robotics training.

Not inside a perfect lab, but inside the messy world robots actually need to understand.

@0xsikdar , @0xnag1 , @MohdSarim0

[Bercan @bercankilic]

We're launching the microagi Research Fellowship.

Fellows get up to $2M in compute, robotics hardware, our evals, and one of the largest physical AI datasets ever assembled. You build in our lab, with our team, alongside partners like Unitree, Nvidia, and Google Cloud.

The hard part of AI left is physical. That's the part we're working on. Come build with us.

One more thing: know someone who belongs here? Reply with their name. If they get in, we send you 10.000 USD

[Flexiv Robotics @FlexivRobotics]

🤖 MICO is coming.
The modular dual-arm robotics platform.

Built on the Enlight platform, MICO is a compact dual-arm system engineered for safe, seamless collaboration in any workspace.

See it live at ICRA 2026!
📍 Booth 130, Hall B

#Flexiv #MICO #ICRA2026 #AdaptiveRobotics

[PRIMOTECH @primotech1]

AI is evolving from generating content to executing real actions.

Agentic AI = from prompts → processes, from assistance → autonomy.

The next big shift in how work gets done.

Read more: https://t.co/nHLUrX7z6q
#AI #AgenticAI #Automation #FutureOfWork #Tech

[Siddharth P @SPeesary]

AI agents plan by turning a goal into ordered subtasks, choosing tools, executing actions, checking results, and updating the plan as feedback arrives.

#AIAgents #ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #MachineLearning #AIWorkflow #PromptEngineering #Automation #TechEducation

[MoogleLabs @mooglelabs]

AI is evolving from responding to acting.

Discover how Agentic AI enables systems to plan, reason, and execute tasks with greater autonomy.

Read our complete guide: https://t.co/O3ec0Jjv2u

#AgenticAI #AI #Automation #EnterpriseAI #MoogleLabs

[Dvara Research: Public Policy & Advocacy @dvararesearch]

Recent advances in #AgenticAI have increased the likelihood of #cyberattacks cascading into systemic risk. Unlike earlier generations of software systems, Agentic AI systems can autonomously identify and exploit vulnerabilities that defenders may not even suspect exist https://t.co/aEh8gGShSD