October 2026 was a whirlwind month for the robotics industry. Last month, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of RoboBusiness and announced that next year, the show will be rebranded to Robotics Summit & Expo West.
In addition, prominent humanoid robot companies, such as Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics, announced some major updates.
Here are the 10 most popular articles on The Robot Report in the past month. Subscribe to The Robot Report newsletter and listen to The Robot Report Podcast to stay up to date on the latest robotics news.
10. AGCO to deploy Agility Digit humanoid in Kansas factory
In October 2026, AGCO and Agility Robotics signed a commercial agreement to deploy Agility’s Digit humanoid in AGCO’s manufacturing facility. The U.S. pilot, expected to begin in 2027, will support AGCO’s efforts to create more flexible, intelligent factories, beginning at its site in Hesston, Kan. Read more.
9. Will ‘boring’ robots win in the real world? Why robotic form should follow workflow
Robots have captured our imagination. We have seen humanoids balancing on one leg, doing backflips, folding laundry, and moving smoothly over difficult terrain. This is all behavior that only a few years ago seemed like something out of science fiction. These viral examples matter because they show that embodied AI has reached a new technical stage. Read more.
8. Agility and GXO Logistics plan expanded deployment of Digit humanoid
Agility Robotics and GXO Logistics said they are expanding their partnership to deploy the Digit humanoid robot in GXO sites in North Carolina and Tennessee. Read more.
7. Boston Dynamics gives more insight into its redesigned humanoid hand
Boston Dynamics in October 2026 gave a look at its new humanoid hand. The four-fingered gripper has 13 degrees of freedom, or DoF, and is directly actuated. The company said it designed it for mass production. Read more.
6. Promise Robotics partners with D.R. Horton on physical AI for homebuilding in October 2026
The construction industry is fragmented and has been relatively conservative about adopting new technologies, but physical AI promises to modernize homebuilding. Promise Robotics said it has signed a multi-year agreement with D.R. Horton, which will use its Factory-as-a-Service capabilities to produce more than 1,250 homes in the U.S. Read more.
5. AWS launches open-source Physical AI Toolchain for robotics
Amazon Web Services launched an open-source Physical AI Toolchain designed to help roboticists move from collecting data to training, simulating, validating and deploying AI models on their robots. The toolchain brings together AWS services and NVIDIA’s Physical AI software stack into a single development workflow. Read more.
4. PTC acquisition positions Schneider Electric to challenge Siemens
Global energy company Schneider Electric in October 2026 said it will acquire industrial design, engineering, and data management firm PTC for about $22.6 billion. The Boston-based companies claimed that the combination will bridge the “digital and physical worlds across the lifecycle, from design and build to operate and maintain.” Read more.
3. Boston Dynamics drops pinky on new humanoid hand
Boston Dynamics unveiled the newest hand for its Atlas humanoid in October 2026. The hand is directly actuated, and is designed for mass manufacturing. Previous versions of Atlas’ hand featured seven degrees of freedom and were designed to grasp a large variety of objects, Boston Dynamics said. With the latest hand, the company is shifting its focus to manipulating those objects. Read more.
2. Boston Dynamics appoints former Amazon exec Rohit Prasad as new CEO in October 2026
It has been nearly nine months since Robert Playter, the former CEO of Boston Dynamics, stepped down. The company has named Rohit Prasad as its new CEO. Prasad will take over from Chief Financial Officer Amanda McMaster, who served as interim CEO. Read more.
1. Gecko Robotics secures $300M contract with the U.S. Navy
Gecko Robotics said it has earned an additional $300 million its contract with the U.S. Navy and General Services Administration. With the increase, the U.S. government has quadrupled the ceiling value on Gecko’s contract for slashing maintenance delays and improving fleet readiness. Read more.
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