Top 10 robotics developments of December 2025
Despite the usual lull around the holidays, the robotics industry continued to move at a quick pace. In December 2025, we saw pillars of the robotics community face difficult times, new positions for leaders in industry, and even some new robot releases.
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 commercial robotics developments.
10. Humanoid says its first bipedal robot can start walking just 48 hours after assembly
Humanoid, a London-based robotics developer, in December 2025 announced the HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal. This is the company’s first humanoid robot, which it built from an initial design to a working prototype in just five months. Read more.
9. Researchers create programmable, autonomous robots smaller than a grain of rice
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan have created what they claimed are the world’s smallest fully programmable robots. The robots are microscopic swimming machines that can independently sense and respond to their surroundings, operate for months, and cost just a penny each. Read more.
8. Digit humanoid joins Mercado Libre warehouse
Mercado Libre, a leading commerce and fintech ecosystem in Latin America, has signed an agreement to integrate Agility Robotics’ Digit humanoid into its facility in San Antonio, Texas. Mercado Libre uses other types of warehouse robots at its facilities, but this appears to be its first foray into humanoids. Read more.
7. iRobot to enter Chapter 11 and be acquired by Chinese creditor
As expected, iRobot announced that it has entered into a restructuring support agreement with its creditor Santrum Hong Kong Co. and primary contract manufacturer Shenzhen Picea Robotics Co. The Chinese companies plan to acquire the robotic vacuum cleaner pioneer through a court-supervised bankruptcy process. Read more.
6. iREX 2025: From programmed to perceptive
The International Robot Exhibition, or iREX 2025, set new records: 673 exhibitors and 156,110 visitors — even with parts of the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition ground under renovation. The mood at the December 2025 event was good, as market order intake is recovering after two years of decline. What did I see there that I haven’t seen somewhere else before? Read more.
5. Serve Robotics deployed delivery robots across the U.S.
Serve Robotics said it has deployed more than 2,000 sidewalk delivery robots in the U.S. The milestone was part of the company’s 2025 goals. Since the start of the year, Serve has expanded its fleet twentyfold. It is deploying its robots in key markets. Read more.
4. Melonee Wise to lead KUKA’s new software and AI organization
Robotics industry veteran Melonee Wise has taken a new position at KUKA. She is now the chief product officer for industrial automation provider’s new software and artificial intelligence group in Silicon Valley. Wise previously worked at Fetch Robotics, Zebra Technologies, and Agility Robotics. Read more.
3. MIT researchers teach a robot to build furniture by just asking
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced in Decmeber 2025 that they have developed a “speech-to-reality” system. This AI-driven workflow allows the MIT team to provide input to a robotic arm and “speak objects into existence,” creating things like furniture in as little as five minutes. Read more.
2. Zebra winds down Fetch-based mobile robot group
Zebra Technologies is winding down its autonomous mobile robot (AMR) division. The group was built around Zebra’s $290 million acquisition of AMR maker Fetch Robotics in 2021. The move marks a strategic retreat from the robotics push that Zebra launched to expand its warehouse automation capabilities. Read more.
1. iRobot debt acquired by contract manufacturer in December 2025
The fortunes of one of the few household names in robotics continued to sink. In a filing with the SEC early last month, iRobot said that a Chinese company had acquired its debt and that it was looking for alternatives to bankruptcy. Read more.
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