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Roger design render. The current robot is a prototype. Image: Minerva Humanoids.
Minerva wants to put humanoids in hazardous workplaces while keeping human specialists safely at a distance. Minerva emerged from stealth today with approximately $10 million raised and Roger, a robot built around that idea. We interviewed CEO Sandor Felber ahead of the launch.
Elsewhere, Atlas has new four-finger hands, Galbot has put prices on ET1, and longer work demonstrations are giving us more to examine than highlight reels. Last week, we mentioned Figure’s plans for a farewell to Figure 02. The film is now out—with Arnold Schwarzenegger and a furnace in Finland.
IN THIS EDITION
Our Minerva interview: dangerous work, shared autonomy and the first paid pilot.
Hardware choices: why Atlas has four fingers, and what Galbot’s 79,000-yuan starting price buys.
Longer work demos: Dyna takes on a laundry workflow; Nucleus discloses the human assistance.
Follow-ups: REK’s fight draws a cease-and-desist notice, while Figure gives F.02 a fiery farewell.
LEAD STORY · OUR INTERVIEW
Minerva’s Roger uses shared autonomy: a specialist directs critical actions remotely, while onboard AI handles balance, fall recovery and navigation to selected waypoints. The company has raised approximately $10 million and plans its first paid oil-and-gas pilot this fall, with operational deployments targeted for 2027.
In our interview, co-founder and CEO Sandor Felber explained why keeping a person in charge is central to the approach. Intended tasks include operating valves and assessing suspicious objects in spaces built around human access and tools. Felber previously worked on Optimus; co-founder Maurice Rahme spent six years at Boston Dynamics.
Felber was also clear about what remains unfinished: Roger is a prototype, further ruggedization is needed, and autonomous return-to-base is still in development. Our conversation gets into the practical choices behind sending a robot into hazardous environments.
TOP STORIES
Atlas with its new GR3 hands. This segment is labeled teleoperated. Screenshot: Boston Dynamics.
Boston Dynamics’ new GR3 hands have 13 degrees of freedom, up from seven, with tactile sensing across the fingertips and palm. The more capable thumb supports tool grips, object reorientation and recovery when something slips.
The missing fifth finger is a deliberate trade-off: three fewer actuators, less bulk and fewer potential failure points. The team even taped their own ring and little fingers together to explore the compromise. The mechanism is also designed to be modeled accurately in simulation, so reinforcement learning can help turn the extra dexterity into useful skills.
SPONSORED BY ENCORD
Humanoid robotics takes the stage at Long Horizon
Carolina Parada, Alberto Rodriguez and Ken Goldberg will share the stage for a discussion on real-world motion and perception for humanoid robots.
It’s part of Encord’s inaugural Long Horizon Physical AI Summit, taking place October 20–21 at Fort Mason, San Francisco. Day 1 focuses on robotics and embodied AI; Day 2 turns to autonomy. The lineup also includes Skild AI’s Deepak Pathak and Physical Intelligence’s Quan Vuong.
Humanoids Daily readers get 20% off tickets with code HUMANOIDS20.
Galbot’s ET1 humanoid. Image: Galbot.
ET1 is reportedly priced at 79,000 yuan for Standard, 139,000 for Pro and 179,000 for Flagship. The compact humanoid is aimed at interaction and performance—store greetings, theme parks and stage shows.
The entry version focuses on performance and conversation. The advertised watch-and-learn capabilities arrive with Pro, while Flagship adds compute and customization options. Dexterous hands are described as an option for the upper tiers. The headline price is useful, but checking what comes with each version matters.
FROM DEMOS TO WORK
Dyna introduced Taku, a wheeled semi-humanoid, alongside an hour-long demonstration it describes as autonomous. The work spans washing, drying, folding and shelving, with the system deciding when to leave one activity to attend to another.
That addresses a practical limitation of a folding demo: someone may still have to replenish the input and clear the output. Taku tackles those handoffs too, including returning a dropped towel to the dirty laundry. Customer-site deployment of this new system is the next step, rather than a result already established by the recording.
Nucleus shared nearly two hours of factory footage with hesitations and interventions visible. Asked by Humanoids Daily how much was autonomous, founder Melvin Schwarz said 60% autonomous and 40% teleoperated, without specifying whether the split measures time, tasks or something else.
He also says Nucleus regularly runs four-to-six-hour shifts; that does not mean four to six hours without human assistance. The disclosure makes the footage more useful to assess. For a working fleet, the next question is how much operator attention each robot needs.
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THE RUNDOWN
Meta names its humanoid hardware. A new engineering job listing explicitly references humanoid robot hardware and the work of fixing failures and improving assembly. It adds detail to the program, without a launch date or production volume.
Tesla cuts RAM to stretch supply. Musk says AI5’s memory allocation was halved to 72GB and AI6’s cut by a third to 144GB to secure enough memory for Optimus production. He expects little performance impact; benchmarks were not provided.
100 robots in 100 cookware stores. AGIBOT says X2 robots are assisting shoppers at ASD stores, with staff handling promotions, inventory questions and purchases. Sales impact and fleet-wide intervention rates remain undisclosed.
RoboParty’s RP1 arrives at IROS. The company demonstrated balance recovery and plans broader hardware and software releases in Q4. The complete proposed RP1 stack is not yet available.
Chestnut pairs the hand with its teacher. Aero Hand and Aero UMI combine dexterous hardware with a matching demonstration interface. The launch shows teleoperation; autonomous transfer is the next test.
Agility’s investor day is today. The October 6 webcast runs 12:30–3:00 p.m. ET / 18:30–21:00 CEST, with Digit 5, commercial progress and scaling plans on the agenda. Registration and replay access are linked in our report.
Still drawing readers: Sharpa’s D01 robot, W02 hand and AE01 glove made your top five this week. We covered the launch in the last issue; here’s the guide if you missed it.
FOLLOW-UP
Remember the fight clip we shared? REK founder Cix Liv has now posted a photograph of a California State Athletic Commission notice addressing the unsanctioned human-versus-humanoid bout. The robot was remotely controlled.
The document concerns approval and licensing for covered contests involving humans—not a blanket ban on robot fighting. We have not independently authenticated it with the commission.
AND FINALLY…
Figure 02’s farewell at a Finnish foundry. Screenshot: Figure.
Last week’s teaser delivered: Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in Figure’s farewell film, and F.02 got its Terminator 2-style sendoff in a 75-ton electric arc furnace in Finland. There was a final thumbs-up. There were also bonus jumps.
The engineering footnote is almost as striking as the spectacle. Figure says it trained the jumps in simulation using stunt-performer references, and Adcock says the robots executed them autonomously. Some recovered metal is becoming commemorative artifacts. An unusually elaborate way to make room for the next generation.
This edition of Humanoids Daily was presented by RoboStrategy.
Thanks also to Encord for supporting this week’s edition.
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