Top 10 robotics developments of October 2026

October 2026 has been 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 renamed Robotics Summit & Expo West.

Additionally, major humanoid robot companies, such as Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics, have announced some major updates.

Here are the 10 most popular articles on The robot report in the last month. Sign up to The robot report newsletter and listen The robot report Podcast to stay up to date on the latest news in the field of robotics.

10. AGCO will deploy the Agility Digit humanoid at the Kansas factory

In October 2026, AGCO and Agility Robotics signed a commercial agreement to deploy Agility’s Digit humanoid at AGCO’s manufacturing facility. The U.S. pilot project, expected to begin in 2027, will support AGCO’s efforts to create more flexible and intelligent factories, starting with its headquarters in Hesston, Kan. Read more.

9. Will “boring” robots win in the real world? Because the robotic form should follow the workflow

Robots have captured our imagination. We’ve seen humanoids balance on one leg, do backward somersaults, fold laundry, and move easily across difficult terrain. All behaviors that only a few years ago seemed like science fiction. These viral examples are important because they show that embedded artificial intelligence has reached a new technical stage. Read more.

8. Agility and GXO Logistics plan expansion of Digit humanoid deployment

Agility Robotics and GXO Logistics said they are expanding their partnership to deploy the Digit humanoid robot at GXO sites in North Carolina and Tennessee. Read more.

7. Boston Dynamics provides more information on its redesigned humanoid hand

Boston Dynamics in October 2026 took a look at its new humanoid hand. The four-finger 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 DR Horton on physical AI for residential construction in October 2026

The construction industry is fragmented and has been relatively conservative about adopting new technologies, but physical AI promises to modernize housing. Promise Robotics said it has signed a multi-year agreement with DR Horton, which will use its Factory-as-a-Service capabilities to produce more than 1,250 homes in the United States.

5. AWS launches open-source Physical AI Toolchain for robotics

Amazon Web Services has launched an open-source physical AI toolchain designed to help robotics experts move from data collection 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. The acquisition of PTC 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 said the combination will connect “the digital and physical worlds across the entire lifecycle, from design and construction to operation and maintenance.” Read more.

3. Boston Dynamics lowers the little finger onto the new humanoid hand

Boston Dynamics unveiled the new hand for its humanoid Atlas in October 2026. The hand is directly driven and is designed for mass production. Previous versions of the Atlas hand featured seven degrees of freedom and were designed to grasp a wide variety of objects, Boston Dynamics said. With the latest twist, the company is shifting its focus to handling those objects. Read more.

2. Boston Dynamics names former Amazon exec Rohit Prasad as new CEO in October 2026

It’s been nearly nine months since Robert Playter, former CEO of Boston Dynamics, resigned. The company has appointed Rohit Prasad as its new CEO. Prasad will take over from CFO Amanda McMaster, who has served as interim CEO. Read more.

1. Gecko Robotics Secures $300 Million Contract with US Navy

Gecko Robotics said it earned an additional $300 million from the contract with the U.S. Navy and General Services Administration. With the increase, the U.S. government quadrupled Gecko’s maximum contract value to reduce maintenance delays and improve fleet availability. Read more.