Manifest 2026: Apptronik's $520M Raise, BD CEO Change

Apptronik Approaches $1 Billion in Total Funding

The biggest news from the robotics industry during Manifest 2026 was Apptronik's announcement of a $520 million Series A-X funding round, pushing its total Series A past $935 million and bringing its overall capital raised to nearly $1 billion. The Austin-based humanoid robotics company plans to use the funds to expand production of its Apollo robot and build new facilities for robot training and data collection. The scale of the raise underscores investor confidence in humanoid robotics as a category, even as the industry continues to search for clear commercial deployment models at scale.

Symbotic Acquires Fox Robotics

Warehouse automation company Symbotic announced its acquisition of Fox Robotics, a maker of autonomous forklifts. Both companies count Walmart as a major client, and the combination is expected to broaden Symbotic's logistics robotics portfolio while expanding the guided fork truck market. The deal reflects continued consolidation in warehouse automation, where companies are assembling end-to-end solutions rather than competing with single-purpose robots.

Boston Dynamics CEO Steps Down

Robert Playter, who led Boston Dynamics through its 2020 acquisition by Hyundai and brought Spot, Stretch, and the electric Atlas robot to market, announced he will step down as CEO effective February 27, 2026. Chief Financial Officer Amanda McMaster will assume the role on an interim basis. The leadership transition comes at a pivotal moment for the company as it works to scale commercial deployments of its robot fleet beyond early adopter customers.

Supply Chain Robotics Leaders Gather in Vegas

The Manifest conference in Las Vegas brought together a cross-section of robotics executives shaping the supply chain automation landscape. The Robot Report podcast recorded interviews with leaders from eight companies: Sankalp Arora of Gather AI, Ben Gruettner of Robust.AI, Owen Nicholson of Slamcore, Mason Cole of Slip Robotics, Steven McKinley and Jim Leifer of Ambi Robotics, Jackie Wu of Corvus Robotics, Kevin Damoa of Glid Technologies, and Eric Miller of AutoPallet.

Topics ranged from autonomous forklift operations to AI-powered inventory management, drone-based warehouse scanning, and advanced navigation systems for complex logistics environments. A hands-on Zoox robotaxi ride also featured prominently in the podcast episode, highlighting how autonomous vehicle technology continues to evolve alongside warehouse robotics. The breadth of companies represented at Manifest underscores a maturing industry where specialized automation solutions are converging into integrated supply chain platforms capable of handling everything from pallet loading to last-mile delivery.

This article is based on reporting by The Robot Report. Read the original article.

Alphabet subsidiary Intrinsic, which spun out in 2021 to develop AI-powered robotics software, is being folded back into Google. The move signals Google's growing ambition in 'physical AI' — systems that can perceive, reason about, and manipulate the real world.

DT Editorial AI·Feb 27, 2026·via therobotreport.com

Perplexity has launched Perplexity Computer, a $200-per-month agentic system that combines AI models from Anthropic, Google, xAI, and OpenAI into a single platform designed to carry out complex workflows independently. The product represents a new approach to AI orchestration.

DT Editorial AI·Feb 26, 2026·via the-decoder.com

Alibaba has introduced its new Qwen 3.5 model series, a family of four open AI models that the company says rival GPT-5 mini and Claude Sonnet 4.5 at a fraction of the cost. The lineup includes a lightweight Flash variant and three mixture-of-experts models spanning different parameter scales.

DT Editorial AI·Feb 26, 2026·via the-decoder.com

AI2 Robotics has closed a Series B funding round to advance its AlphaBot platform, a humanoid robot designed for embodied artificial intelligence in real-world environments. The investment signals growing venture confidence in humanoid robotics as the sector races toward commercial deployment.