The 139th edition of the Canton Fair concluded on May 5 with a record level of overseas buyer participation, reflecting continued international demand for Chinese manufacturing and export products, prominently including robots.  According to the China Foreign Trade Centre, the 15-day exhibition attracted more than 314,000 overseas buyers from 220 countries and regions, representing the highest international attendance recorded in the fair’s history.

HD Hyundai Robotics has secured an order from Chouest Group Shipyards for its ArcLift GO robotic welding solution, marking the company’s first robotic solution project for the U.S. shipbuilding industry. Under the contract, the HD Hyundai robot manufacturing and solutions subsidiary will supply robotic welding systems to three Chouest Group shipyards in North America, including Louisiana, and one shipyard in Brazil. The project was coordinated through HD Hyundai Robotics USA, based in Duluth, Georgia.

The race to put humanoid robots to work is accelerating fast. Venture capital poured $40.7 billion into robotics in 2025 alone , more than triple 2023 levels , and governments from Washington to Beijing are treating embodied AI as a matter of national priority. China has committed a staggering $138 billion state fund to AI and robotics. Pilots are running in factories and warehouses. Foundation models are being trained on real-world data.

Palladyne AI Corp. reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $3.5 million, up 107% from $1.7 million in the same period a year earlier, as the company expanded its defense artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and robotics activities during its first full quarter operating as a vertically integrated defense and industrial AI business.

Klippa, the Dutch specialist in intelligent document processing, recently announced that it will continue under the Doxis name. Rocking Robots spoke with Chief AI Officer Yeelen Knegtering about the background to the acquisition, Doxis’ strategy and the value of AI agents.

Johnson & Johnson has reported the first clinical study results for its OTTAVA Robotic Surgical System, a soft-tissue surgical robot tested in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedures for patients with obesity. The results represent a step in the company’s regulatory pathway, but they do not mean the system is commercially available. OTTAVA is currently not authorized for sale in any market.

China has launched its 15th Five-Year Plan by placing robotics at the heart of its modern industrial system. The aim is to pivot its AI research towards physical applications with robots as main drivers for economic growth. This is a next step in the country´s strong automation development: China´s manufacturing industry already has an operational stock of around 2 million units — approximately 4.5 times more than the global no. 2, Japan. 54% of annual industrial robots installed worldwide were deployed in China. This is according to the World Robotics 2025 Report, presented by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

Companies implementing autonomous business technologies are reducing headcount at high rates, but those cuts are not translating into stronger financial returns, according to research from Gartner. The research found that about 80% of organisations piloting or deploying autonomous business capabilities reported workforce reductions. However, the rate of layoffs was nearly the same among companies reporting strong returns on investment from autonomous technologies and those reporting limited or negative outcomes.

Production of drones and autonomous robots could increase sharply by the late 2030s, creating new demand for some raw materials used in motors, batteries, electronics and structural components, according to researchers writing in the Cell Press journal Chem Circularity.

Petrel Technologies has demonstrated an airborne launch method for first-person-view strike drones using its AERO Sky hybrid vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aircraft during a U.S. Army live-fire exercise. The test involved the release of multiple armed FPV drones from the AERO Sky aircraft during training with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Polk. The demonstration showed how a larger unmanned aircraft can carry smaller drones closer to an engagement area before release, allowing ground operators to remain farther from the front line.