Tag Archives: bot

Hyundai debuts a fully autonomous, production-ready droid engineered to tackle real-world tasks

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Hyundai Motor Group Robotics LAB has been working on wheeled autonomous robots for some years now, with a gradual development timeline. They revealed the vision of a metamobility bot at CES 2022, which would be better than Boston Dynamics’ Spot the dog robot. The idea was just in the concept stage at the time, and coming from the South Korean giant, we knew it would be substantial when it finally arrived.

Finally, they’ve revealed the Mobile Eccentric Droid, a.k.a. MobED, a mobility robot platform tailored for a diverse range of industrial and everyday-use applications. The bot was shown off at the International Robot Exhibition 2025 (iREX 2025) in Tokyo. According to Dong Jin Hyun, Vice President and Head of Hyundai Motor Group Robotics LAB, the new robot will help “accelerate a future where humans and robots coexist.” The most exciting bit, it’ll be up for sale in the first half of 2026.

Designer: Hyundai

MobED thrives on three main pillars, which refresh our approach towards robotics. These are the Adaptive Mobility (hardware), Intuitive Autonomy (software), and Infinite Journey (applications). This makes the production-ready autonomous bot poised to reboot how robots move, navigate, and ultimately perform tasks in any setup, be it in an industrial location, unknown outdoor terrain, or narrow corridors of your home. Thereby making it perfect for a range of tasks, right from delivering your groceries and carrying gear up a mountain to acting as a golf caddy and being used for creative movie direction.

The wheeled workhorse is equipped with Hyundai’s drive-and-life (DnL) modules, which integrate steering, driving, and height adjustment into one portable unit. TI is integrated with adaptive motion technology, which eliminates any constraints that are environment-specific. All these innovations result in precise posture control to adapt to different terrains, performing difficult tasks in any kind of environment, and that too while carrying a heavy load. The modular nature of the platform makes it ultra-versatile and well worth investing in, compared to other robotics solutions that can do only a limited number of tasks owing to their form factor.

For starters, MobED will be offered in two versions: one will be a basic model that has the mobility capabilities of a current-generation bot, while the other comes with full AI autonomy and advanced navigation sensors. The latter is a pro version, and it is equipped with full AI autonomy, upgraded sensors, LiDAR, and a camera system. You’ll get a follow-me mode, so that the bot stays by your side when you are busy doing multiple tasks. Riding on four wheels doesn’t mean it is an autonomous vehicle of sorts, as it can swivel and articulate the wheels. Just like a four-legged personal bot, it can wave by cogging up its wheel. Fit on top a robotic arm, and the bot functions as warehouse personnel.

The robot is as easy to control as an RC car, since it’s equipped with a touchscreen controller. Hyundai’s robotic division has been quite serious about the future of its rolling droid development that’s been going on for quite a few years now, and the MobED Pro is now poised to change the dynamics of the robotics landscape in the near future.

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Memo home robot brews espresso and loads the dishwasher on its own

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We are all getting busier by the day. And simple household chores and repetitive to-dos often slip through the cracks. But what if there were a robot that could work 24/7 to make our lives easier? This has been a long-time dream for most roboticists, yet home robots have not really reached a stage where they can be trusted, until now. However, this stands to change. At least that’s what the first demonstration of the Memo robot by Mountain-View-based Sunday Robotics suggests.

The robot demonstrated how efficiently it can make a cup of espresso, from start to finish, all by itself, while also being able to carry out a few other repetitive tasks, such as uploading crockery to the dishwasher. The household humanoid was quietly introduced to the world on November 19, and since it has been in the news. The personal home robot designed to assist families with some time-consuming household chores uses homebuilt hardware and integrated AI assistance to perform tasks that require deft handling and precise control.

Designer: Sunday Robotics

Standing 1.7 meters tall and weighing 170 lbs, Memo has a white torso and a friendly face. Instead of moving on legs, the robot is designed to move on a wheeled base. That could mean limited mobility, restricted to level surfaces, but Memo has a telescoping spine allowing the robot to reach up to 2.1 meters to handle tasks like reaching overhead cabinets with ease. The battery-powered robot boasts four hours of runtime, and it takes about an hour to fully charge.

While the capabilities are unlimited, it’s Memo’s demonstrated skill to make a cup of espresso that has really won hearts. In the demonstration, the robot responds to a request for an espresso by using its hands to deftly operate the espresso machine. It is seen filling the portafilter with coffee grounds and then tamping it perfectly before installing it back into the machine to brew a cup by pressing the button. The robot then places a cup in the designated slot to collect the brewed cup of espresso and serve it to the person who asked for it.

Making a cup of espresso might not seem all that spectacular, but Sunday assures Memo is learning to do a range of other chores, such as clearing the table and loading the dishwasher. Besides, it should also be able to fold laundry or sort your shoes for you. “We want to build robots that free people from laundry, from the dishes, from all chores,” cofounder and CEO of Sunday Robotics, Tony Zhao told Wired. Of course, the prospects look nice, but how would the Memo perform in real-life settings: in households with kids and pets, and other messy routines remains to be seen.

The robot’s dexterity, Sunday informs, is based on the company’s training model. It allows Memo to learn directly from real-world domestic behavior and not the industrial simulations in closed lab environments. A reason we are personally resting our stake on Memo to redefine the use of home robots. For this, Memo collects daily household data from more than 500 households, using a Skill Capture Glove. This is a $400 “wearable device that records how people move, clean, sort, and organize objects.” The data accumulated from the glove is provided to an AI model, which then uses it to control the robot’s actions like a human.

Sunday Robotics has started accepting applications for Memo’s beta testing. If you’re interested, you will have to be in the fifty households that will be early adopters to beta test it next year. The idea is to check how the robot performs and to also gauge how people respond to having a robot at home.

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