3D Printed Chocolate Hits CES, Europe Goes All-in on Humanoids
Join us at the SF Urban Autonomy Summit - Jan. 28
2026 wrapped up with some huge industry developments — including Ottomate’s exclusive interview with Imagry CEO Eran Ofir and our look at Autec’s sushi robots. January is shaping up to be even bigger, with huge announcements at CES (including a few we cover below) and our own upcoming event: the San Francisco Urban Autonomy Summit.
Delivery Robotics, Drones & AVs
Startship Technologies launched a new pilot project with Foodora, bringing automated restaurant and grocery deliveries to Prague. The service will start with three robots in Prague 8, serving a 2 km radius around McDonald’s Karlín.
Serve Robotics expands its sidewalk bot delivery service to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in partnership with Uber Eats.
Amazon’s aerial drone project faced yet another setback, with the FAA investigating a recent drone crash taking down local internet service in central Texas.
DHL teamed up with Infineon Technologies and Zelostech to launch Singapore’s first supply chain-focused AV.
Humanoids
The highly competitive humanoid space saw a new contender enter the arena: meet Paris-based UMA, focused on general-purpose robotics.
British startup Humanoid unveiled the bipedal version of its HMND 01 Alpha, developed in only 5 months and able to walk “within 48 hours of assembly.”
China’s Agibot delivered its 5,000th humanoid. The company, founded by ex-Huawei engineers, has four models in its lineup.
Back of House Automation
Kroger closes three Ocado-powered automated grocery fulfillment centers, resulting in $350 million in one-time expenses.
Chef Robotics released Chef+, with doubled ingredient capacity, reduced footprint, improved reliability, increased food safety and more.
Farm & Sourcing Automation
Bushel Plus formed a strategic partnership with John Deere to make the Bushel Plus SmartPan system available through Deere’s U.S. and Canada dealer network. By physically collecting and calculating bushels-per-acre losses, the SmartPan System provides farmers with verification to calibrate and validate their automation.
Industry Trends
Trump Administration looks to create national robotics strategy to compete with China.
Kiosks & Self-Checkout
Sweet Robo revealed ChocoPrint, its first-ever 3D chocolate printer, at CES 2026.
In Other News
Olo integrates Zipline drone deliveries into its ordering platform. Mercado Libre adds Agility Robotics’ Digit humanoid to its facility in Texas. Serve Robotics builds 2,000th robot. Harper’s goes deep into humanoids and hype. Former Apple engineers raised $107M for Lyte, to improve robotic perception.