Not Boring Weekly: Physical AI and Embodied Intelligence Breakthroughs
Not Boring (Packy McCormick) · rss · 2026-07-31
This week's Not Boring newsletter focuses on 'Physical AI', rounding up major advancements in robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles.
- Enigma Robotics: Raised a $71M seed round and opened 100+ real robotic arms for public online control, exploring a new paradigm for collecting training data via human-robot interaction.
- Gemini Robotics 2: Google DeepMind released its next-gen robotics model family covering whole-body movement, embodied reasoning, and on-device deployment. It can control Apptronik's Apollo humanoid for walking and grasping.
- DoorDash Air: Earned FAA Part 135 certification to launch its in-house drone delivery program, aiming to commoditize delivery capacity.
- Zoox Robotaxis: Won the first US approval for commercial deployment of steering-wheel-free robotaxis, marking a milestone for purpose-built autonomous vehicles.
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