Capital, Clout, and Cheap Training: Where the Robots are Stacking Up

Tools

LeRobot Now Runs Fine-Tuning on a Free GPU

Hugging Face's LeRobot has optimized SO-100 fine-tuning so it now runs on a free T4 GPU. This is a major accessibility win for builders looking to customize open-source models without a big hardware budget. It lowers the barrier to entry for custom manipulation skills.

News

Figure Closes $1B Series C at $39.5B Valuation

Figure AI closed a massive Series C, raising the valuation to $39.5 billion. This is a huge signal that capital is continuing to bet aggressively on full-stack humanoid systems. It pushes the consolidation window and leaves smaller players scrambling for niche pockets.

Unitree Releases Heavy-Duty Drone With 66lb Payload

Unitree's new heavylift drone can carry 66 lbs while still maintaining basic obstacle avoidance via stereo vision, LiDAR, and AI. For builders working in logistics or industrial inspection, this blurs the line between consumer hardware and heavy industrial payloads.