📬 Remix Reality Weekly: Are Robots Too Human?

Your free Friday drop of spatial computing updates—plus what Remix Reality Insiders unlocked this week.

🛰️ The Signal

This week’s defining shift.

Robots are learning to use their hands.

Robotics is advancing toward true dexterity. Companies are developing systems that can handle complex, real-world tasks with precision and adaptability. New physical AI models are learning from real data instead of simulation, allowing robots to manipulate objects, recover from errors, and adjust to changing conditions on their own.

👉 Get access to the full insight in this week’s Insider drop.

📡 Weekly Radar

Your weekly scan across the spatial computing stack.

🩺 Sovato Raises $41M Series B to Expand Remote Robotic Surgery Platform

• The Series B funding will support Sovato’s system-agnostic platform, enabling remote robotic surgeries and procedures.

🏭 Hyundai, NVIDIA Partner on $3B AI Factory for Mobility and Robotics

• The $3 billion investment is a joint effort with the Korean government to build AI centers, infrastructure, and workforce programs for physical AI.

🚗 Waymo Expands Autonomous Ride-Hailing to Three U.S. Cities

• Waymo will launch its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in San Diego, Detroit, and Las Vegas in 2026.

💍 Sandbar Launches Stream, a Voice-Driven AI Ring for Thinking Out Loud

• Stream is a $249 smart ring and AI app that turns speech into notes, outlines, and structured thoughts.

🏍️ TVS Motor Debuts AR Helmet with Aegis Rider at EICMA 2025

• TVS Motor Company introduced an AR Heads-Up Display helmet in collaboration with Swiss startup Aegis Rider.

🏒 Sense Arena and NHLPA Bring Real NHL Players to Virtual Hockey Training

• NHL Sense Arena ’26 introduces virtual training with NHL stars and full-season gameplay using Meta Quest headsets.

🧓 Rendever Gets $4.5M NIH Grant to Bring Social VR to Older Adults at Home

• Rendever received nearly $4.5 million from NIH to expand its VR programs for older adults and caregivers aging at home.

👨‍💻 Trace Opens AR Creation Platform to Public With No-Code Tools

• Trace is now available on iOS, offering free AR scene creation with premium upgrades for publishing and commercial licenses.

👷‍♀️ Bentley Systems and EARTHBRAIN Partner to Link Construction Workflows with Digital Twins

• EARTHBRAIN will add Bentley’s digital twin software to its Smart Construction platform for linked workflows across job sites.

🧠 Intrinsic Introduces Vision Model That Sets New Benchmarks in Robotic Perception

• Intrinsic introduced the Intrinsic Vision Model, a new system that helps robots handle real-world factory conditions with greater precision.

🦿 Wandercraft’s Exoskeleton Gets FDA OK for Wider Use in Rehab

• Wandercraft’s Atalante X is now cleared for spinal cord injuries from C4 to L5 and multiple sclerosis.

🌀 Tom's Take

Unfiltered POV from the editor-in-chief.

There’s a growing obsession with making robots look human. It reminds me of how the XR industry is fixated on building smartglasses that look exactly like regular eyeglasses. The long-term vision matters, but it can make us overlook what’s already working.

In XR, bulky headsets aren’t the end goal, but they are solving real problems in training, design, and collaboration today. The same is true in robotics. Semi-humanoid and task-specific machines are quietly doing useful work, yet they often get overlooked for not fitting the sci-fi ideal.

This week, Xpeng’s humanoid robot drew headlines for looking almost human, so much so, in fact, that the company’s founder even unzipped the robot's suit on stage to prove it wasn’t a person inside. It was a flashy and viral-inducing presentation, but it showed how much attention still goes to form over function.

Chasing the human form isn’t wrong, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of progress. The robots moving materials, delivering packages, or assisting in hospitals are already proving their worth. Like headsets in spatial computing, they’re the stepping stones that make the future possible.

Now is the time to focus on function over form and to value the spatial devices that can excel at tasks using a form factor that is best suited to achieve that. When we rush too fast toward a distant ideal, we risk missing the real progress happening right in front of us.

🔒 What Insiders Got This Week

This week’s Insider drop included:

• 🧠 Reality Decoded: A deep dive into China's low-altitude economy, which is expected to reach about $489 billion by 2035.
• 🔮 What’s Next: Spatial tech delivers health gains; robotaxis go global; and driverless systems expand across the U.S.

👉 Unlock the full drop → Upgrade to Insider

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