The Year AI Science and the Physical AI Industry Came Alive
Google Gemini Robotics 2, Unitree and AgiBot IPOs, Robot and optical transceiver bans, the compute cost problem, Negative FCF dilemma, mounting debt, circular revenue.
I’m coming to the realization that Physical AI, embodied AI and robotics is going to become a big deal. It’s going to be part of the Silicon Valley playbook to prolong the AI bubble. Four major humanoid robotics companies, two in China, one in the U.S. and one in South Korea, are going IPO. European robotics startups reportedly raised more capital in the first six months of this year than in the past two years combined, according to Sifted, which is a bit like the TechCrunch of Europe. What this implies is we are entering a new era of automation and robotics.
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Yesterday we learned that Google’s AI leadership is changing forever. Google DeepMind’s roles are changing. Jeff Dean, the longtime chief scientist, is leaving after 27 years to start his own company called Discovery Loop. Leveraging AI for science is now in vogue, and capital does not appear to be a limit in how we achieve the future.
While AI hasn’t yet transformed science and humanoid robots are not functional in society yet, Demis Hassabis is leaving his role as CEO of Google DeepMind to be the unit's Chairman. New roles: Chair of Google DeepMind & Chief Scientist of Alphabet. What’s caught my attention this summer perhaps the most is all the Physical AI seed rounds, new companies and new deals with so much more capital. There’s a robotics blitz coming, just as compute will get much more expensive.
Google Gemini Robotics 2
GR 2 is Google’s most advanced VLA model: capable of intelligently controlling any type of robot, from bi-arms to full humanoids. This is their intelligence layer, Google claims, is powering the next generation of truly adaptable robots. As it takes its first literal steps, this major advance unlocks intelligent whole-body control, advanced dexterity, and multi-robot collaboration. Think of this as a Multi-modal layer for the future of robotics, where this 2.0 ecosystem combines visual perception, spatial reasoning, and real-time motor control across an entire physical frame under a single model suite.
The AI and software brains of robotics is going to have to get much better in the next five years to bring this world of autonomy online, and it will. In autonomous vehicles the next decade is also pivotal with Waymo, Uber, Baidu, Wayve and others set to evolve fast. We will need strong world Models and specialized LLMs for Physical AI that don’t yet exist for humanoids to reach general purpose utility and GR 2 is a bold step in that direction.
Unitree Goes IPO
Chinese robot maker Unitree Technology is expected to be valued at more than 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) after its planned Shanghai IPO and it marks a time where China is first to market and has a dominant marketshare in robotics with a significant cost advantage. On July 28th, The Trump administration under the FCC, announced a ban on future foreign made robots. For reference, two of China’s leaders are going IPO. Meanwhile Chinese companies Agibot, Unitree and UBTech accounted for the top-three humanoid companies by installation market share last year, according to Counterpoint. Tesla’s Optimus ranked fifth. The IPOs, SPACs (Agility) and Bans means robots are about to hit the prime time.
