Robot & Company Reviews
One machine, one vendor, one honest verdict: real prices, real runtimes, and the limitations the demo reel leaves out.
- 01
Unitree G1 Review: The Cheap Humanoid's Expensive Catch
Why the entry-price G1 cannot be programmed, why Basic can never become EDU, the real two-hour runtime, and the unpatched wormable BLE exploit.
- 02
Boston Dynamics Spot Review: The Price Everyone Quotes Is Wrong
Spot's launch price is years stale and it is quote-only now. What configured units really cost, the annual subscription nobody budgets, and the 90-minute reality.
- 03
Unitree Go2 Review: Which Tier Actually Does What You Want
Four Go2 tiers, and only the top one gives SDK and ROS 2. Real runtimes, what Air gives up, and two separate security problems worth isolating the robot for.
- 04
Universal Robots Review: The Lineup Is Two Ladders, Not One
Why UR model numbers do not rank cleanly, what the rated payload actually has to cover, and why the arm is roughly half of what the project costs.
- 05
Franka Research 3 Review: The Lab Default, and Its Corporate Asterisk
Why the FR3's 1 kHz torque interface made it the research default, why 3 kg rules out production, and the insolvency and patent dispute behind the brand.
- 06
Tesla Optimus Review: The Scorecard, Not the Demo Reel
What Optimus has actually shipped against its own targets, which demos were teleoperated, and the line from Tesla's own earnings call that settles the question.
- 07
Figure 03 Review: The Only Humanoid With a Repeat Customer
Figure 02 helped build 30,000+ X3s over ten months, so BMW ran it again. What the primary sources actually confirm, and what only analysts claim.
- 08
Agility Robotics Digit Review: The Order Book Is One Contract for a Robot That Has Not Shipped
Agility's SEC filings say what its website does not: Digit v4 is confined to a workcell, and the headline order book is one milestone-contingent contract for an unshipped robot.
- 09
ANYbotics ANYmal X Review: The Only Ex-Certified Quadruped, and the FCC Rule That Now Sits On Top of It
ANYmal X is the only ATEX/IECEx Zone 1 legged robot, and the FCC Covered List update of 28 July 2026 now blocks new foreign robots from US authorization.
- 10
DJI Matrice Review: The Enterprise Line an FCC Proposal Would Call Military-Grade
An FCC proposal would treat thermal sensors, LiDAR and docking stations as military-grade, covering most of the Matrice enterprise line.
- 11
Skydio X10 Review: The Failure Rate Skydio Publishes Where Nobody Looks
Skydio's own support portal carries an open flight-control failure with a published per-flight rate. The marketing page does not mention it.
- 12
KUKA LBR iiwa Review: The Cobot KUKA Stopped Modernising
The LBR iiwa stays on Sunrise.OS while KUKA moves its other lines to iiQKA, and KUKA publishes almost no performance data for it.
- 13
NVIDIA Jetson Thor Review: 130W Rated, 330W Transient
Jetson Thor's rated power envelope and its 7.5x compute claim both read differently once you check NVIDIA's own spec pages and developer forums.
- 14
Roborock Saros 20 Review: Strong Cleaning, a Bounded Support Horizon
The Saros 20 cleans very well. The FCC's July 2026 Covered List addition and Roborock's own support policy both bound how long it stays patchable.
- 15
Symbotic Review: One Customer, and a Restatement Worth Reading
Symbotic files with the SEC, so its concentration and its 2024 restatement are public. What the filings say that the marketing does not.
- 16
Zebra and Fetch Robotics: The Acquirer That Walked Away
Zebra bought Fetch Robotics in 2021 and announced its exit from robotics in Q4 2025. The impairments are itemised in its own 10-K.
