Robotics

Today's Stories

1. 1

   J&J Q2 Sales Rise 5.6%; Unveils AI Imaging and Robotic Surgery Platforms

   Johnson & Johnson reported second-quarter 2026 worldwide sales of $25.3 billion（約4兆円）, up 5.6% operationally, with adjusted net earnings rising 5.7% to $7.1 billion（約1.1兆円）. The company introduced several connected MedTech platforms: CARTOSOUND SONATA (AI-powered cardiac imaging), THERMOCOOL SMARTTOUCH SF (dual-energy ablation system with FDA authorization), OTTAVA (table-integrated robotic surgery system), and announced plans for MONARCH for Urology. Johnson & Johnson is building an integrated ecosystem linking medical devices, software, and clinical data to strengthen digital capabilities and clinical efficiency across its portfolio. CEO Joaquin Duato described OTTAVA as "one of the most significant MedTech innovations we will bring to market this decade," signaling the company's commitment to become a major participant in surgical robotics—a competitive area where differentiation through connected platforms and data-driven insights can support sustained growth.

   Management expects CARTOSOUND SONATA adoption to continue in the United States during the second half of 2026 as it responds to competitive pressure in pulsed field ablation. The company believes OTTAVA and MONARCH could contribute meaningfully to MedTech growth by the end of the decade. An investigational erdafitinib device for bladder cancer, designed to deliver medicine over three months (compared with INLEXZO's three-week delivery), is also under development and could extend the device-enabled approach to oncology care.

2. 2

   NVIDIA expands Toyota AI partnership into factories, smart cities, robotics

   NVIDIA will supply AI technology to Toyota for smart cities, traffic intelligence systems, and vehicle manufacturing factories, extending a partnership that started with autonomous-driving work in 2017. Toyota will deploy NVIDIA's Omniverse platform to create digital twins of assembly lines, use the Isaac robotics platform and Nemotron large language models for software development, and test AI systems in Woven City, an experimental community in Shizuoka Prefecture. The deal signals NVIDIA's shift from data-center focus toward embedding AI directly into physical infrastructure—vehicles, robots, factories, and cities. For Toyota, the partnership offers tools to modernize production, test new technologies in a real-world setting, and accelerate automotive software development, potentially improving manufacturing efficiency.

   The collaboration builds on Toyota's prior commitments to NVIDIA's Drive PX platform (selected in 2017 for autonomous-driving tests) and Drive AGX Orin platform (adopted last year for commercial vehicle fleets). Woven City serves as the live testbed where Toyota will evaluate smart-city and mobility systems.

3. 3

   Google delays Gemini 3.5 Pro launch by months as coding skills fall short

   Alphabet's Google is months behind schedule delivering Gemini 3.5 Pro, its flagship AI model, after attempts to improve its coding capabilities disappointed the company. Late last month, Google updated the training data for Gemini to strengthen these skills, but results were disappointing according to people familiar with the matter. The delay frustrates Google engineers and researchers who fear the company is losing ground to rivals Anthropic and OpenAI, whose recent models outpace Google's current offerings in AI for writing code. Google's complex internal structure — multiple stakeholder layers preparing models across a vast product portfolio including search, maps, and YouTube — makes it difficult to coordinate releases and maintain competitive pace.

   Google is currently testing Gemini 3.5 Pro and an upgraded Flash model with partners, while in talks with the US government about model capabilities and industry safety standards. The company has not announced a new delivery date.

4. 4

   Matternet Partners with Beeline UAS for Bay Area, LA Drone Delivery

   Matternet, holder of the FAA Type Certificate for drone delivery aircraft, announced on July 15, 2026, an operational partnership with Beeline UAS. Beeline will operate Matternet's platform under its FAA Part 135 air carrier certificate, joining Ameriflight and UPS Flight Forward in Matternet's network of Part 135 operators. Matternet is expanding its multi-operator model to scale commercial drone delivery across new U.S. markets. The partnership targets the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, where autonomous delivery can move time-sensitive goods faster and more cost-efficiently in regions with heavy traffic congestion and high labor costs. Beeline will support delivery-as-a-service agreements with food, retail, and healthcare customers.

   The partnership initially focuses on beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Matternet reports more than 60,000 commercial flights across dense urban and suburban environments in the U.S. and Europe to date.

5. 5

   TerraFirma raises $115M for robotic construction equipment

   Construction startup TerraFirma closed a Series A funding round of $115 million（約180億円）, led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, and others. The Austin, Texas-based company, founded in 2024 by former SpaceX engineers Noah Schochet and Noah McGuinness, builds semi-autonomous heavy machinery and AI-enabled software to automate earthworks and site operations. U.S. construction labor productivity has declined 0.6% annually since 1965, while the broader economy grew at 1.6% per year—a gap that has cost roughly $1 trillion（約160兆円） every five years, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce and Goldman Sachs. TerraFirma's system can make each operator up to 300% more effective by allowing skilled operators to orchestrate entire fleets of retrofitted excavators, dozers, and loaders from remote command centers, potentially accelerating project execution and reducing costs.

   TerraFirma is executing commercial projects in Texas (including site prep for a Starbucks in North Austin, a sports arena in Spicewood, and a power substation in New Braunfels) and working with the U.S. government on mission-critical international infrastructure projects. The company also plans to eventually apply its construction technology to space-based infrastructure on the Moon and Mars.

6. 6

   Micron sees memory demand as 'early innings' as market heads toward $1 trillion（約160兆円）

   Micron Technology's CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told investors that the memory chip market is only in the early stages of AI-driven growth, pointing to expanding demand beyond data centers—particularly from robotics, humanoids, and autonomous vehicles that will require substantial memory for their AI systems. The memory market is forecast to reach more than $1 trillion（約160兆円） by 2027, up from over $800 billion（約130兆円） this year, with AI semiconductor memory processors expected to account for nearly 30% of a $1.5 trillion（約240兆円）–$1.8 trillion（約290兆円） AI semiconductor market by 2030. Unlike past boom-and-bust cycles in memory chips, this expansion appears structural rather than cyclical, offering long-term revenue visibility for suppliers like Micron.

   Micron's sales surged 45% in fiscal Q3 2026 to nearly $41.5 billion（約6.6兆円）, and adjusted earnings jumped more than 1,300% year over year to $24.67 per share. The stock trades at a P/E ratio of 23, below the tech sector average of 37, and has risen 687% over the past year.