Research
The data, no smoke
Data-backed research on robotics: how much autonomy is real, how many demos are staged, and what actually drives the machines.
Here’s where I bring the numbers. No headlines, no smoke, just what we could measure.
Reality & verification · July 7, 2026
The most famous robot demos that weren’t what they seemed
Many famous robot demos are real as hardware but not as autonomy: in 2021 Tesla introduced its robot with a dancer in a costume, in 2024 the Optimus units at the 'We, Robot' party chatted while guided by remote operators, and in 2025 1X’s home robot Neo did its entire press demo teleoperated by a person. The pattern isn’t lying about the machine: it’s letting the public assume an autonomy that doesn’t exist yet.
Read the report →Logistics & warehouses · July 7, 2026
How much it costs to automate a warehouse with robots in 2026
Automating a warehouse with robots costs from about $20,000-45,000 per mobile robot (AMR) up to $2-6 million for a full automated-storage system: a typical goods-to-person project runs $500,000-2,000,000 and pays back in 18-24 months. With the rental model (RaaS) you can start with no big upfront investment, paying a monthly fee per robot.
Read the report →Logistics & warehouses · July 7, 2026
AMR vs. AGV: the difference and which one your warehouse needs
The difference between an AMR and an AGV is who decides the route: an AGV follows a fixed path marked on the floor (magnetic tape, wire or QR codes) and stops if something blocks it, while an AMR builds its own map with SLAM, computes the route in real time and drives around obstacles. The AGV costs less per unit ($15,000-80,000) and pays back in 6-12 months on fixed, high-volume routes; the AMR ($25,000-150,000) wins in warehouses that change, because it installs in hours and reconfigures with no construction.
Read the report →Reality & verification · July 2, 2026
Teleoperated vs. autonomous: the difference and how to tell them apart
An autonomous robot decides its own actions using its sensors and software; a teleoperated robot is driven by a person at a distance, even if the human never appears on camera. Between the two sits assisted autonomy: the robot works alone almost always and calls a human for the rare cases. The difference isn’t how the machine moves, it’s who makes the decisions in real time.
Read the report →AI in robotics · June 25, 2026
The state of real autonomy in robotics, 2026
Of the robots we analysed in 2026, only a third run genuinely autonomously; the rest rely on teleoperation or scripted demos.
Read the report →How we verify every datapoint: Methodology →