I usually start these updates by saying that robotics made huge progress this week.

But.

Today I have to give the spotlight to something else. Something so important that our grandchildren will probably learn about it in school one day.

And no, I’m not talking about AI.

I’m talking about Artemis II.

People from my generation grew up learning how, in 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the surface of the Moon. And now, after more than 50 years, humans are finally back in that neighborhood.

Technology has moved forward, which is why we are now getting incredible images from deep space. And yes, one funny detail in all this is that some of those images were taken not with some futuristic camera from 2030, but with a very respectable old workhorse: the Nikon D5.

The results are below:

Alright, space history moment over. Let’s come back down to Earth.

Because here too, a lot has been happening. And robotics keeps moving forward on many fronts.

Generalist introduced GEN-1, its new general-purpose model for physical AI, and the company is making a pretty bold claim. It says GEN-1 pushes average success rates on simple physical tasks from 64% to 99%, completes tasks about three times faster than previous state-of-the-art systems, and needs only one hour of robot data for each of those results.

Whether those numbers fully hold up at scale is something the market will verify over time. But the direction is clear. More and more, robotics is becoming a race not only in hardware, but also in intelligence. The machine still matters, of course. But the quality of the model behind it matters more and more too.

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That brings us to Maximo.

Maximo announced that its robots have now helped install 100 megawatts of utility-scale solar capacity at AES’ Bellefield project in California.

And this is where robotics gets interesting in the most practical way.

Not because it looks futuristic, but because it solves a real problem. Solar installation is repetitive, physical, and large-scale. If robots can help teams work faster and more efficiently there, that matters. Not as a concept. As output.

This is not really a story about robots entering a new world. That part is already normal. The more important story is that systems like this are becoming capable enough to deliver results in environments where speed, labor, and economics all matter at the same time.

The PAL Robotics video with TIAGo Pro is a good reminder that not every useful robotic system has to be fully autonomous.

Sometimes the most important step forward is not removing the human from the loop, but building a better loop in the first place.

That is what makes teleoperation and shared control so interesting. A robot can become a physical extension of human decision-making instead of trying to replace it completely. And in many cases, that is probably the more realistic path. Not one perfect autonomous machine, but better cooperation between human judgment and robotic capability.

ABB showed how one of its robots helped Serendix and JR West build Japan’s first 3D-printed railway station.

And again, the interesting part is not that robotics appeared outside a factory. That is no longer unusual. The interesting part is that robotic systems are becoming useful in places where time, logistics, and disruption matter just as much as precision.

A station assembled in one night says a lot. It says robotics is not only about repeatability anymore. It is also about flexibility, deployment, and fitting into real projects with real constraints.

That is what makes this story strong. Not the headline alone, but the fact that robotics is becoming a more natural part of infrastructure work.

Tennibot launched Partner V2, its latest robotic tennis ball machine.

This one is lighter, of course, but it still fits the same bigger picture.

Robotics in consumer products, personal tools, and everyday activities is not some crazy surprise anymore. That shift already happened. What matters now is that these systems keep improving, getting smaller, more polished, and more useful.

So even a tennis robot tells us something real about the market. Robotics is not trying to prove it belongs outside industry. It already does. Now it is simply becoming better in all those places.

And that is it for this week.

So yes, robotics is moving fast here on Earth. Quietly in some places, more visibly in others, but definitely forward.

But after everything we saw this week, I still have one important question left.

If Artemis II is already making space feel close again, then maybe by the time we get to Artemis IV, we finally get what we all really want.

Not just astronauts.

Not just moon missions.

But their own TARS.

And honestly, if that happens, I just hope he keeps the sarcasm setting exactly where it should be.

Thanks for being here.

See you in the next one.

Cheers, Jacek