Most Read: Air Taxi Company Closes $220M Financing Deal; $1.5B Raised, Boston Dynamics Humanoid Robot Does Pushups

Here are the most-read stories on IoT World Today this week.

Air Taxi Company Closes $220M Financing Deal; $1.5B Raised

Air taxi company Archer Aviation has closed on a $220 capital investment bringing total funding to more than $1.5B.

Investors included United Airlines and Archer’s industrial partner Stellantis, two major backers of Archer.

The new funding is expected to provide Archer with the ability to access up to an additional $400 million in capital in exchange for equity at future stock prices.

United Airlines made a pre-delivery payment for 100 Archer electric aerial vehicles (EAV) in 2022.

Discover the company's plans >>>

Boston Dynamics Humanoid Robot Does Pushups in New Video

Boston Dynamics' electric version of its humanoid robot Atlas got a workout, now shown in a new video of it doing pushups.

Nicknamed ‘BRATlas” after learning the new moves, the fully electric Atlas robot has advanced control algorithms that enable the robot to plan complex full-body movements while considering its surroundings. 

These algorithms also enhance the robot's ability to connect perception with control, enabling Atlas to quickly adapt to changing environments in real time.

Boston Dynamics surprised customers by launching a new, electric version of its humanoid robot Atlas the day after retiring the hydraulic model back in April.

Watch the robot workout >>>

Uber to Offer Cruise Self-Driving Taxis in 2025

Cruise self-driving taxis will be available on Uber starting next year following the confirmation of a strategic partnership between the pair.

The multi-year agreement states that autonomous Chevrolet Bolts from the General Motors subsidiary are to be offered on the ride-hailing platform, although it is not yet clear when in 2025 they will become available.

In the short term, Cruise’s immediate focus is to fully relaunch its own operations after a challenging 12 months.

Once up and running, the Uber service would work along familiar lines. When an Uber customer requests a ride, they could be presented with the option to have the trip fulfilled by a Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV).

Find out more about the plan >>>

Humanoid Robot Tackles Warehouse Tasks in New Video

Robotics manufacturer LimX Dynamics recently unveiled the latest updates to its humanoid robot, CL-1, with a video showing it moving heavy objects around a simulated warehouse.

The three-minute, one-take video demonstrates upgrades to the robot’s hardware, which improve “real-time perceptive loco-manipulation and whole-body control.” With the upgrades, CL-1 is able to continuously lift, carry and load heavy objects onto shelves — challenges it would confront in warehouse work, one of the use-cases most frequently cited as ripe for humanoid employment.

Specifically, CL-1 is shown in multiple postures, including a loaded deep squat, loaded stand from a squat, loaded lift and loaded walking. The robot picks up and carries bins of juice weighing up to 18 pounds from tables and places them on upper and lower shelves. In one part of the video, a man moves a bin the robot was planning to pick up, the robot notes the disruption and autonomously replans and completes the task.

See CL-1 in action >>>

Air Taxi Company Demonstrates Autonomous Flying for Air Force

Flying taxi company Joby Aviation demonstrated autonomous logistic flying operations at the U.S. Air Force Agile 24-3 exercise.

For the exercise, Joby operated a fully autonomous Cessna 208B Grand Caravan plane for nearly 4,000 miles of flight between military bases across California and Nevada.

The Joby team included the autonomy division of Xwing, which Joby acquired earlier this year.

In what was described as a dynamic operational environment, the self-flying Cessna moved among nine different locations to restore the operational readiness for various Air Force assets.

Read more about the test flight >>>