Influencers, channels & podcasts

Mass-produced humanoids and the open AgiBot World dataset; one of the most important Chinese players.

The industrial/warehouse humanoid “Digit” with real deployments (e.g. GXO) and mass production (“RoboFab”).

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Viral benchmarks in robot mobility — demos of the (now electric) Atlas and Spot. A must-follow for hardware and locomotion progress.

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The home humanoid “NEO”; focus on home use, safety and soft actuation.

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General-purpose humanoids (Figure 02/03) with the in-house Helix VLA model; closely watched logistics endurance runs.

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Tesla Optimus (Tesla Bot): Gen-2 reveal, autonomous sorting, learning from video.

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ℹ️ Runs via the main Tesla channel; some demos were demonstrably sped up — read critically.

Industrial humanoids Walker S1/S2 (factory training, parcel handling) and the consumer Walker C1.

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Affordable humanoids (G1/H1) and quadrupeds; known for backflip/kung-fu demos and the H1’s Spring Festival Gala appearance.

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Narrative tech documentaries with recurring robotics/AI themes — good for overviews and historical context.

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German-language channel on robotics, AI and automation with trade-show highlights and practical know-how (more industrial-robotics focused).

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A robotics engineer known for deep technical analyses of Optimus, Figure & co. (actuators, hands, leg mechanics).

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ℹ️ No own channel — appears mainly as an expert guest (the linked video is a guest appearance).

Maker/hands-on perspective; in-depth visits to Boston Dynamics and long-term tests. Accessible and practical.

Short, accessible breakdowns of new AI/ML/embodied-AI research — ideal for understanding the learning behind the robots.

Serious engineering coverage; the “Video Friday” column curates the week’s key robotics videos. High trust for neutral context.

Industry news, analysis and Robotics Summit content — strong industrial and humanoid focus.

First-hand updates on Figure, often high-reach.

ℹ️ Manufacturer perspective (Figure) — read as an interested source.

Fast Tesla/Optimus news and videos with very high reach.

ℹ️ Note the pro-Tesla bias.

One of the most influential humanoid-only accounts: viral threads on hardware, VLA models and market dynamics.

Open interviews with CEOs and researchers on robotics and automation; covers humanoids directly (e.g. Agility Robotics).

IEEE Spectrum’s robotics podcast: two experts interview each other — on everyday robots and motion/design questions. Short format.

A solid German public-radio AI podcast with episodes on humanoid robots (e.g. Neura Robotics) and the US/China race.

An academic podcast on anthropomatics and robotics at KIT — directly on humanoid robotics from a leading German research institution.

ℹ️ Older/archived teaching podcast — not actively updated.

One of the oldest robotics podcasts (since 2006): interviews with researchers, founders and VCs — technically grounded yet broadly accessible.

Deep interviews with leading minds in AI robotics and robot learning, hosted by Pieter Abbeel.

ℹ️ Use Acast/YouTube — the old .ai domain is no longer valid.

Long-form interviews; key humanoid episodes with Marc Raibert, Sergey Levine and Elon Musk (Optimus). Linked video: the Marc Raibert episode.

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Weekly industry/news podcast covering humanoids (Figure, Agility, Tesla Optimus) plus safety and industrial topics.

A leading ML/AI interview podcast; covers embodied AI, robot vision and robot learning — relevant to the foundation-model side of robotics.