The Bot Brief - The One and Only Robo Issue You Need!

Stay updated with all developments of the Robot World

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What's Up in AI
September 18, 2025

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Hi there, Bot Spotter! 🤖

Welcome to another issue of the Bot Brief, where we tell you everything that happened in the Robotics & Humanoid world, so you’re updated and aware of what’s happening!

🤖 The wildest drops in the Robo World
🎥 Viral, weird, and can’t-miss bot moments
💡 Groundbreaking advances that are shaping the future
🔍 Everything else that you should and need to know

The bots are moving fast. Let’s get to catching up.

How 433 Investors Unlocked 400X Return Potential

Institutional investors back startups to unlock outsized returns. Regular investors have to wait. But not anymore. Thanks to regulatory updates, some companies are doing things differently.

Take Revolut. In 2016, 433 regular people invested an average of $2,730. Today? They got a 400X buyout offer from the company, as Revolut’s valuation increased 89,900% in the same timeframe.

Founded by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso’s co-ownership tech reshapes the $1.3T vacation home market. They’ve earned $110M+ in gross profit to date, including 41% YoY growth in 2024 alone. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

The same institutional investors behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay backed Pacaso. And you can join them. But not for long. Pacaso’s investment opportunity ends September 18.

Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.

🚀 The Bot in Spotlight

It’s not a car. It’s not a ride-share. It’s a robotaxi designed entirely around you. Amazon’s autonomous driving arm, Zoox, just launched its first public robotaxi service in Las Vegas, making history as the first purpose-built, fully autonomous ride with no steering wheel, pedals, or human controls.

Why it matters:

While other companies retrofit regular cars with self-driving tech, Zoox designed its vehicles from scratch—four inward-facing seats, bidirectional travel, and no driver controls at all. It’s a bold step toward a future where cars don’t just drive themselves but are fully reimagined for shared urban mobility. And it’s happening now, free for early riders along the Vegas Strip.

Why it’s our top pick:

 Zoox is playing the long game. Instead of competing on price or speed, they’re focused on building trust through safety and data. This measured rollout strategy makes Zoox stand out in a crowded field of robotaxi players, from Waymo to Tesla, because it prioritizes long-term impact over short-term gains.

Future impact:

With Las Vegas as its first playground and a waitlist forming in San Francisco, Zoox could redefine city transport in the years to come. As federal regulations catch up, expect this to be the start of a massive wave—where hopping into a fully autonomous, driverless vehicle becomes as simple as calling a taxi. The future is coming, and it doesn’t need a driver’s license.

📱 More Robots in the Radar

🏓 Ping Pong… but Make It Robot
Researchers at UC Berkeley created a ping pong-playing robot that’s actually impressive. It kept up a rally for 106 consecutive shots, reacting to fast balls (11 mph!) just like a human player. Honestly, it looks eerily smooth.

🤖 Drones That Save Lives
What if a drone could deliver a defibrillator straight to someone having a heart attack? UK researchers are testing exactly that. These drones could cut critical response times in half… though there’s still work to do on making the devices easy to use when they arrive.

🎥 Surgery’s New Helping Hand
In Chile, surgeons performed the first-ever gallbladder surgery guided by a robotic camera that follows their every move—all on its own. No need to fuss with the view anymore. Just steady, uninterrupted focus where it matters most.

🦾 A Wearable Robot Helping ALS Patients
Harvard researchers built a wearable robot that helps ALS and stroke patients with simple tasks—like eating or brushing their teeth. For people like Kate Nycz (living with ALS since 2018), it’s not just tech… it’s freedom.

This week we cover: Medical Field

Think robots are only for factories or sci-fi movies? Think again.
They’ve quietly stepped into the world of medical research, shaking up labs, speeding up drug discovery, and helping doctors detect diseases earlier than ever.

Here are some of the coolest medical robots making it happen today:

🧪 LabDroid Maholo
In Japan, Maholo takes biology experiments off human hands — pipetting cells, mixing samples, and analyzing DNA with perfect precision. It never sleeps, helping scientists make medical breakthroughs faster.

🧬 Eve – The AI Drug Hunter
Eve is a robot powered by AI that hunts for new medicines. It runs thousands of chemical tests automatically and recently helped discover an antibiotic that fights drug-resistant bacteria.

💉 PSMA-Targeted Prostate Cancer Therapy Design
Robots now help design smarter therapies targeting prostate cancer cells. By analyzing massive data sets, they help create treatments that attack only cancer cells, cutting side effects.

📊 AI for Early Sepsis Detection
Hospitals are using AI-powered systems to scan patient data in real time, detecting sepsis before symptoms appear. It’s like having a superhuman nurse watching 24/7, helping save lives.

📱 Smart Pacemakers
Gone are the days of regular hospital visits. New pacemakers connect directly to smartphones, letting doctors monitor heart rhythms remotely and catch issues before they escalate.

🌱 OpenTrons Lab Automation
Small research labs and startups can now automate DNA prep and sample handling thanks to OpenTrons — affordable robots that democratize biotech innovation.

🎥 Watch the Bot

Eufy’s MarsWalker uses four robotic arms and tank-like treads to climb stairs, making “stuck at the bottom” a thing of the past.

💬 Your Command

🚪 Wrapping Up

💬 How did you like this new format? We’re building this for you — so hit reply and tell us what you loved, what you’d like more of, or what we can do to make The Bot Brief even better.

Also, if you could hand off one task to a robot, what would it be? We’re genuinely curious.

Stay Curious! 🤖 
Team What’s Up in AI