DARPA Lift Challenge Highlights Heavy-Lift Drones in This Week's Video Friday
Video Friday is our weekly roundup of the most exciting robotics videos, curated by the team at IEEE Spectrum Robotics. In addition to featuring the latest videos, we also maintain a calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months to help you plan your attendance. Key events include Actuate 2026 (August 18-19, San Francisco), the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2026) from September 27 to October 1 in Pittsburgh, and the Humanoids Summit Seoul on September 22-23, 2026. We welcome your event submissions for inclusion in our calendar.
This weekend, the DARPA Lift Challenge is in full swing, bringing together teams to demonstrate innovative heavy-lift drone capabilities. The challenge features a series of tests that push the boundaries of what drones can carry. The overview videos from the first few days, though brief, offer a fascinating look at some truly bizarre drone designs. If you're intrigued, DARPA has posted livestreams of the entire event, and we've embedded one below. Additionally, we've linked to more footage showcasing these unconventional heavy-lifters.
NASA's SkyFall helicopters are set to explore the Martian surface, where one of their key tasks is to search for frozen water—a critical resource for future human missions. Using ground-penetrating radar, they will detect subsurface ice deposits. To support this radar, the rotorcraft will carry a flexible, fabric-based antenna that extends below the vehicle. This antenna is carefully designed to avoid interfering with landings or sustaining damage upon touchdown, ensuring operational reliability.
Why would you want a five-fingered humanoid hand when there are even better alternatives? Flexiv's latest hand design offers exceptional dexterity and adaptability, making it ideal for a wide range of manipulation tasks. Whether it's handling delicate objects or performing complex assembly, this hand pushes the boundaries of what robotic hands can achieve.
We've made significant strides in improving GEN-1's ability to adapt to new actuators and robots at the lowest level. This advancement has led to a 10-20x improvement on internal benchmarks, which translates to substantial gains in high-precision tasks. For example, GEN-1 can now more efficiently disassemble parts from a NIST board, demonstrating its enhanced capabilities in real-world applications.
This humanoid robot from Generative Bionics is arguably one of the best-looking robots we've encountered. Its sleek design not only appeals aesthetically but also reflects a thoughtful integration of form and function, setting a new standard in humanoid robotics.
While the topic may lean towards the technical, the underlying concept is crucial: being able to control an assistive robot through touch. Tac-Nav explores this interaction, showing how touch-based control can make assistive robots more intuitive and user-friendly. This could significantly improve the quality of life for individuals who rely on robotic assistance.
We present SonicFly, a passive aeroacoustic perception framework that enables one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to estimate and follow another using only the leader's intrinsic flight sound. This innovative approach eliminates the need for visual contact or GPS signals, opening new possibilities for autonomous cooperative flight in cluttered or GPS-denied environments.
Finally, we couldn't resist a humorous note from ROBOTIS: "Get a job?" is a playful jab at robots, perhaps questioning their work ethic or simply adding a lighthearted touch to a serious collection of cutting-edge technology.