What Actually Mattered in Robotics in 2025

‘‘Twas the night before Automated and all through TRI, not a robot was stirring, just Erin McColl and I. We watched several YouTube videos with great glee, for the latest in AI and autonomy.”

Welcome to this end-of-year special where host Brian Heater and Toyota Research Institute’s Erin McColl break down the most compelling robot videos of 2025. What’s real, what’s hype, and what actually moved automation technologies forward. From diffusion policies and dexterity challenges to home robots, humanoids, and honest failure cases, this episode explores the trends shaping robotics heading into 2026, plus the reveal of the 2025 Readers’ Poll winner.

Top Robotics and Automation Videos of 2025
- Apple Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-anthropomorphic Robot https://mlr.cdn-apple.com/video/ELEGNT_small_a9bbdf4f1f.mp4
- Agility Robotics Humanoid Robot - Step Recovery Challenge https://youtu.be/2amzGvk97GE?si=r_9g5_SIuuf5bRLk
- Disney Research Autonomous Human-Robot Interaction via Operator Imitation https://youtu.be/4U4etupwzhQ?si=pyY2l96OQ9EC8YJS&t=1
- Cartwheel Robotics Meet Yogi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaSXltB_I1A
- UCSD Surgie Robot Surgeon: Humanoid Surrogates for Dexterous Medical Interventions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrHq9Xr1Bxk
- RAI Balance and Brains: Building an Ultra Mobile Vehicle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjaZUFMZWOY
- Zurich Learning Accurate Throwing with High-frequency Residual Policy and Pullback Tube Acceleration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ysgbN6Ca8AETH
- Amazon FAR Robot Wall Flip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUDIY-C72qs
- Google Gemini Robotics 1.5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UObzWjPb6XM
- Skild AI https://youtu.be/GTImKXRBB6A?si=Rzk2_6zaYI-bwHAh One Model, Any Scenario: End-to-end Locomotion from Vision

Key Moments
00:00 Teaching robots complex tasks with no code (diffusion policy)
02:11 Why diffusion policy isn’t ready for factories—yet
04:29 Home robots, aging societies, and real use-cases
09:48 Why dexterity and manipulation remain unsolved
15:45 The danger of over-produced robot demo videos
17:12 Why robot “blooper reels” actually matter
20:12 Disturbance testing and the famous hockey stick
21:02 Furniture vs humanoids: rethinking home robots
25:01 Disney, emotion, and training robots through performance
29:18 Robot surgeons, dexterity, and ethical reactions
32:08 The 2025 Readers’ Poll winning robot
37:01 What 2026 may hold for robotics and automation

Connect with Erin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmccoll1/

Follow Toyota Research Institute: https://www.linkedin.com/company/toyota-research-institute/posts/?feedView=all

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at podcast@automate.org.

You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automate.org/podcast.

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