Earlier this month, Time magazine released its Best Inventions of 2025 list, featuring the Figure 3 humanoid on the cover.

This isn’t the first time a humanoid, or a robot, has graced the magazine’s cover: Digit by Agility Robotics made the cut for 2024’s best inventions; Stevie, a socially assistive robot from Trinity College Dublin, landed the cover in 2019; and Running Man by IHMC, was the first after it won the DARPA challenge in 2014.

The humanoid form seems to capture the imaginations of inventors and readers alike, making it the most relatable form for a robot. And you can see the evolution of humanoid robots from a tangle of wires and metal in 2014 to a sleek, seamless form in 2025.

However, there are many shapes, forms, and functions for intelligent robots that look nothing like a human being, but are actually used far more widely.

After a century of dreaming of our robot future, it’s finally arriving.

And that raises some fascinating and important questions that engineers, philosophers and all of us will have to grapple with eventually.

Questions like:

These are questions with no right answer for now. But as we approach a real robot reality, it is more critical than ever for people to think and add to the conversation.

So today, we’re going to give you a high-level overview of the robotics landscape for you to catch up on.

Really, we can’t help ourselves. We’re fascinated by robots, especially as we watch breakthrough after breakthrough in robotics.

The root of the word is a little darker than you might expect, and it says a lot about humanity’s view of its new helper.

The term “robot” is derived specifically from the Slavic root “robota,” which referred to servitude and compulsory service (AKA slavery).

The word made its way into the mainstream in the 1920s, and its popularity has been growing ever since.

In the modern definition, a robot is a programmable machine capable of carrying out complex actions automatically, especially those that mimic or substitute for human effort.

Robotics is the interdisciplinary science and engineering of designing, building, and operating robots.

Over the last 100 years, we’ve seen several growth spurts of robotics, but thanks to rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, this is the first time that these robots are getting a thinking “brain.”

And that changes everything.

In one of our previous editions, we wrote about the recent breakthrough in AI that allows robots of several forms to have “one brain.”

This is a key point to remember because we’ll be coming across intelligent robots of various shapes and sizes. We’ve talked about the humanoid form and the basic arms, but there are many other impressive robotic forms out there right now.

We’ve rounded up a list for you to check out.

In China, law enforcement agencies are reportedly trying out spherical robots. This one is called RT-G and is meant to be an amphibious intelligent robot that can withstand extreme weather, bad terrain, dangerous environments and other hostile situations.

It can chase a target at up to 35 mph, can withstand four tons of force, and can shoot a net to catch its targets. Robots like RT-G fall under the category of defense and safety.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Iron Man,” the “suit” that Tony Stark wears is an exoskeleton.

These are meant to be an augmentation of our human body to give us abilities we do not possess, usually superior physical capabilities.

One of the latest products in this category is the Hypershell Pro X. It’s the first mass market outdoor use exoskeleton that promises to help the users walk, run, bike and climb faster with less effort.

Exoskeletons are also a popular use case for helping people with paralysis or other ailments that prohibit their mobility, and of course, the military.

These fall under the category of augmenting robots.

While humans usually imagine robots capable of killing, some are designed to save lives.

Intuit’s Da Vinci 5 is an advanced robot for surgery. Surgery robots don’t do the work themselves, but instead almost give an added “sense” to surgeons, who are the pilots. They help surgeons with an immersive experience from a VR headset that creates safer surgeries and the ability to be exponentially more precise.

These are the first responders of the future, and they’ll completely change the way we approach rescue in disaster situations. One example of this is the Colossus firefighting robot. It thrives in the harshest of environments and has an impressive 12 hours of operational autonomy, where it can help with extinguishing fires, conducting reconnaissance, or carrying heavy loads.

These robots could aid first responders in taking control of the situation without putting their own bodies in harm’s way.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from Colossus, there are micro, insect-like robots.

The main applications for these bots range from industrial turbine inspections to potential swarm search robots to go into disaster zones.

What if I told you robots could get ever smaller?

It can be so small that we can ingest them and they could be “fixing” us from the inside on demand. Futurists like Ray Kurzweil argue that these nanobots will be the key to eternal life.

If they ever work, nanobots have the potential to completely change healthcare for humans and animals.

Imagine a 24/7 maintenance and cleanup crew inside our body.

They still don’t exist, but with the way research is progressing, nanorobotics are looking increasingly plausible.

As robots move from sci-fi dream to everyday reality, we’re gonna need a whole lot of new laws to deal with them.

Already, there are bills like the Big Beautiful Bill, which passed earlier this year, that incentivize development and investments into robotics, and The SANDBOX Act, introduced in September — that allows federal and state-level environments to experiment with robotics development.

On the other side of that spectrum are bills like the robot tax by Sen. Bernie Sanders that raise awareness of the economic impact of robots on working-class humans.

But what’s still sorely lacking are the kind of laws that will deal with the the nitty-gritty nuances of what it means to integrate robots into our lives — like liability and insurance issues.

Because while most of the robots being designed these days are made to help humans, it’s only a matter of time until a robot hurts or kills someone — accidentally or on purpose.

And when that happens, we have no real framework for who to hold accountable.

There are a few other bills around the topics of transparency and accountability, but robotics — much like AI — is moving at speeds that are hard to comprehend and control in any meaningful way.

And to create the legal framework for the future, we’re going to need a little more sci-fi futuristic thinking from our policymakers.

Glasses on the job: Amazon is testing AI-powered smart glasses for delivery drivers that display directions, spot hazards and log deliveries — all hands-free. The company says hundreds of drivers helped refine the design to improve safety and efficiency. It’s the latest step in Amazon’s plan to weave computer vision into every part of its logistics network.

Robotaxi funding surge: Avride landed up to $375 million in backing from Uber and Nebius to speed up its autonomous-vehicle rollout. The deal strengthens Avride’s partnership with Uber and supports a robotaxi launch in Dallas later this year.

Silicon show-and-tell: TSMC dropped a rare fly-through video of its Fab 21 Arizona facility near Phoenix, showcasing the “Silver Highway” automated rail system and dozens of ASML Twinscan NXE EUV lithography machines in full operation.

AI takes the cockpit: Shield AI just debuted its new jet, the X‑BAT — a fully autonomous, VTOL (vertical take-off/landing) fighter powered by its “Hivemind” AI system. At over 2,000 nautical-mile range and designed for runway-free deployment from ships or islands, the X-BAT rethinks airpower for contested zones.