{"author":{"name":"James O'Donnell","slug":"james-o-donnell","article_count":1,"latest_published_at":"2026-04-17T10:47:46.449+00:00","profile_url":"https://vff.ai/authors/james-o-donnell","api_url":"https://vff.ai/api/authors/james-o-donnell"},"articles":[{"slug":"how-robots-learn-a-brief-contemporary-history","title":"Robotics Funding Surges as AI Learning Replaces Hand-Coded Rules","url":"https://vff.ai/article/2026/04/17/how-robots-learn-a-brief-contemporary-history","content_type":"aggregated_news","summary":"Robotics funding surged to $6.1 billion for humanoid robots in 2025, quadrupling from 2024, driven by a fundamental shift in how machines learn. Rather than hand-coding rules for every scenario, researchers now train robots using large language models and other AI systems that learn from vast amounts of data, sensor readings, and trial-and-error in simulated environments. This approach, catalyzed by ChatGPT's success in 2022, has made the long-standing dream of adaptable, helpful robots seem achievable again after decades of incremental progress on narrow tasks.","published_at":"2026-04-17T10:47:46.449+00:00","updated_at":"2026-04-22T00:59:04.768177+00:00","source":{"url":"https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/17/1135416/how-robots-learn-brief-contemporary-history/","name":"MIT Technology Review"},"featured_image":{"url":"https://mrrqbmstywujcvowvptv.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/thumbnails/imports/3824ea8678f5ff37657e38332f28131e.jpg","alt":null},"categories":[]}]}