Beyond Dexterity: Why Contact May Define the Next Era of Robotics

At ICRA 2026 in Vienna, AGILINK drew attention with robots twisting a balloon dog, highlighting advances in long-horizon, contact-rich manipulation. The company said it trained motion and contact intelligence using human demonstrations and interventions, and introduced the OmniHand 3 Ultra-M with direct-drive actuation and dense tactile sensing to improve force regulation and contact perception.