Robotics names are ripping higher on Wednesday after a Politico report said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is going “all in” to boost the industry. The standout mover is iRobot $IRBT ( ▼ 25.92% ) , up more than 30 percent. Richtech Robotics $RR ( ▲ 3.67% ) , Serve Robotics $SERV ( ▲ 1.14% ), and WeRide $WRD ( ▲ 4.67% ) are also catching strong bids.
The report described this as a shift away from AI toward robotics, but it is more of an evolution than a pivot. The big AI players are already preparing for the next wave of automation, where software intelligence powers physical machines. Nvidia and others call this “physical AI,” the layer that controls robots and autonomous systems. Even SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son said this week that the real breakthrough will not come from mechanical robots, but from AI that can operate in the physical world.