Canada

Vancouver-based Sanctuary AI has partnered with Japanese materials manufacturer Zeon Corporation to develop rugged elastomeric components, addressing a critical hardware bottleneck as the robotics company pushes for real-world deployments in 2026.

Sanctuary AI has demonstrated successful zero-shot transfer for in-hand manipulation, allowing a policy trained entirely in simulation to reorient objects on physical hardware without real-world fine-tuning.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada has signed a commercial agreement to deploy Digit humanoid robots across its production facilities following a successful pilot program.

Canadian robotics firm Axibo, known for cinema robotics used by Netflix and Apple, secures $12 million ($11M external, $1M founders) to launch Axibo AI, a new division focused on developing humanoid robots. Leveraging its manufacturing expertise, the Waterloo-based company plans a modular platform approach, aiming for a prototype debut in early 2026.