Video: Humanoid robot obeys verbal commands, grabs Coke autonomously

Israel-based startup Mentee Robotics has demonstrated its Menteebot V3 humanoid robot autonomously responding to verbal commands, such as retrieving a can of Coke. The robot interprets spoken instructions, visually identifies the target object, navigates to it, grasps it, and returns to the user without human intervention. This capability is enabled by Mentee’s “Foundation Model,” which integrates language understanding, visual perception, navigation, and manipulation into a cohesive system. Training involves reinforcement learning in simulated environments, with skills transferred to real robots via Sim2Real techniques, allowing non-experts to teach robots naturally through speech and demonstration rather than coding. Founded in 2022 by Mobileye founder Prof. Amnon Shashua and AI experts, Mentee Robotics has raised over $40 million and employs about 70 people. On January 6 at CES, Mobileye announced plans to acquire Mentee in a deal valued up to $900 million, aiming to expand beyond autonomous vehicles into humanoid robotics