Video: New brain helps humanoid robot to clean spaces without prior training

Swiss company Flexion Robotics has developed a novel “brain” for humanoid robots that enables them to autonomously perform diverse tasks, such as cleaning spaces, without prior training or human intervention. Their general-purpose autonomy stack integrates multiple layers: a command layer using language models for common-sense reasoning and task decomposition; a motion layer combining vision, language, and action models trained on synthetic data and fine-tuned for real-world scenarios; and a control layer employing transformer-based whole-body control with a modular skill library. This architecture allows robots to quickly adapt to and interact with their environment intelligently, overcoming the limitations of brittle, task-specific programming. Flexion emphasizes that while humanoid robots have impressive mechanics, the key missing element for practical deployment in uncontrolled settings has been intelligence. By leveraging the same computational and training infrastructure that enabled large language models (LLMs), Flexion aims to create adaptable, autonomous systems capable of scalable, useful work. This development is particularly timely given global demographic shifts and labor shortages, with