Google Deepmind's Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 gives robots a sharper brain for planning and perception

Google Deepmind has released Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6, an upgraded model for embodied reasoning in robots. It acts as a high-level thinking layer that helps robots understand their surroundings and plan tasks on their own, tapping tools like Google Search or vision-language-action models when needed. Deepmind says the new version beats both Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 and Gemini 3.0 Flash at pointing to objects, counting, and recognizing successful task execution.

Reading instruments like pressure gauges and sight glasses, a capability developed with Boston Dynamics, has also seen a major boost. The model pairs agentic image processing with code execution: it zooms in to catch small display details, uses pointing functions and code to calculate proportions and scale distances, then applies world knowledge to interpret the reading. Boston Dynamics' Spot robot reportedly uses the feature for system inspections.