Humanoid robots might be able to run, danceand occasionally kick peoplebut to become really human, they’re going to need to learn how to do all sorts of menial chores at work. Flexion Robotics, a Swiss startup founded by ex-Nvidia robotics researchers, thinks it has the solution. The company has developed a way to train robots … Read more
At IO-AI Tech, a startup about 45 minutes north of downtown Shenzhen, China, I glimpsed a wacky new frontier of blue-collar work. Workers wearing the company’s VR headsets, handheld controllers, and motion-tracking gear remotely control humanoid robots for workplaces like factory floors and convenience stores. The company wants the robots to do useful work, like … Read more
These potato-salad-slinging AI chefs aren’t taking anyone’s jobs. Not yet, anyway. They’re just here as volunteers. Project Open Handa nonprofit founded in 1985 by local grandmother and HIV-awareness advocate Ruth Brinkerprepares and packages meals to meet the diverse nutritional requirements of people who need them. The effort began in response to the AIDS crisis, but … Read more
I recently gave my OpenClaw a real robot arm to play with. The results just about blew my own neural network. The AI agent was able to configure the arm, use it to see and slowly grab things, and even train another AI model to pick up and place specific objects. And they say AGI … Read more
Unitree is a Chinese company known for making adorable, relatively affordable robots that dance and shuffle and such. Last night, it revealed its latest creation, which is something of a departure: a giant, walking, crawling, transforming, wall-smashing “mecha” called the GD01. An introductory video for the GD01—set to a thundering rock guitar soundtrack—shows the company’s … Read more
Ace is a robot that aims high: It wants to become the world champion of table tennis. It was developed by Sony AI researchers who, in a new study published in Nature, have shown how this robot, equipped with artificial intelligence, has faced some high-level athletes, holding its own in matches played according to the … Read more
over the weekend in China, a humanoid robot shattered the world half-marathon record—the human record—by seven minutes. The star performer was a robot developed by the Chinese company Honor (the smartphone maker), which finished the 13.1-mile race in 50 minutes, 26 seconds. The human record, set by Ugandan Olympic medalist Jacob Kiplimo, is 57 minutes, … Read more
Listing consumer electronics on the internet’s large ecommerce marketplaces is a key step in “democratizing” the products, allowing them to be purchased by anyone with just a click. It has happened to cars (in the United States, you can buy a Hyundai on Amazon), and now it’s happening to humanoid robots. The Chinese manufacturer Unitree … Read more