Collaborate Disseminate
There have doubtless been times when you’ve had both hands full, and wished that you had a third arm. Well, scientists have discovered that a robotic third arm can in fact be quite easily controlled via movements of the diaphragm muscle.Continue Readin… Continue reading Attention, multitaskers – scientists create a belly-controlled third arm
Figure has signed its first commercial deal, and is sending its general-purpose humanoid robots off to start real-world work at BMW’s manufacturing plant in South Carolina. Founder and CEO Brett Adcock talks us through this rubber-meets-road moment.Con… Continue reading Figure’s humanoid robots are about to enter the workforce at BMW
Elon Musk has Xeeted out a video of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot folding a t-shirt – which would be great, but then followed up with a second Xeet clarifying that the video is far less impressive than it looks – after being called out by observers.Co… Continue reading Busted: Elon Musk admits new Optimus video isn’t what it seems
Stanford and Google DeepMind researchers have presented an open-source housekeeping robot, and trained it relatively quickly to sauté shrimp, rinse out pans, put pots away in a kitchen cabinet, and clean up wine spills – but it has greater ambitions.Co… Continue reading Housekeeping robot quickly learns a range of autonomous chores
Figure’s Brett Adcock claimed a “ChatGPT moment” for humanoid robotics on the weekend. Now, we know what he means: the robot can now watch humans doing tasks, build its own understanding of how to do them, and start doing them entirely autonomously.Con… Continue reading Figure’s humanoid can now watch, learn and perform tasks autonomously
One of the most outlandish Kickstarter projects of 2023 is about to spawn a product series meant to create a new breed of superhuman outdoor adventurer. The Hypershell Omega motored onto Kickstarter last March as a real wild card, a wearable set of AI-… Continue reading Hypershell exoskeleton aims to liberate adventure from human limits
The US Navy has taken delivery of its first giant robotic submarine. Boeing’s Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV), also known as “Orca,” has completed acceptance tests including extensive surface and underwater trials.Continue ReadingCategory… Continue reading US Navy receives first long-range robotic submarine
At the new CaliExpress by Flippy, opening soon, you’ll order on a screen, then watch as robots work the burger grill and fry baskets to serve food – without a single pimply human having to drag itself out of bed and pretend to be happy to see you.Conti… Continue reading Fully autonomous restaurant set to open in Pasadena
In 2016, I wrote about an Internet that affected the world in a direct, physical manner. It was connected to your smartphone. It had sensors like cameras and thermostats. It had actuators: Drones, autonomous cars. And it had smarts in the middle, using sensor data to figure out what to do and then actually do it. This was the Internet of Things (IoT).
The classical definition of a robot is something that senses, thinks, and acts—that’s today’s Internet. We’ve been building a world-sized robot without even realizing it.
In 2023, we upgraded the “thinking” part with large-language models (LLMs) like GPT. ChatGPT both surprised and amazed the world with its ability to understand human language and generate credible, on-topic, humanlike responses. But what these are really good at is interacting with systems formerly designed for humans. Their accuracy will get better, and they will be used to replace actual humans…
Swiss Mile’s ANYmal robot is a remarkable beast, capable of getting around as a wheeled quadruped, or standing up on its hind legs and using its front wheels as hands. Now, it’s learning to do useful tasks – in about the funniest way possible.Continue … Continue reading Humanoid/quadruped transformer throws boxes like a baggage handler