As part of its explosive reporting on Amazon’s plan to curtail US employment through automation, the NYT published a companion piece on Sparrow, Cardinal, and Proteus — “the robots that, step by step, are replacing human workers in the company’s warehouses.”
[nytimes.com]
I got cited by Congress’ Select Committee on the CCP, which accuses Anker of using “various unlawful methods to avoid U.S. tariffs” while getting “substantial government backing” from China; they use my reporting to raise the spectre of national security threats.
The Committee’s also after Unitree, whose robots have a nasty new vuln:
It’s a bucket list item for a tech journalist slash tennis fan. So, when I heard the Acemate Tennis Robot was coming to the IFA tech show in Berlin, I was first in line (like, literally off the plane and on to the court).
It was surprisingly fun, and the bot easily kept up with me using its two 4K binocular cameras and omnidirectional wheels. But I didn’t enjoy its post-match critique quite as much.
At least Dreame’s new Cyber X robot moves slowly so I can run away from it as it creeps up the stairs.
Jokes aside, you should watch this video from Jen Tuohy, who saw the fascinating robot at IFA.
The fourth installment in the automaker’s Master Plan series seizes on flashy new buzzwords: sustainable abundance.
On this week’s Vergecast, former CEO and co-founder of iRobot, Colin Angle, discusses what he got wrong when it came to making a robot that you trust in your home, and speculates on what we really want when it comes to home robots. Hint, it’s got arms but not legs ....
A third of Ocado’s orders are already packed by machines, and this is just the start.
The new “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” attraction debuting at Disneyland on Thursday, July 17th, marks the first time that the parks have portrayed the man himself as an audio-animatronic figure. The movements are fairly impressive, but the facial likeness requires a little imagination.
The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has created an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) system designed to scare wildlife like birds away from airports.
Built atop a 20 mph Traxxas RC car, the UGVs are upgraded with plastic coyotes to make them more intimidating and cost around $3,000 each, according to New Atlas. Testing is still under way, including at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida where the Blue Angels call home.
The open-source robot is fully programmable in Python, allowing tinkerers to create and test AI applications for the desktop-sized device, which features “expressive movement” with a motorized head and body, as well as multimodal sensing.
The $449 Reach Mini is wireless and powered by a Raspberry Pi 5 minicomputer. There’s also a cheaper, $299 Reachy Mini Lite model that requires a wired connection to a computer.
That’s the milestone Amazon just crossed. As The Wall Street Journal notes, it’s coming up fast on the company’s total human workforce, which the paper estimates at 1.56 million people right now, and as Amazon’s CEO has said is likely to go down over the next few years.
The million includes the new touch-sensitive Vulcan robot unveiled last month, though probably not Amazon’s rumored work on autonomous humanoid delivery robots.
The M3gan sequel embraces sci-fi to tell a timely but muddled story about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
The company brought five of its Spot robodogs to America’s Got Talent where they performed a choreographed routine to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” — although one got stage fright and collapsed.
It’s another attempt to make the company’s bots go viral, but is it enough to sell a $74,500 robot that can’t assemble cars or unload trucks? Boston Dynamics, which laid off five percent of its workforce last December, is now facing more and more competition.
The South Korean automaker’s new $7.6 billion factory is a bulwark against tariffs and EV-hostile policies.
5
Verge Score
The Roborock Saros Z70 is the first vacuum that can tidy up before it cleans — but it’s still a work in progress.
Tesla’s Optimus robot has been plagued by fakery since it launched with a dancer in a suit followed by remote manipulation at the cybercab event. So what is this? Generative AI? A man behind the curtain in a mocap suit?
Does it even matter if Tesla can’t mass produce them without China’s rare earth magnets?
One upgrade that the new $1,600 X9 Pro Omni robot vacuum mop has over the current $1,300 X8 flagship is Boosted Large-Airflow Suction Technology, which optimizes airflow from intake to exhaust, instead of just relying on suction power.
There’s a deal running from May 13th-19th that’ll save customers $300, alongside a more affordable $1,200 T80 vacuum mop with near-identical specs to the X8.
