Skip to main content
All Stories Tagged:

Robot

E
Twitter
No, this isn’t CG.

This is Figure’s humanoid robot, which can now use OpenAI’s large vision language model (VLM) to provide reasoning and language understanding. The video shows how the bot can identify and interact with the objects on the counter in front of it when given a prompt, like “Can I have something to eat?”


Covariant launches the first version of its ‘robot brain’ AI that learns by watching and listening.

The New York Times writes about this startup developing AI software to help sorting robots interact with the physical world. With videos or text input (users can talk with them like a chatbot), the robot can “learn” how to function in factories without long strings of instructions.

Founded by former OpenAI researchers, Covariant’s work is the latest in a wave of robots integrating with AI foundation models.


Uber Eats’ sidewalk delivery robots are coming to Japan.

The robots are expected to hit the sidewalks of Tokyo starting at the end of March, marking Uber’s first international expansion of its autonomous delivery service. The six-wheeled delivery robots are manufactured by Cartken, an Oakland-based AI company, and operations will be supervised by Mitsubishi Electric. Delivery robots are growing more popular, but they still require a team of human workers to make the system work.


Uber Eats sidewalk delivery robot
The robot is designed to avoid various obstacles, yield to pedestrians, and stop at traffic lights before crossing a road 
Image: Uber Eats
J
Youtube
Boston Dynamic’s Atlas robot has picked up some new tricks.

By which I mean it’s literally learning to pick up objects and slide them onto shelves, like the 30-pound car struts seen in the video below.

Completing these complex maneuvers are essential if Atlas, and the bipedal robots being trialed by Tesla, BMW, and Amazon have any hope of besting good, old-fashioned human power.


R
Youtube
NASA’s Mars Helicopter has made its final flight.

The Ingenuity helicopter mission achieved powered flight on another world, brought Zigbee and Linux to Mars, and survived close calls, lasting 33 times longer than originally planned.

But on Thursday, NASA officials said that after a loss of communication and rough landing last week its rotor blades are too damaged to fly again. The Perseverance rover that brought it to Mars is too far away to get a picture, but this picture shows the shadow of a broken blade on the Mars terrain.


Elon Musk is uncomfortable with the amount of control Elon Musk has over Tesla.

The Tesla CEO and X CTO / owner writes that “I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control,” and proposed building products (like Grok?) outside of Tesla instead.

Musk’s stake in the company reportedly dropped to 13.4 percent in 2022 as he sold shares and acquired X, then known as Twitter. Now there’s this statement, a recent WSJ report citing concerns about drug use, and... Tesla’s Q4 earnings report coming up on January 24th.


“I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without ~25% control. Enough to be influential, but not so much I can’t be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla. You don’t seem to understand Tesla is not one startup, but a dozen. Simply look at the delta between what Tesla does and GM.  As for stock ownership itself being enough motivation, Fidelity and other own similar stakes. Why don’t they show up for work?”
Image: @elonmusk (X)
J
Instagram
LG’s smart home robot is kinda cute and kinda useless.

Its new AI Agent may have Rosey the Robot aspirations — but do you need a robot with “personality” to control smart home devices and clean up after your cat?

I saw a demo of the Agent at CES, and as charming as it is — with its big eyes and headphone ears (it’s a handle; one of the crew picked it up by it when it got stuck) — it doesn’t seem to do much that a stationary AI voice assistant couldn’t.

Those “legs” are just for dancing, and without arms, it's not going to be taking out the trash or emptying the dishwasher. But then again, dancing might just be enough!


LG’s “AI agent” is a bipedal robot that monitors your home and pets.

The company revealed the bot ahead of its appearance at CES 2024, which it’s touting as an “all-around home manager and companion.”

In addition to serving as a remote monitoring system, LG says the bipedal bot can also interact with humans using voice and image recognition. Apparently, one of its abilities includes greeting users when they arrive home and playing music based on their detected mood.


Image: LG
T
Twitter
Tesla’s new Optimus Gen 2 robot.

The latest Tesla Bot is a little bit lighter, walks faster, and balances better with improvements throughout, including in the function of its neck, feet, and hands. But is it the “friend” Elon Musk says will cost “much less than $20,000” and allow for “a future where there is no poverty?” Probably not.


Where are all the robot trucks?

The promised wave of autonomous big rigs never materialized. But 2024 could prove to be a pivotal year for the technology.

Let’s stalk some delivery robots together.

A couple weeks ago, I flew out to Hollywood to check out Serve Robotics, a company that’s using a fleet of shopping cart-sized robots to make Uber Eats deliveries. We spoke to the people who are working behind-the-scenes to make robot delivery happen, including supervisors, field agents, and even the CEO. We even interviewed the guy behind the viral TikTok account where he just yells at the robots.

The real friends were the robots we met along the way.


T
External Link
Amazon/iRobot decision pushed to Valentine’s Day.

EU regulators have set a February 14th deadline to decide on the $1.7 billion deal first announced over a year ago. The previous deadline was December 13th. Amazon wants to acquire the robotic vacuum company that can map the inside of your home to help make ambient intelligence a reality. So far, the EU doesn’t seem to love the idea.


“Avoid all robots until further notice.”

At about noon local time, Oregon State University warned the campus of a bomb threat targeting Starship autonomous food delivery robots. About an hour later, officials gave the all-clear.

Starship Technologies temporarily suspended service before saying the threat came from a student who claimed it was a joke and a prank, while the Associated Press reports the person who made the threat has been arrested.


Screenshot of posts from October 24th as Oregon State University warned of a bomb threat regarding food delivery robots, that was cleared about an hour later.
Yes, this really happened.
Image: X.com / Oregon State University
T
Quote
Don’t worry, this little robot’s not going to replace 1 million Amazon warehouse jobs.

Here’s how Amazon described its test of Agility Robotics’ bi-pedal Digit robot in a press release yesterday:

Digit can move, grasp, and handle items in spaces and corners of warehouses in novel ways. Its size and shape are well suited for buildings that are designed for humans, and we believe that there is a big opportunity to scale a mobile manipulator solution, such as Digit, which can work collaboratively with employees.

Scale usage, but somehow not replace any human workers at newly cost-conscious and union-hating Amazon? Sure.


1/2

J
Youtube
These little droids could cause a lot of trouble.

Disney recently showed off bipedal droids that look exactly like something you’d see in a Star Wars movie, and now Disney’s Imagineers are testing the droids at Disneyland, as reported by Disneyland News Today. I love them!!


J
Youtube
$3 million for a mech? Bargain!

Anybody have some money they can lend me for this? I’ll pay you back after I save the galaxy over the course of 49 episodes.


U
Youtube
Tesla’s Bot is doing basic bot things.

A new video shows off the company’s Optimus robot running through some calibration cycles for its limbs before successfully putting matching colored blocks with their corresponding trays. It’s a menial task that the Tesla Bot has done before, but this time a human tries to confuse it. The bot then relieves stress with some yoga poses. You know, bot stuff.


The robovacs are coming, and they’re edgier than ever

The IFA 2023 trade show floor was overrun by robot vacuums on a quest to clean your floors. From one that does the splits with its mops to the return of the square robot, these robots are coming for those corners.

‘Hey robot, mow the lawn.’

The Dreame Roboticmower A1, a new robot lawnmower, can tackle yards as large as half an acre, which is good news for us Americans with big yards.

These electric autonomous grass-cutting devices have struggled to take off in the US due to range issues, complexity, and high costs.

While Dreame’s bot may cost as much as $2,000 (pricing isn't finalized) it uses lidar mapping so there’s no need for clunky beacons or fiddly guide wire.


This robot lawnmower could take one more chore off your To Do.
This robot lawnmower could take one more chore off your To Do.
Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
M
External Link
You can now make TARS, the snarky robot from ‘Interstellar’, with a Raspberry Pi.

Developer Charlie Diaz has created a miniature prototype complete with functional robotic arms. His guide uses a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, an 8BitDo bluetooth remote, and a 3D printer. Diaz originally tried a full-sized costume, but found that its legs “contacted the ground and got stuck, preventing the walking motion”.

If you have built one of these and now have it walking around your house, please send me a video immediately.


J
TikTok
Muppet my way downtown...

Today I learned there’s a piano-playing animatronic puppet that’s been roaming around San Francisco serenading the locals with Vanessa Carlton’s hit single A Thousand Miles.

Aerospace engineer Ben Howard used iPhone lipsync recordings and a former autonomous food delivery robot to create the project. Carlton herself says that he nailed recreating the fishtail braids she was rocking back in 2002.


C
Youtube
Artificial intelligence has taken more than everyone’s jobs in The Creator’s new trailer.

At a time when two of Hollywood’s three big labor unions are striking overamong other things — the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools that stand to threaten their livelihoods, the latest trailer for Gareth Edwards’ The Creator just hits... you know, different.