Photo of Apple Store taken by iPhone 15 Pro Max at 77mm. Jason Hiner/ZDNET Apple has made several major shifts in its product roadmap within the last year, including putting an end to its electric car project and focusing on developing its presence in the AI space. Apple’s next pivot may be into home robotics. … Read more
Image: Hasbro This past weekend Hasbro—not content with the metric buttload of action figures it’s already been teasing lately—revealed a bunch of new figures for its Transformers, G.I. Joe, Marvel, and Star Wars lines at Wondercon. But, at long last, the toymaker is getting around to a character from the galaxy far, far away it’s … Read more
Robots made their stage debut the day after New Year’s 1921. More than half-a-century before the world caught its first glimpse of George Lucas’ droids, a small army of silvery humanoids took to the stages of the First Czechoslovak Republic. They were, for all intents and purposes, humanoids: two arms, two legs, a head — … Read more
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Mercedes-Benz is the latest automotive company to trial how humanoid robots could be used to automate “low skill, physically challenging, manual labor.” On Friday, robotics company Apptronik announced it had entered into a commercial agreement with Mercedes to pilot how “highly advanced robotics” like Apollo — Apptronik’s 160-pound bipedal robot — can be used in … Read more
The future of recycling is here, and of course, it involves robots and artificial intelligence. Rebecca Hu, the co-founder of the robotics company Glacier, creates robots that help recycling plants separate and, well, recycle material. Before, sorting recyclable materials was a manual job that took hours for someone to do. Today, Glacier has been using … Read more
Photo: Around the World Photos (Shutterstock) While Optimus has no stated use cases yet, one idea many have floated is that they’d make good factory workers. Tesla has already automated much of its car-making process, using enormous robot arms to move heavy car panels. However, Optimus could be a useful robot to do more delicate … Read more
‘Elon, what are you doing?’: Joe Rogan flipped out when he saw Tesla’s Optimus Gen 2 robots moving ‘exactly like a person’ and even gently holding eggs — 3 top robotics stocks to watch now Comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan is no stranger to Tesla — he owns a Tesla Model S and has interviewed … Read more
Uber, along with partners Mitsubishi Electric and autonomous robotics startup Cartken, are launching a service in Japan that will use self-driving sidewalk robots to deliver food to customers. The companies announced that the service offered through the Uber Eats app will launch in a select part of Tokyo by the end of March. An Uber … Read more
Few categories are as ripe for automation-fueled disruption as construction. The industry is valued at around $2 trillion a year, in the U.S. alone. Much of that work is strenuous, repetitive and sometimes dangerous — precisely the sorts of problems industrial robotics are built to solve. The other thing construction brings is a wide range … Read more
Near the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, a boxy robot zips along the rocky, cracked road. Snaking from side to side, the robot—a four-wheeled machine, around knee height—carries cargo and ammunition for Russian troops. However, it’s being watched. Hovering above the road, tracking the movements of the robot, is a Ukrainian drone. Suddenly, another drone smashes … Read more