Even in the era of the virtual event, it tends to take me a few days to recover from the whirlwind of CES. Frontloading the year’s big hardware news is a bit less than ideal, but perhaps the changing nature of the big tech event will bring adjustments to the news cycle, as well. For […]
Consumer Robotics Show
CES has always been a weird show for robotics. That’s not an indictment of the show itself, so much as a comment on the state of robotics generally. It’s true the organization behind the show dropped the name “Consumer Electronics Show” some number of years ago (a fact it continues to be very insistent about […]
If we can’t design autonomous robots, maybe they can design themselves
Delivering a humanoid robot capable of independently venturing out into public is likely a long way off.
Boston Dynamics owner Hyundai deploys Spot for factory safety monitoring
Back in June, Hyundai completed a deal for controlling interest in Boston Dynamics. The Korean automotive giant no doubt has some grand plans for integrating the Massachusetts-based firm’s technology into a lot of their forward-looking concept mobility vehicles — for now, however, it’s more about putting existing robots to work. Hyundai today announced the arrival […]
Tiger’s bullish robotic investments
On Tuesday, Tiger Global led not one but two big funding rounds, announcing its role in a $26 million Series A for Ambi and an additional $50 million for Locus Robotics. The firm has been so active in investing of late, that neither one of these companies cracked Alex’s coveted “Today’s Tiger round” in our […]
I don’t know what to do with those tossed salads and robot legs
One of the most fascinating aspects of Boston Dynamics’ transition into a commercial organization is watching the company — and its partners — figure out real-world jobs for Spot. There’s no question that the tech is impressive, but there’s always been the broader subject of usefulness beyond the company’s initial purpose of serving as off-road […]
Actuator: Stop making sense
First of all, we’ve got a fancy new name. While “Robotics Roundup” was nothing if not very technically accurate, it lacked the kind of panache one ought to strive for when rounding up robotics. Actuator, on the other hand — that’s a mover and shaker. It’s a name you can take to the bank (or […]
Boston Dynamics shares an incredible behind-the-scenes look at robot-building
Humanoid robot learns parkour, takes some gnarly slams, and gets repaired.
Atlas slugged
I watched a lot of skate videos growing up. At some point, failures became as important a fixture as perfectly executed tricks. The spills and the injuries could be downright gnarly (there’s a reason, after all, that skateboarding culture gave the world “Jackass”), but as an aggressively mediocre skater myself, there was something comforting in […]
Embodied AI, superintelligence and the master algorithm
In the next year and a half, we’re going to see increasing adoption of technologies, which will trigger a broader industry shift, much as Tesla triggered the transition to EVs.