#robotics

#robotics

In it, viewers get a closer look at Mabel, an animal lover who seizes an opportunity to use a new technology to "hop" her consciousness into a life-like robotic beaver and communicate directly with animals.

We're all living in a cyberpunk novel now. Unconstrained billionaires have space programs and robot armies. People are falling in love with and marrying AI chatbots. You can make movies where you're the star by typing a few sentences. Companies offer designer babies as a service. We've got brain implants for controlling computers, flying cars, robotic surgery, AI-controlled prosthetic limbs, and millions of drones in the sky. So why is the most effective form of communication still a hand-written note?

Enter Tesla's secret lab at its engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, California, where according to a new scoop from Business Insider, its goal is to record practically every mundane human movement imaginable, performed hundreds of times each day by a tireless crew of dozens of workers. The AI industry is as much powered by armies of human grunts who work behind the scenes to make the tech appear seamless as it is by the actual gigawatts of energy consumed by its enormous data centers.

Inside a glass-walled lab at Tesla's engineering headquarters, dozens of workers act out the motions of everyday life: lifting a cup, wiping a table, pulling open a curtain. They repeat each action hundreds of times during eight-hour shifts, and their work is captured by five cameras attached to their helmet and a heavy backpack. CEO Elon Musk sometimes stops by to watch, and Tesla investors visit regularly for demos. It's like being a "lab rat under a microscope," one former worker told Business Insider. The goal is simple: Teach Optimus, the company's robot, how to move like a human.

Mbodi wants to make training robots easier and quicker with the help of AI agents. The company will be showcasing this tech as one of the Top 20 Startup Battlefield finalists at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. New York-based Mbodi built a cloud-to-edge system, a hybrid computing system using both cloud and local compute, that is designed to integrate into existing robotic tech stacks. The software relies on a multitude of AI agents that communicate with each other to gather the needed information to help a robot learn a task faster.

"We behave differently when we're anxious or when we're experiencing fear, versus when we are feeling courageous. And mice do the same," explained Alexandra Klein, postdoctoral researcher at UCSF, during a lab tour, adding that there are multiple experiments conducted in the lab to analyze a mouse's behavior - all this to understand human brain functions better and potentially cure diseases. The tour even showcased a real mouse brain in a test tube.

Imagine if everyone had access to an incredible surgeon. Of course, we need to make sure Optimus is safe and everything. But I do think we're headed for a world of sustainable abundance,

Together with ABB Robotics, we will unite world-class technology and talent under our shared vision to fuse Artificial Super Intelligence and robotics - driving a groundbreaking evolution that will propel humanity forward.

Charlotte is the product of innovative minds combining Crest Robotics' advanced robotics with Earthbuilt Technology's unique extrusion and compaction systems. The result is a fully autonomous, spider-like robot that is lightweight and highly adaptable. Charlotte delivers a construction solution that is affordable, fast, and low in carbon emissions. She offers answers to both space-age challenges and real-world housing demands. Designers: Crest Robotics and Earthbuilt Technology Based in Delray Beach, Florida, the digital craftsmanship behind Charlotte makes her more than just a robot.

U.S. technology company Nvidia and Fujitsu, a Japanese telecommunications and computer maker, agreed Friday to work together on artificial intelligence to deliver smart robots and a variety of other innovations using Nvidia's computer chips. "The AI industrial revolution has already begun. Building the infrastructure to power it is essential in Japan and around the world," Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said, hugging his Fujitsu counterpart Takahito Tokita on stage. "Japan can lead the world in AI and robotics," Huang told reporters at a Tokyo hotel.