JD.com says robots will replace its 700,000 couriers
JD.com says robots will replace its 700,000 couriers

JD.com robots will eventually replace the company’s 700,000 couriers, its founder says. It is a rare admission that automation is coming for blue-collar jobs. Most tech bosses hedge when asked whether machines will take people’s jobs. Richard Liu just …

The developer behind VLC’s 6 billion downloads now wants to connect hundreds of millions of robots
The developer behind VLC’s 6 billion downloads now wants to connect hundreds of millions of robots

Jean-Baptiste Kempf, the lead developer of VLC Media Player, has raised $5 million for his startup Kyber, an infrastructure layer for controlling remote devices in real time. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which also led Mistral AI’s…

MIT built a memory system that lets robots remember where you left your keys
MIT built a memory system that lets robots remember where you left your keys

Robots are still surprisingly bad at remembering where things are. You might recall that your keys were on the kitchen counter last night. A robot working beside you would struggle to connect that object and location in a useful way. MIT researchers bu…

Collecting robot training data is dirty, unglamorous work. Some AI labs are already paying XDOF to do it.

If physical AI is going to match the accomplishments of LLMs, there’s a data problem that needs to be solved.

Genesis AI thinks the humanoid hype is wrong. Its wheeled robot is the counterargument.
Genesis AI thinks the humanoid hype is wrong. Its wheeled robot is the counterargument.

On Tuesday, while the robotics industry continued pouring billions into machines that walk like humans, a startup called Genesis AI unveiled one that deliberately does not. Eno is a wheeled robot with a foldable tower, dexterous hands, and a foundation…

This two-year-old startup already programs Blue Origin’s rockets. It just raised $20M.
This two-year-old startup already programs Blue Origin’s rockets. It just raised $20M.

The hottest pitch in AI right now is not another chatbot. It is software that can run the machines on a factory floor, and a two-year-old Israeli startup has just raised $20m on the strength of programming parts for Jeff Bezos’s rockets. Limitless Labs…

Alibaba unveils AI models for robots as China’s focus shifts to agents
Alibaba unveils AI models for robots as China’s focus shifts to agents

Alibaba has revealed its first suite of AI models for robots, a move that says as much about where Chinese technology is heading as about the models themselves. The launch came as the industry pivots away from chatbots and towards agents, the systems m…

Award-Winning Researcher Trains Robots to Make Educated Guesses
Award-Winning Researcher Trains Robots to Make Educated Guesses

Yen-Ling Kuo always wanted to understand how things worked. When she was growing up in Taiwan, reading the story of Michael Faraday in elementary school piqued her curiosity about the natural world. During that time, she was introduced to Logo, a comp…

Humanoid robot maker EngineAI files for a Hong Kong IPO
Humanoid robot maker EngineAI files for a Hong Kong IPO

EngineAI, a Chinese maker of humanoid robots, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Shenzhen-based startup is working with China International Cap…

The world’s top-selling robot vacuum maker is eyeing a Hong Kong IPO. It also wants to build a hypercar.
The world’s top-selling robot vacuum maker is eyeing a Hong Kong IPO. It also wants to build a hypercar.

Dreame Technology, a Chinese maker of robotic vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, and pool cleaners, is considering a Hong Kong initial public offering as soon as next year, according to Bloomberg. The company is working with advisers and could raise several…