Robot

This episode of the BBC’s Towards Tomorrow explores whether humans and robots can coexist. It features an introduction from Isaac Asimov, in which he wonders whether the line between the two will become meaningless and “humanity itself will die out as humanity, and sort of melt into this machine culture.”

The company’s Saros 20 Flow goes on sale today for $1,499.99 (down from $1,699.99). At 3.53 inches tall, it’s one of the slimmest roller mop models, and with 36,000 Pa suction, camera-based obstacle recognition, and the ability to climb multi-layer thresholds, this robot should be able to get the job done. I got a first look at IFA last week and plan to test it soon.

The ban, announced in July, has caused chaos for many manufacturers of robot vacuums, pool cleaners, lawn mowers, and more. Swedish company Husqvarna has secured the first exception to the rule for its 305v IQ, 310v IQ, 420v IQ, and 440v IQ after the Defense Department decided they don’t pose a national security risk.

The buzz at IFA was all around robotics — humanoids, quadrupeds, and wheeled bots designed to be household helpers and companions. I was on a panel (watch it here) where roboticists and entrepreneurs insisted that in five years everyone will know someone with a humanoid at home.

The Nurovi range features a robot mop with spinning pads, a vacuum-only option, and an upgraded version of its Spot+Scrub AI, which adds UV detection and comes in white. Nurovi supposedly stands for “neural intelligence” combined with a camera-based vision system, which makes the robots better at navigation than prior models — based on limited demos I saw at IFA in Berlin. All three robots go on sale this month.

It’s launching the RockAqua P1, which can clean up your pool floor, walls, and waterline with a suction power of up to 6,800 gallons per hour. The device has a 3.5-hour runtime for floor cleaning and will automatically return to the water’s surface when it needs a charge or has finished cleaning.

A notice published on the Department of Homeland Security’s website says the agency plans to spend up to $2 million on Boston Dynamics’ robot dog, as reported earlier by 404 Media. This comes just weeks after the Associated Press reported that ICE aims to spend up to $20 million on gloves that deliver electric shocks.

Arduino and Qualcomm have opened preorders for the Ventuno Q, an edge AI board designed to run agentic AI locally. Powered by a Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ8 processor offering up to 40 TOPS alongside a dedicated real-time microcontroller, it allows smart devices and robots to process vision, speech, and sensor data completely offline.

Humanoid robot makers are earning much of their revenue selling bots to government-backed training centers, which then sell training data back to the industry, the FT reports. It’s AI circularity all over again, stoking fresh humanoid bubble fears as Unitree soars in its stock market debut despite the US foreign robot ban.

The just-IPO’d Chinese robot maker claims it beat two human world records in one video: highest standing high jump and fastest running speed. Bolt’s top speed was 12.22 meters per second; Unitree claims 12.66. Robot marathons and MMA matches are now a thing in China, while the US is banning imports of such robots.

Samsung’s adorable rolling robot was never officially killed off, but it also never made it to retail as promised. SammyGuru just discovered an unmistakable Ballie-looking icon inside an official Samsung app during an APK teardown. More proof of life or just another death rattle?

Music-playing robots are nothing new. It’s been 13 years since Compressorhead went viral, after all. But this DIY project from Reddit user MegCell is still pretty impressive. The melody isn’t hard-coded, either. Instead, the robot can read MusicXML files, meaning, theoretically, it can play almost any song you want.

For a robot to effectively help with chores it needs to be able to interact with an environment designed for human hands. So 1X has developed a new pair of artificial hands for its $20,000 NEO Home Robot featuring 25 degrees of freedom in the fingers, palms, and thumbs allowing them to skillfully complete tasks like assembling Lego.

Domestic robots are beginning to enter the household, but we still have our doubts about how many might require a little teleoperation. You have to feel for the poor teleoperators though.

Made by Weave Robotics, Issac 1 is a fuzzy, colorful home robot that promises to collect dirty clothes, fold and put away laundry, make beds, and tidy clutter. Shipping is slated for later this year, with a $250 deposit required. While its main tasks are automated, Weave says that, like its predecessor Isaac 0, Issac 1 will be teleoperated “when needed to guarantee we complete tasks.”

I’ve never enjoyed the regular maintenance of a fish tank, so I prefer the approach that Peter and Filip from the YouTube channel, CPSdrone, took. They spent three months engineering custom 3D-printed mini submarines that zoom around an aquarium like fish and autonomously dock themselves to wireless underwater chargers.

It may never come to the US, but LG announced its new HomeBot AI Objet Collection Roni robot vacuum in South Korea today. Its charging/cleaning dock can be hidden in kitchen cabinetry (requiring some reno) but there’s also a standalone dock that looks like a nondescript side table.

The company — which provides “Digit” humanoid robots to customers like Amazon and Toyota — is set to merge with acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp and list under the ticker symbol AGLT. Agility CEO Peggy Johnson says that going public will give the company an edge over its competitors “seeking to fill the labor gap.”