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Tech News
At an annual robotics showcase in Beijing, humanoid robots competed across events including sprints, standing high jump, kickboxing and dance routines. Several machines reportedly surpassed human world records, including in the 100-meter and 400-meter sprints, while others suffered dramatic falls during the competitions.
A roundup covers Meta's reckoning moment alongside separate stories: the real-world impact of school phone bans, the rise and fall of a self-styled 'Nostradamus of AI' figure, and Nvidia's push to power robotics infrastructure globally.
Meta is testing robots from vendors like Kinova, ABB, and Watney Robotics to perform physical data center tasks such as power-cycling servers, swapping network cables, and restarting machines. Internal workers say one arm alone could eventually take over up to 80% of certain job duties if trials succeed. The initiative has not been previously disclosed.
Beijing hosted the second World Humanoid Robot Games, a five-day event featuring humanoid robots competing in sprints, weightlifting, and cheerleading routines. Alongside genuine performance gains over last year's inaugural games, the event was marked by spectacular malfunctions, including robots losing limbs, catching fire, and crashing into judges' tables.
Chinese robotics firms are building humanoid and industrial robots using Nvidia's chips and simulation software, an area of AI hardware trade that remains largely permitted under current U.S. export rules. Nvidia has positioned itself as a key infrastructure provider for this 'physical AI' sector, supplying both computing power and development platforms to Chinese customers despite broader U.S.-China tech tensions.
Artist Simon Weckert has designed a garment called Digital Camouflage featuring an abstract pattern of green, pink, and orange shapes. While the pattern looks like ordinary decorative art to people, it is engineered to confuse computer vision systems so they fail to recognize the wearer as a human.
Xpeng's robotics division closed a funding round exceeding $900 million, valuing the unit at over $6.3 billion, in what the company calls China's largest-ever private financing for embodied AI. IDG Capital led the round with backing from Gaorong Ventures, Tencent and Alibaba, while Xpeng founder He Xiaopeng and co-president Brian Gu personally contributed roughly $100 million. Other Chinese automakers—including BYD, Chery's AiMOGA unit, Changan, GAC, Li Auto, SAIC and Seres—are also building or preparing to spin off humanoid robot programs.
BlackBerry, once a dominant smartphone maker known for its BBM messaging service, has reshaped itself into a software company focused on automotive systems and secure communications. CEO John Giamatteo says this shift has driven the company's share price to double this year, even though it remains well below its 2008 peak.
BlackBerry, once dominant in mobile phones and messaging via BBM, has reinvented itself as a provider of secure software for vehicles and communications. CEO John Giamatteo told CNBC's 'The Tech Download' that the company's shares have doubled this year as investors respond to this shift, with AI now factoring into its future plans.
Meta is testing robots from vendors including Watney Robotics, Kinova, and ABB to perform physical data center tasks such as power-cycling servers and swapping networking cables. Internal workers say one robotic arm being evaluated could eventually replace up to 80 percent of certain workers' tasks, while a simpler device already in use can remotely press power buttons to restart machines.
Salem Robotics, founded by veterans of UT Austin robotics research and Los Alamos National Laboratory, is building software that lets existing mobile robots perform hazardous industrial inspections such as radioactive contamination smears and leak detection checks. The system focuses on precise, constrained manipulation—keeping a probe normal to a surface or within a tight offset from a pipe—while accounting for kinematics, joint limits, and collisions. The company demonstrated its software running on real robot hardware in a launch video.
Hyundai CEO José Muñoz said the automaker intends to use its existing dealer network to sell humanoid and quadruped robots from Boston Dynamics, which Hyundai acquired an 80% stake in back in 2021. The company is also exploring having its financing arm, Hyundai Capital, offer loans for these robots similar to how it finances vehicle purchases.