🤖 Kim’s new BFF: Kim Kardashian’s showing off her new Tesla robot on X and Instagram. In one clip, she makes half of a heart with her hand and the bot completes it. In another, she teaches it to blow a kiss and tries the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. Optimus goes into full production by 2026 for $20,000 to $30,000 a pop. I wonder if another Kim K. can get a freebie …
Love a happy story: A New York woman received the first ever fully robotic double lung transplant. Cheryl, a 57-year-old scuba diver with a black belt in karate, received the procedure following 15 years of chronic lung disease. The surgery was a success and less invasive than a typical transplant. She’s breathing easy and ready to return to her adventures.
AI window-washing robots make their U.S. debut in Dallas
🧽 Window washing 2.0: Cleaning high-rise windows is risky work, but a spider-like AI robot is about to change that. Named after those gravity-defying mountain goats, Ibex only needs a button press to get to work. It climbs buildings, using cameras and sensors to scan surfaces, dodge window frames and leave no spot untouched. The robots are already in Texas, so don’t be surprised if they pop up everywhere soon.
🤖 People don’t want robots reporting the news: A pair of AI news anchors are #opentowork after just two months at a Hawaiian newspaper. The duo, James and Rose, read articles in a virtual studio. Viewers felt more creeped out than informed as they mispronounced Hawaiian names and hardly blinked. Definitely not anyone’s ohana!
🤖 Kim’s new BFF: Nope, not me Kim — the other Kim K.! Kim Kardashian’s showing off her new butt Tesla robot on X and Instagram. In one clip, she makes half of a heart with her hand and the bot completes it. In another, she teaches it to blow a kiss and tries the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. Optimus goes into full production by 2026 for $20,000 to $30,000 a pop. I wonder if this Kim K. can get a freebie …
Have you seen these missing robots? In China, 12 robots were “kidnapped” from a robotics showroom by … another robot. CCTV video shows the robot thief breaking in and convincing the other machines to quit their jobs. The viral moment was just a test but still gives me the willies.
27 bids later: The first painting by a humanoid robot just sold for $1.08 million. Auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York, it was expected to go for $180,000, tops. The piece, titled “AI God,” is a portrait of Alan Turing, a renowned mathematician and computer scientist. The buyer got ripped off.
Baby got back: Researchers used a custom-built robot (wheeled and padded with foam) with eight toddlers to assess the kiddos’ physical activity. When the kids got close, the robot rewarded them with sounds, lights and bubbles. No surprise, the two- and three-year-olds moved around way more while playing with the robots than with a regular toy. Toddlers getting robots for Christmas is just a year away, unfortunately.
🧽 Clear view of where this is going: Cleaning high-rise windows is risky. Enter a spider-like AI robot named Ibex that can climb buildings and use cameras and sensors to scan surfaces, dodge window frames and leave no spot untouched. The robots are already in Texas, so don’t be surprised if you see one crawling around near you.
🎻 Keep calm and cello on: A Swedish composer put together a symphony with a robot cellist playing in sync with humans. But there’s good news: Afterward, the composer said, “It will be impossible to replace all human musicians with robots.” Watch the video here. It’s really something.
Robot plays cello with Malmö Symphony Orchestra at concert
Atlas doesn’t need lunch breaks: Boston Dynamics just dropped a new video of its humanoid robot Atlas. The bot does factory work, like moving engine covers between supplier containers and a mobile sequencing dolly — complete with full-motion bending and turning. The big deal is that no human needs to tell the bot what to do after training.
Boston Dynamics' Atlas goes hands-on
Atlas doesn’t need lunch breaks: Boston Dynamics just dropped new footage of its humanoid robot Atlas. The bot does factory work, like moving engine covers between supplier containers and a mobile sequencing dolly — complete with full-motion bending and turning. The big deal is that no human needs to tell the bot what to do after training.
I get this: My Amazon Astro robot has been turned off, and I miss the little guy. Rationally, we know robots don’t feel emotions. Practically, we’re still softies. Researchers in the Netherlands asked participants to shake a robot. If it was silent, they’d do it again — no problem. If the bot made a sad sound, they’d try to avoid it.
3,000-plus parts
Make up the new walking, talking Buzz Lightyear robot. For a whopping $599, you can recreate the “Toy Story” franchise’s scenes and missions. That’s a lot of money for a toy the kiddos will use for a week and never look at again. I know what you’re thinking: “My bathroom scale is nicknamed Buzz Lightyear. When I step on, it goes to infinity and beyond.”
$40,000 selling price
For art created by robot dogs. Artist Agnieszka Pilat is teaching Boston Dynamics’ bots Basia, Vanya and Bunny to paint by holding brushes in their “mouths.” He just sits back and watches. Pretty farfetched, eh?
Cute … for now: Meet Proteus, a little bot zipping around Amazon’s Nashville facility. It can load packages up to 880 pounds into trucks. When its battery runs low, Proteus recharges in 8 minutes and then gets back to work. Amazon says they aren’t replacing humans (yet), but these little helpers already have fulfillment costs down 25%.
He’s got big dreams … and nuts: The Optimus robots at Tesla’s big event last week aren’t as advanced as Elon wants you to think. A bunch of attendees posted videos asking the bots if they were human. One hesitantly replied, “Today, I am assisted by a human.” They all have different voices, too. At $20,000 to $30,000 a pop, the final product had better be fully automated. I’d like mine to sound like Sean Connery.
Substitute student: A new robot, AV1, helps sick kids stay on track. The little guy acts as their eyes, ears and voice, complete with a rotating camera, mic and speaker, all controlled via an app. It even has a “raise hand” feature and emoji eyes. It’s just under $5,000 (plus $1,000 a year in fees). Give it a year, and it’ll be half that price.