Samsung wants a place in the humanoid race, but its new robotics push begins with machines built for factories rather than homes.
The CEO-led RX robotics division will initially focus on manufacturing robots. Samsung has separately identified humanoids as a priority, although it hasn’t announced a commercial model or explained where one fits into the division’s immediate plans.
Its ambitions clearly extend beyond conventional robot arms. The machines Samsung can deploy first, however, may look considerably less human.
The division fits Samsung’s plan to transform its manufacturing operations into AI-driven factories by 2030. Its roadmap includes humanoids alongside assembly and logistics systems.
Factories are an obvious starting market. The work is structured, the surroundings can be controlled, and Samsung already operates production facilities around the world.
That doesn’t establish the factories as training grounds for future household humanoids. It gives Samsung somewhere practical to build an industrial robotics business while the grander promises remain unfinished.
Samsung took control of Rainbow Robotics to accelerate its work on advanced robots, including humanoids. Rainbow was founded by researchers behind South Korea’s first bipedal humanoid.
Its RB-Y1 offers a more realistic picture of what could arrive first. The robot has two arms and a human-like working range, but it moves on wheels. It has reportedly undergone testing inside a Coupang warehouse, although Samsung hasn’t identified it as part of the RX division’s roadmap.
Walking robots make impressive demonstrations. Wheels make more sense when the machine has a shift to finish.
Samsung’s ambitions could eventually extend into stores and homes, but it hasn’t announced a consumer humanoid or provided a launch window.
Its history with Ballie gives us reason to stay skeptical. The rolling home robot missed its planned release before Samsung repositioned it as an internal innovation platform.
Industrial robots are Samsung’s business today. Humanoids remain the larger ambition, while a Samsung machine folding your laundry is still firmly in the PowerPoint phase.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google DeepMind's AI world model Genie 4 can now build interactive worlds that you can explore and reshape as they run. It also generates ambient sounds, music, and dialogue that respond to your actions.
The new world model builds on Genie 3 with improved realism, more natural human movement, and better simulations of real-world physics. It could eventually help with everything from game development to training robots.
Apple has an incredible talent for making me admire its products while simultaneously questioning what on earth it's thinking with the pricing. This isn't even something as bizarre as a monitor stand, but the audacity for starting a new laptop lineup from $2,000 doesn't surprise me.
The newly announced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 is just the latest to showcase this. The funny thing is, I already know that it's going to be a reliable workstation. You get a powerful new 2nm M6 processor, a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 24 hours of battery life. We were impressed by the M5 MacBook Air, so the high-end M6 powered MacBook Pro definitely won't let us down.