If a gymnastics contest is ever launched for humanoid robots, we’re probably looking at the gold medalist right here.
In a new video (below) released this week by robotics specialist Unitree, its G1 humanoid robot is shown performing a number of flips and other moves before showing off various kung-fu moves — another sport it could probably do well in.
Unitree G1 Kungfu Kid V6.0
A year and a half as a trainee — I’ll keep working hard! Hope to earn more of your love🥰 pic.twitter.com/F8UeXjctqp
It’s all very impressive, with the 130-centimeter-tall robot exhibiting truly astonishing agility and balance for such a complex piece of kit.
But a peek at the comments accompanying the video suggest that while some folks may be wowed by the footage, it’s starting to feel like we’ve seen it all before (because we have).
An increasing number of people are keen to know more about how the current crop of humanoid robots can be useful in a practical, real-world sense, like performing chores about the house.
“Can it do the laundry and put it away?” one commenter asks, while another wants to know if the G1 can fetch it a cold beer from the fridge.
“I just want it to do my laundry and clean my house, I don’t want a killing machine at my home,” says another.
It could just be that Unitree shares these videos because of their ability to turn heads and get people engaged, but the G1 has a lot more to it than a few fancy moves.
For example, Unitree’s humanoid robot incorporates computing smarts that enable it to run AI algorithms for real-time decision-making and reinforcement learning, enabling it to do things like navigate an environment without human intervention, tailor its behavior to better serve the needs of customers or colleagues, or spot when an intervention is required, whether for a human in need or a faulty machine that needs attention.
The Unitree G1 humanoid robot is available for purchase (it appeared briefly in Walmart’s online store last week for $21,600) and is currently pitched as a low-cost, versatile platform targeted mainly at research institutions, universities, industrial developers, and robotics enthusiasts interested in AI development and automation. But Unitree also envisions it being used in industrial settings, carrying out various tasks in locations like factories and warehouses, agriculture and farming, and even search and rescue operations, among other scenarios.
The market for humanoid robots is expected to expand hugely in the coming years, with increasingly advanced technology giving the robots even more skills and capabilities. But mass deployment in the workplace still feels a long way off.
As for robot home helpers, if it’s the laundry you want taken care of then Figure’s humanoid robot appears to be the one to watch.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.