Boardwalk Robotics has introduced its new humanoid robot called Alex, aiming to enhance productivity and efficiency across various industries.
A video released by the firm showcases the humanoid, devoid of legs, carrying out various household tasks like organizing and cleaning a vessel.
Founded in 2017, Boardwalk has been a key commercial partner with the Institute for Human Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Florida, particularly in the construction of robots.
Skyfire claims it is offering the world’s first payment network designed to support fully autonomous transactions across AI agents, large language models (LLMs), data platforms and various service providers.
This development marks a significant step toward creating a new global economy where AI agents can function as independent economic actors, capable of making and receiving payments without human intervention.
“We really see that next million users for a lot of these [vendor] companies coming from AI agents being the customer,” said Sarhangi.
Common push puppet toys in the shapes of animals and popular figures can move or collapse with the push of a button at the bottom of the toys’ base. Now, a team of UCLA engineers has created a new class of tunable dynamic material that mimics the inner workings of push puppets, with applications for soft robotics, reconfigurable architectures and space engineering.
Inside a push puppet, there are connecting cords that—when pulled taut—will make the toy stand stiff. But by loosening these cords, the “limbs” of the toy will go limp. Using the same cord tension-based principle that controls a puppet, researchers have developed a new type of metamaterial, a material engineered to possess properties with promising advanced capabilities.
Published in Materials Horizons, the study demonstrates the new lightweight metamaterial, which is outfitted with either motor-driven or self-actuating cords that are threaded through interlocking cone-tipped beads. When activated, the cords are pulled tight, causing the nesting chain of bead particles to jam and straighten into a line, making the material turn stiff while maintaining its overall structure.
Scientists are trying to build a new sort of satellite, and have recently tested their idea with the Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment, or “StarFOX.” You may be getting flashbacks to the retro Star Fox video game series — and you’d be right to imagine this experiment as a science fiction fantasy brought into reality. There are no space-faring animals here, though.
Basically, StarFOX is a quartet of small satellites that work in tandem — a satellite “swarm,” as it’s sometimes called. This concept isn’t entirely new, but there’s something that sets StarFOX apart from standard satellite swarms. Typically, these conglomerates need external help in terms of orientation — but StarFOX’s four satellites can gauge their own positions with onboard cameras, an ability that could allow them to operate autonomously well beyond Earth orbit.
Can a process as complex as science be automated?
Scientific discovery is one of the most sophisticated human activities. First, scientists must understand the existing knowledge and identify a significant gap.
Next, they must formulate a research question and design and conduct an experiment in pursuit of an answer.
Then, they must analyse and interpret the results of the experiment, which may raise yet another research question.