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The first human patient has received an implant from Neuralink, Elon Musk’s computer-brain interface company. Andrew Chang explores the complexity of the N1 implant, how it’s working in clinical trials, and what Neuralink is trying to achieve with the device.

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Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

Cybathlon Challenges: 2 February 2024, ZURICH ICRA 2024: 13–17 May 2024, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN

Enjoy today’s videos!

Researchers used a rubbery polymer to make a new electrolyte membrane that is less likely to crack and lasts 1.7 times longer than before.

BYD’s announcement of a substantial upgrade to its intelligent driving system signals a notable advancement in its efforts to improve this technology. Scheduled for March 30th, this update signifies a significant step forward for BYD in the realm of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The upgrade will further enhance its Navigation On Autopilot (NOA) or its internally known Urban Navigation Assistance (UNA) system in cities across China.

The upgrade was alluded to in 2023 with the BYD Denza N7 with its advanced lidar system and came on the heels of recent improvements to Xpeng’s XNGP intelligent driving system. Telsa has also been a strong competitor in the intelligent driving race, with announcements last year aiming to improve its FSD system. According to sources, the initial rollout of BYD’s Urban Navigation Assistance (UNA) system is slated for March 30th, starting with the N7 model among its existing lineup of over 20 vehicles.

A Chinese team of life scientists, microbiologists, plant researchers and seed designers has developed a way to grow engineered moss with partially synthetic genes. In their project, reported in the journal Nature Plants, the group engineered a moss that is one of the first living things to have multiple cells carrying a partially artificial chromosome.

Several research projects have been working toward the goal of creating plants with synthetic genes —such plants could be programmed to produce more food, for example, or more oxygen, or to pull more carbon dioxide from the air. Last year, one team of researchers developed a way to program up to half of the genome of yeast cells using synthetic genes.

In this new effort, the team in China upped the ante by replacing natural moss genes with genes created in a lab—moss is far more genetically complex than yeast. They call their project SynMoss.

A coating that can hide objects in plain sight, or an implant that behaves exactly like bone tissue—these extraordinary objects are already made from “metamaterials.” Researchers from TU Delft have now developed an AI tool that not only can discover such extraordinary materials but also makes them fabrication-ready and durable. This makes it possible to create devices with unprecedented functionalities. They have published their findings in Advanced Materials.

The properties of normal materials, such as stiffness and flexibility, are determined by the molecular composition of the material, but the properties of metamaterials are determined by the geometry of the structure from which they are built. Researchers design these structures digitally and then have it 3D-printed. The resulting metamaterials can exhibit unnatural and extreme properties. Researchers have, for instance, designed metamaterials that, despite being solid, behave like a fluid.

Continue reading “New AI tool discovers realistic ‘metamaterials’ with unusual properties” »

The first Hyundai plant dedicated to building EVs and batteries in the US will be open as soon as this October. According to Hyundai Motor America CEO Jose Munoz, the brand is “pulling ahead” to gain eligibility for the $7,500 EV tax credit.

Hyundai began construction on its massive $7.6 billion EV megaplant in Georgia in October 2022. A year later, the company announced that 99.9% of the foundation work was complete as it fast-tracked construction.

The site “is advancing ever day,’” according to Oscar Kwon CEO of the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA).

IFixit went inside the Vision Pro to count every pixel.

Chinese EV maker Geely is launching a 4WD version of its Radar RD6 electric truck that will rival the Cybertruck. According to the brand’s CEO, it will have similar acceleration to Tesla’s Cybertruck while carrying heavy loads.

Geely, the parent company behind Volvo, Polestar, ZEEKR, and others, launched its Radar brand in 2022.

The brand is touted as “China’s first pure electric outdoors lifestyle vehicle brand.” Its first electric adventure vehicle, the RD6, began rolling out in China in September, starting at RMB 178,800 ($25,000).