Look at the contrast between Figure AI throwing their robots into molten steel vs the @UnitreeRobotics HX-2. It's not lost on anyone that this robot could also be used to cause harm, but this video is a very optimistic take. I've always thought it was weird that people couldn't see any applications in a highly athletic robot. Protecting someone from an attacker, saving a child from being hit by a car, etc. In the US, we're building geriatric little robots that can fold laundry and load the dishwasher. In China, they are trying to build superheroes. With manipulation control models rapidly becoming a race to the cost floor, to accuse Chinese robots of merely being parkour demonstrations is short-sighted. The difference is very simple… In the US, a robot won't succeed unless it can independently spur economic growth or make some people a lot of money. In China, the government can simply benchpress new sectors into existence through strategic partnerships and spending with private industry. I'm sure one of these things will be asking me to see my visa the next time I'm in China. Places like crowded city centers and airports will have them first. The robot cannot fear for its bodily harm, so the potential for it to be a protector (rather than an antagonist on a bad day, à la police officer) is there, depending on the choices of the creators.

Seems like every other white paper claims that their idea can be easily commercialized, usually written by a bunch of PhDs who have never shipped a product in their lives. And authors can claim novelty now because people are widely looking at robot arms again, so they take half-century old concepts and reapply them to whatever open-source little 3-D printed arm they found connected to whatever hugging face software setup was vibe coded for them by their Claude subscription. It's OK to be honest about when you are applying old ideas to a more receptive audience - you don't have to claim everything is a breakthrough.

Who still thinks their models and data are a moat?

Another Pied Piper box!

The guys who went and bought 30 Mac minis last year because they misunderstood open claw are going to once again bankrupt themselves because the 2026 box comes preconfigured for them. Action Jack Barker would be proud of the new Pied Piper Box. 🙂 Really smart, young team, but it seems no one is safe from the lure of VC dollars.

Very important research as everyone goes into @SFTechWeek

We're hosting a special robotics event at @MissionRobotBay for @SFTechWeek on October 7th. As all claim and some deliver on, we are doing things differently. We are optimizing for hardware builders first and foremost, high conviction people with spicy approaches to problems, and even some investors. If you haven't put your hands on an actual robot yet, let's fix that. Drinks and refreshments will be served. Space is limited, so DM us for a spot. Cohosting with @BaslyAsma and @Scav ! partiful.com/e/TprLtwRJBJaBw…

I never found an eye on either of my wrists or palms so this makes plenty of sense to me.

This is awesome

Real world, live demonstrations. No fancy editing or celeb endorsements.

It's never been a better time to build - don't wait for tomorrow!

slop as a service (SaaS)

Some of the leader arms I've tried for teleop are terrible! Who makes a good one? What am I missing? If this is how we're training robots then no wonder they suck. 🙂‍↕️ I can see why egocentric data (grippers you hold with cameras on them) probably produce better results. But those are for more training more than teleop (correct me if I'm wrong about this). Which brands use proper depth cameras or LIDAR and a headset so that you don't have to guess how far out to stretch your arm? Or something along those lines? Are there any controllers that create some proprioception rather than forcing my brain to fuse multiple camera angles of exteroception? The force feedback once I grip is nice, but what about during the last inch of my approach?

Boo bring back bird legs