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Mike Kalil

@mikekalilmfg • 3,734 subscribers

Covering the rise of the machines without an agenda. I interviewed presidential candidates in a past life but robots interest me more today.

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weird that no one noticed this part

weird that no one noticed this part

187,890 Aufrufe

This reported breakthrough apparently used a dataset that’s open for researchers. It’s the work of Eddy Xu, a teenager who was one of the first to get in on the video training data gold rush. He dropped out of Columbia last year to launch Build AI, which has raised around $22 million so far. Build AI’s Egocentric-1M dataset reportedly includes 1 million hours of data recorded using the startup’s self-developed devices across factories in Southeast Asia. A lot of it is from India. Xu has said he’s moved his team to Bengaluru, dedicating $10 million to get data from Indian factories. India has become one of the prime locations for collecting this kind of data. While enrolled at Columbia Engineering, Xu went viral in January 2025 after showing Meta Ray-Ban smart glasseshe modified to cheat at chess. The student, then 17, connected the device’s camera to a chess engine that calculated the best move and relayed it in real-time. The tech reached a wider audience thanks to popular streamer and chess master Alex Botez publicly tested them. Before college, the Long Island-raised Xu won DECA’s global business championship and sold an edtech startup that reached more than 178,000 users in 90 days. He also launched a startup called Omega Robotics in middle school, raising about $120,000 to run an independent, coach-free competitive robotics team out of a basement. Xu and co-founder Jonathan Jia, who serves as CTO, moved to San Francisco to build the first recording devices with a small team. They quickly moved operations to Shenzhen to quickly iterate and scale production. Build previously offered smaller datasets with 10,000 and 100,000 on Hugging Face but the 1M dataset requires emailing Xu directly. I’m sure he’s flooded with requests now.

This reported breakthrough apparently used a dataset that’s open for researchers. It’s the work of Eddy Xu, a teenager who was one of the first to get in on the video training data gold rush. He dropped out of Columbia last year to launch Build AI, which has raised around $22 million so far. Build AI’s Egocentric-1M dataset reportedly includes 1 million hours of data recorded using the startup’s self-developed devices across factories in Southeast Asia. A lot of it is from India. Xu has said he’s moved his team to Bengaluru, dedicating $10 million to get data from Indian factories. India has become one of the prime locations for collecting this kind of data. While enrolled at Columbia Engineering, Xu went viral in January 2025 after showing Meta Ray-Ban smart glasseshe modified to cheat at chess. The student, then 17, connected the device’s camera to a chess engine that calculated the best move and relayed it in real-time. The tech reached a wider audience thanks to popular streamer and chess master Alex Botez publicly tested them. Before college, the Long Island-raised Xu won DECA’s global business championship and sold an edtech startup that reached more than 178,000 users in 90 days. He also launched a startup called Omega Robotics in middle school, raising about $120,000 to run an independent, coach-free competitive robotics team out of a basement. Xu and co-founder Jonathan Jia, who serves as CTO, moved to San Francisco to build the first recording devices with a small team. They quickly moved operations to Shenzhen to quickly iterate and scale production. Build previously offered smaller datasets with 10,000 and 100,000 on Hugging Face but the 1M dataset requires emailing Xu directly. I’m sure he’s flooded with requests now.

13,025 Aufrufe

Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics to Unitree: “Go back to China!” Leading US robotics companies have expressed support for the restrictions. Agility CEO Peggy Johnson issued a statement endorsing the GUARD Act, saying it “sends an important market signal as US robotics companies continue investing in resilient supply chains, domestic manufacturing capabilities, and trusted technologies.” In a recent interview with futurist Peter Diamandis, she said the Oregon-based robotics firm has been working with the Trump Administration. “We have an administration that’s very focused on the humanoid robots not going the way drones did,” she said. “We used to actually have a drone industry in the US and it’s largely gone offshore. They’re trying to prevent that same thing from happening to humanoids.” Earlier this year, Boston Dynamics sent its VP of software, Matthew Malcano, to Washington to testify before Congress about its biggest overseas rival. “Unitree is rapidly capturing market share in the US university, research, and law enforcement markets,” he said. “Researchers have reported crucial Unitree cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Unitree’s robots have also been seen in PLA military exercises and its ties to Chinese military have been noted by the House Select Committee on China as well as the Department of War.” Back in 2021, Unitree joined Boston Dynamics, Agility, ANYbotics and others in signing a pledge to not weaponize its autonomous machines. The company insists that its robots, including its new $650,000 rideable Mecha, are for civilian use only.

Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics to Unitree: “Go back to China!” Leading US robotics companies have expressed support for the restrictions. Agility CEO Peggy Johnson issued a statement endorsing the GUARD Act, saying it “sends an important market signal as US robotics companies continue investing in resilient supply chains, domestic manufacturing capabilities, and trusted technologies.” In a recent interview with futurist Peter Diamandis, she said the Oregon-based robotics firm has been working with the Trump Administration. “We have an administration that’s very focused on the humanoid robots not going the way drones did,” she said. “We used to actually have a drone industry in the US and it’s largely gone offshore. They’re trying to prevent that same thing from happening to humanoids.” Earlier this year, Boston Dynamics sent its VP of software, Matthew Malcano, to Washington to testify before Congress about its biggest overseas rival. “Unitree is rapidly capturing market share in the US university, research, and law enforcement markets,” he said. “Researchers have reported crucial Unitree cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Unitree’s robots have also been seen in PLA military exercises and its ties to Chinese military have been noted by the House Select Committee on China as well as the Department of War.” Back in 2021, Unitree joined Boston Dynamics, Agility, ANYbotics and others in signing a pledge to not weaponize its autonomous machines. The company insists that its robots, including its new $650,000 rideable Mecha, are for civilian use only.

12,931 Aufrufe

As expected, Lightning by Honor Device Co. is the winner of the second annual Beijing Humanoid Robot Half Marathon

As expected, Lightning by Honor Device Co. is the winner of the second annual Beijing Humanoid Robot Half Marathon

10,271 Aufrufe

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Figure AI CEO on "Firing" OpenAI: "We just got like no value out of the whole relationship." Figure founder Brett Adcock brought a Figure 03 to Shawn Ryan's podcast, where he went into detail about the startup's early relationship with OpenAI that dissolved a year after it started. Adcock, who previously founded Archer Aviation, said the arrangement was useful for fundraising at first but not much else. "We just found that the team we had internally. We just ran like kind of circles around them like every day," he said. The breaking point came when he learned that OpenAI planned to restart its robotics program. That meant Figure's engineers would essentially be teaching a competitor. “We’re like teaching you how to do robot learning… you’re seeing our progress," he said. "There’s no way we’re going to teach you how to do this stuff anymore.” It was Adcock's first appearance for a podcaster who's not a Figure AI investor since the split. It was recorded around the time First Lady Melania Trump welcomed the $39 billion startup's third-generation robot, the Figure 03, at the White House for a summit on technology and education. Figure AI has developed its own vision-language-action model called Helix.

Figure AI CEO on "Firing" OpenAI: "We just got like no value out of the whole relationship." Figure founder Brett Adcock brought a Figure 03 to Shawn Ryan's podcast, where he went into detail about the startup's early relationship with OpenAI that dissolved a year after it started. Adcock, who previously founded Archer Aviation, said the arrangement was useful for fundraising at first but not much else. "We just found that the team we had internally. We just ran like kind of circles around them like every day," he said. The breaking point came when he learned that OpenAI planned to restart its robotics program. That meant Figure's engineers would essentially be teaching a competitor. “We’re like teaching you how to do robot learning… you’re seeing our progress," he said. "There’s no way we’re going to teach you how to do this stuff anymore.” It was Adcock's first appearance for a podcaster who's not a Figure AI investor since the split. It was recorded around the time First Lady Melania Trump welcomed the $39 billion startup's third-generation robot, the Figure 03, at the White House for a summit on technology and education. Figure AI has developed its own vision-language-action model called Helix.

194,382 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten

Barely anyone remembers when the SyFy Channel tried to make humanoid robot combat a thing back in 2013. Robot Combat League, hosted by Chris Jericho, lasted just nine episodes. It was obviously inspired by the movie Real Steel, which came out 18 months before its premier. The robots were controlled by teams of two. One operator wore a motion-control exoskeleton to throw punches, while the second operator used joysticks to control its movements. They competed for a $100,000 cash prize. The robots were around 2.4 m (8 feet) and 454 kg (1,000 lbs), and tethered to a stabilizing support rig so they could fight without having to balance independently. While it looked like the operators enjoyed themselves, the fighting was basically unwatchable for everyone else. REK, which just held an invite-only fight between two EngineAI T800 humanoids, has a better shot at becoming a watchable TV show, especially when they start incorporating weaponry. It would be surprising if they weren't in talks with a TV network or a streaming service about it.

Barely anyone remembers when the SyFy Channel tried to make humanoid robot combat a thing back in 2013. Robot Combat League, hosted by Chris Jericho, lasted just nine episodes. It was obviously inspired by the movie Real Steel, which came out 18 months before its premier. The robots were controlled by teams of two. One operator wore a motion-control exoskeleton to throw punches, while the second operator used joysticks to control its movements. They competed for a $100,000 cash prize. The robots were around 2.4 m (8 feet) and 454 kg (1,000 lbs), and tethered to a stabilizing support rig so they could fight without having to balance independently. While it looked like the operators enjoyed themselves, the fighting was basically unwatchable for everyone else. REK, which just held an invite-only fight between two EngineAI T800 humanoids, has a better shot at becoming a watchable TV show, especially when they start incorporating weaponry. It would be surprising if they weren't in talks with a TV network or a streaming service about it.

33,368 Aufrufe • vor 23 Tagen

crazy lifelike bionic robotic hand from the chinese company warmcore tech.

crazy lifelike bionic robotic hand from the chinese company warmcore tech.

60,659 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten

Vietnam’s most advanced humanoid robot shows off its newly enhanced bipedal locomotion in new footage shared by VinMotion. The subsidiary of VinGroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, emerged in June 2025 with its first bipedal humanoid robot, the Motion1. VinMotion says it designed the humanoid to fit into existing workflows, starting with light-duty industrial tasks like material transport, visual inspections, and basic assembly support on factory floors. The project was backed by $39 million in initial funding.

Vietnam’s most advanced humanoid robot shows off its newly enhanced bipedal locomotion in new footage shared by VinMotion. The subsidiary of VinGroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, emerged in June 2025 with its first bipedal humanoid robot, the Motion1. VinMotion says it designed the humanoid to fit into existing workflows, starting with light-duty industrial tasks like material transport, visual inspections, and basic assembly support on factory floors. The project was backed by $39 million in initial funding.

31,750 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten

Another South Korean humanoid robot emerges The Seoul-based company ROBROS of its IGRIS-C biped navigating obstacles autonomously on LinkedIn.

Another South Korean humanoid robot emerges The Seoul-based company ROBROS of its IGRIS-C biped navigating obstacles autonomously on LinkedIn.

32,337 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten

surprising voice. everyone has been misgendering the figure 03.

surprising voice. everyone has been misgendering the figure 03.

33,205 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten

Shanghai-based iSAGE is teasing what it calls the world’s first “spatial heterogenous” six-armed humanoid robot. The Hexa-Arm Robot is designed for crowded factory workstations where several tasks must be completed quickly and precisely. Each of its arms can reportedly operate in its own area on different jobs. The system has 120 moving joints, force control on every arm, and advanced cameras for assembly tasks.

Shanghai-based iSAGE is teasing what it calls the world’s first “spatial heterogenous” six-armed humanoid robot. The Hexa-Arm Robot is designed for crowded factory workstations where several tasks must be completed quickly and precisely. Each of its arms can reportedly operate in its own area on different jobs. The system has 120 moving joints, force control on every arm, and advanced cameras for assembly tasks.

15,123 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

Unitree Robotics founder/CEO Wang Xingxing details the first bipedal robot he developed for around ¥200 ($30)

Unitree Robotics founder/CEO Wang Xingxing details the first bipedal robot he developed for around ¥200 ($30)

12,546 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten

Budapest-based Allonic just raised $7.2 million to develop its so-called 3D tissue braiding system designed to replace traditional robot assembly. The pre-seed funding round, reportedly the largest in Hungary’s history, was led by Visionaries Club, a European early-stage investor group, with other participants including Day One Capital, Prototype, SDAC Ventures, TinyVC, and angel investors affiliated with OpenAI and Hugging Face.

Budapest-based Allonic just raised $7.2 million to develop its so-called 3D tissue braiding system designed to replace traditional robot assembly. The pre-seed funding round, reportedly the largest in Hungary’s history, was led by Visionaries Club, a European early-stage investor group, with other participants including Day One Capital, Prototype, SDAC Ventures, TinyVC, and angel investors affiliated with OpenAI and Hugging Face.

15,154 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten

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