Pascal Bornet
@pascal_bornet • 123,579 subscribers
Award-winning Expert, Author, and Keynote Speaker on AI and Automation
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👟 Japan just reinvented how we wear shoes — and it might change the entire footwear industry. A startup in Japan has unveiled a self-sizing sneaker pod that automatically scans your feet, adjusts its fit, and 3D-prints your perfect pair — all within minutes. No guessing sizes. No waste from mass production. Just personalized comfort, built precisely for you. The innovation: An integrated pod uses AI vision, pressure mapping, and robotic 3D printing to measure your foot shape, gait, and weight distribution — then prints a shoe that adapts as you move. Why it matters: The global footwear industry produces over 20 billion pairs a year — most in standardized sizes that don’t fit perfectly and generate enormous waste. This shift toward on-demand, personalized manufacturing could transform not just comfort, but sustainability. New possibilities unlocked: → Zero-inventory shoe stores → Custom footwear for athletes and medical use → Fully circular production powered by local pods To me, this is the kind of innovation that blends human design and AI precision — solving both personal and global challenges at once. Would you wear sneakers that are made for you, by a robot, in real time? #AI #Innovation #Technology #Design #Manufacturing #3DPrinting #Sustainability #Engineering #FutureOfWork #Japan
Pascal Bornet3,738,446 views • 4 months ago
This one actually made me pause. Scientists built a robot made of liquid. Not flexible. Liquid. It can split, merge, squeeze through tiny spaces, and then re-form. When it breaks, it heals itself. No motors. No joints. No rigid body. I’ve spent years thinking about AI as the brain of machines. This feels like the first glimpse of something else. A body that does not have a fixed shape. Today it’s millimeter-scale. Tomorrow, it’s medicine moving through the body, or machines exploring places nothing solid can reach. That thought excites me. And honestly, it unsettles me too. So here’s the question. When machines no longer have a stable form, what does “control” even mean? #AI #Robotics #SoftRobotics #Innovation #Technology #FutureOfWork
Pascal Bornet2,012,148 views • 3 months ago
China just turned the night sky into a masterpiece of precision and intelligence. 🌌 What struck me most about this is how seamlessly innovation turns into art. A drone show in Chongqing just broke the Guinness World Record with 11,787 synchronized drones, creating breathtaking 3D animations that looked closer to CGI than real life. No human pilots. No delays. No crashes. Every movement guided by AI and GPS, choreographed with perfect timing. To me, this is far more than a light show. It’s a glimpse into how technology, creativity, and coordination can merge to shape a new era of expression and innovation. When intelligence takes flight, it doesn’t just illuminate the sky — it redefines what’s possible. Could this be the moment where technology begins to turn the world itself into its stage? #AI #Innovation #Technology #Drones #Automation #Creativity #China #Engineering #FutureOfWork #DigitalArt Credits: longliveai
Pascal Bornet2,486,034 views • 5 months ago
This is the kind of robotics progress I pay attention to. Toyota introduced Walk Me, a walking wheelchair that moves on mechanical legs instead of wheels. It can climb stairs, handle rough terrain, and adapt to environments that were never designed to be accessible. The point is independence. Getting from A to B without asking the world to be perfectly flat. I have long believed robotics will not be about humanoids. It will be about task shaped machines, designed around real human constraints. Walk Me is a good example of that shift. So here is the question. If robots are shaped by tasks, not appearances, what should we design next? #Robotics #AI #Accessibility #AssistiveTechnology #HumanCenteredDesign #FutureOfWork
Pascal Bornet1,232,277 views • 3 months ago
RIP Privacy — AI Glasses Can Now Recognize Anyone, Anywhere. A Dutch journalist just tested a pair of AI-powered glasses that can instantly identify strangers on the street. No government database. No police system. Just public data and off-the-shelf AI. You look at someone and in seconds, their name, LinkedIn, and background appear before your eyes. The scariest part? You can’t really stop it. You can ban it, regulate it, add blinking red lights… but once tech like this exists, someone will always find a way to use it. To me, this marks a turning point. We’ve officially blurred the line between seeing people and knowing them. Between being in public and being exposed. So here’s the question: When every face becomes a dataset, how do we protect the meaning of being human? #AI #Privacy #Ethics #Technology #Innovation #Data #Surveillance
Pascal Bornet1,418,104 views • 5 months ago
The smartphone just declared war on the camera industry Xiaomi just dropped a wild idea: a smartphone with a detachable pro-grade camera lens. A phone that snaps on a real lens with magnets. Yes, magnets. It’s a clever move at a strange moment in history. Camera sales keep falling. Smartphones keep rising. And the real arms race isn’t glass anymore — it’s AI-powered image processing. As an AI guy and a photographer, here’s my take: Hardware won’t save the camera industry. Software will. The future of photography is no longer in the lens… it’s in the algorithm. Phones will keep getting smarter. Cameras will stay for the purists. But detachable lenses? Feels like a bridge between two worlds that are already drifting apart. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this hybrid future has a place. What do you think — genius innovation or a beautiful dead end? #AI #Tech #Photography #Innovation #Smartphones #FutureOfTech
Pascal Bornet1,458,808 views • 6 months ago
🤖 Three Japanese innovators just proved that the future of robotics can be printed — not assembled. 🇯🇵✨ I find this incredible. Japan has always led the world in robotics, but this breakthrough feels different — more creative, more human. A team of three brilliant minds has built a fully functional 3D-printed robotic system, rethinking everything from the gears to the frame. The result? Robots that are lighter, faster to produce, and easier to customize than ever before. What fascinates me is how this blends engineering and imagination — where design isn’t constrained by parts, but shaped by possibilities. This could change how we build robots, how we teach automation, and how quickly we bring new ideas to life. Would you trust a 3D-printed robot to work alongside you? #AI #Innovation #Technology #Robotics #3DPrinting #Automation #FutureOfWork #Engineering
Pascal Bornet517,297 views • 5 months ago
We might be solving the wrong problem in robotics. That’s what this makes clear. UMI → Universal Manipulation Interface A simple $400 gripper that lets you teach robots by demonstration. You hold it like a tool. Show the task. The robot learns. No teleoperation. No expensive hardware. No robot-specific data. Stanford open-sourced everything → hardware, code, datasets. What stands out to me is the bottleneck. Not algorithms. Data. Teleoperation → ~35 demos/hour UMI → ~111 demos/hour And the data transfers across robots → UR5, Franka, others. The design is surprisingly practical: → GoPro fisheye lens (155° FOV) + mirrors for depth → SLAM + IMU for precise 6DoF tracking → latency matching for dynamic tasks → diffusion policies for multimodal actions Then it scales. Cheng Chi takes this further with Sunday Robotics (with Tony Zhao). A $200 glove → deployed in 500+ homes → ~10 million real-world interactions. Not lab data. Real human behavior. Their robot learns dishes, laundry, espresso → with zero robot-specific data. This is where the shift becomes obvious. From training robots in controlled environments → to learning directly from humans at scale So here’s the real question: Will robotics be unlocked by better models… or by unlocking data? #ArtificialIntelligence #Robotics #AI #Innovation #FutureOfWork
Pascal Bornet185,651 views • 1 month ago
A drone that flies through the sky — and swims underwater. Yes, you read that right. One student just built it. Andrei Copaci created this hybrid drone for his Bachelor’s project — 3D-printed, self-coded, and powered by variable-pitch propellers that adapt mid-flight to move seamlessly between air and water. And it actually works. To me, this isn’t just a cool gadget. It’s a wake-up call. We’re watching the line between “student projects” and “industry breakthroughs” disappear. One person, a laptop, and a printer can now do what once required millions in funding and government labs. So here’s the real question: If innovation is becoming this accessible — what happens to companies and industries that still think disruption comes only from big budgets? #AI #Innovation #Technology #Robotics #FutureOfWork #STEM
Pascal Bornet474,018 views • 5 months ago
💻 The world’s first rollable PC is here — and I can’t stop thinking about what it means for the future of work. 🤯 Linus Tech Tips recently went on Jimmy Fallon to showcase something that feels futuristic yet surprisingly real - a Lenovo laptop with a rollable OLED display. When I first saw it, I couldn’t believe how seamless it looked. Closed, it’s a sleek 14-inch notebook. Press a button, and the screen extends upward, transforming into a taller, expanded workspace within seconds. What excites me most is what this signals for the future of personal computing: ➡️ Displays that reshape themselves around your workflow ➡️ Devices that adapt to your needs in real time ➡️ A step closer to technology that feels organic — not mechanical More space for code. More space for creativity. Or, as Linus joked, more room for TikTok and Instagram side by side. To me, this is what innovation should feel like - subtle, smart, and human. Would you trade your laptop for one that literally grows when you need more space? #AI #Innovation #Technology #Hardware #Lenovo #FutureOfWork #Design #Computing
Pascal Bornet416,617 views • 5 months ago
China is turning fire trucks into drone launch systems. And that is a much bigger shift than it sounds. What interests me here is not just the hardware. It is the new logic of emergency response. Instead of relying only on ladders and human entry, these systems pair fire trucks with drones that can reach high-rise fire zones quickly, fly into smoke, and send live intelligence back to crews. That is what is new. The truck is no longer just transport. It becomes a mobile aerial response base. And that matters because in dense high-rise environments, access is often the real bottleneck. To me, this is where the story gets interesting. This is not just about fighting fires better. It is about changing who gets exposed to danger first. → drones go where ladders cannot → commanders get visibility earlier → crews make faster decisions → fewer firefighters enter blind conditions That is a serious innovation. And it opens up important use cases: → faster high-rise reconnaissance → targeted suppression from outside upper floors → better coordination in smoke-heavy environments → safer response where humans cannot reach quickly That is why I would not dismiss this as just another drone demo. It is a glimpse of what emergency response looks like when robotics, data, and frontline operations finally converge. What do you think matters more here: faster firefighting, or the fact that robots may now take the first risk instead of humans? #AI #Robotics #Drones #Firefighting #Innovation #EmergencyResponse #SmartCities #FutureOfWork #Technology
Pascal Bornet96,485 views • 1 month ago
🚗 When your car becomes smarter than your survival instincts. I recently came across reports suggesting Tesla may be developing a system that automatically opens windows and the trunk if the car goes underwater. Not confirmed officially, but think about it — that’s real innovation. Not about speed or luxury, but about saving lives. Most cars become death traps when submerged. Doors seal shut. Power fails. Panic takes over. And yet, a simple line of code could change everything. I love seeing technology move beyond convenience — toward compassion. This is how we build a more human world with technology. But it also raises a question: If machines start making life-saving decisions for us, how much control should we keep — and how much should we let go? #AI #TechnologyForGood #Tesla #Innovation #HumanCenteredTech #Automation #FutureOfMobility
Pascal Bornet350,924 views • 5 months ago
A few self-driving taxis in San Francisco just demonstrated the real problem with autonomy. They were too rational. For a brief moment, several robotaxis aligned at an intersection and created a perfectly polite deadlock. No aggression. No improvisation. No human-style “you go, I’ll go.” Just algorithms waiting for clarity. And that is exactly why this moment matters. What interests me is that this was not a failure of sensing. The vehicles could see. The problem was social judgment. Because cities are not just physical systems. They are negotiation systems. They run on: → tiny signals → hesitation → assertiveness → eye contact → imperfect timing That is where autonomy gets much harder than people think. We are not only teaching machines how to detect objects and follow lanes. We are asking them to operate inside messy human environments where the right move is not always the most logical one. To me, that is the deeper lesson. The next frontier in self-driving is not just better perception. It is better judgment under uncertainty. And that is a much more difficult problem. What do you think matters more for autonomous vehicles now: seeing the road better, or learning how to navigate human ambiguity? #AI #AutonomousVehicles #SelfDrivingCars #FutureOfMobility #Innovation #Technology #SmartCities #MachineLearning #FutureOfWork
Pascal Bornet81,234 views • 1 month ago
I still remember the first time I saw a 3D printer at work. It felt like magic — objects appearing layer by layer, as if from thin air. But also limited. Flat, rigid, constrained. Now? The game has changed. 🤖 6-axis robotics × 500°C extrusion × multi-angle precision. No longer just printing layers — but printing in curves, angles, and forms nature itself would approve of. 💡 Here’s what most people don’t realize: this isn’t about size or speed. It’s about geometry. Printing along force lines instead of grids. Eliminating wasteful supports. Creating parts stronger, lighter, and closer to the way bones or shells are formed. That shift is massive. It means lighter aircraft parts. Smarter prosthetics. Custom furniture. Even buildings grown instead of built. Props to Massive Dimension × ABB Robotics for pushing the frontier. And to Florian Palatini for sparking the thought 👏 👉 Question for you: if factories can now print like nature grows, which industry gets disrupted first? #3DPrinting #Innovation #FutureOfManufacturing #Robotics
Pascal Bornet455,796 views • 8 months ago
🚁 We’ve taught drones to see what engineers once had to climb for. This fascinates me — combining drones and 3D modeling is transforming how we inspect and maintain the world’s infrastructure. Instead of slow, risky manual checks, drones now scan entire bridges in minutes — spotting even the tiniest cracks or signs of wear invisible to the naked eye. The result: faster insights, safer inspections, and data-driven maintenance that helps prevent failures before they happen. To me, this is what progress looks like — when technology doesn’t replace human expertise, but extends it. Could AI-powered drones become the new guardians of our cities’ infrastructure? #AI #Innovation #Technology #Drones #Engineering #Infrastructure #Automation #SmartCities #Data #FutureOfWork Credits: Marc Theermann
Pascal Bornet238,867 views • 4 months ago
It’s easy to overlook this… but everything in AI depends on something almost invisible. Modern transistors are measured in nanometers — where thousands fit across a single human hair. And yet, your phone contains tens of billions of them, packed into a space smaller than your fingernail. The first time you really think about it, it’s striking. Because at its core, a transistor is simple. Just a switch. On or off. 1 or 0. But when billions of these switches flip billions of times per second, they power everything: Computing. Graphics. Artificial intelligence. The contrast is fascinating. The most advanced systems we build today… rely on the simplest action, repeated at extreme scale. So here’s something I’d be curious to hear from you: As we reach atomic limits, where will the next breakthrough in computing come from? #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology #Innovation #Semiconductors #FutureOfAI
Pascal Bornet103,355 views • 2 months ago
I didn’t expect a piano to make music visible but this does. That caught my attention. Someone spent three years trying to turn sound into something you can see. No AI. No screens. Just experimentation. They tried lasers, smoke, different materials. Nothing worked. Until they found something unexpected. Bioluminescent algae. A living system that glows when disturbed, turning each note into light. The first time you see it, it feels unreal. What stands out to me is not just the result, but the process. Innovation didn’t come from better tools. It came from combining ideas across disciplines. Technology. Biology. Art. So here’s something to think about: Where do the most meaningful breakthroughs come from today… deeper expertise, or unexpected combinations? #Innovation #Creativity #Technology #FutureOfTech
Pascal Bornet59,374 views • 2 months ago
Japan’s bullet trains had a problem big enough to threaten the future of high-speed rail. At 200 mph, tunnels turned them into sonic bombs. Noise complaints grew. Communities suffered. Speed restrictions became a real risk. What stands out to me is this: The solution did not come from more force. It came from a bird. Engineer Eiji Nakatsu studied the kingfisher, which moves from air into water with barely a splash, and used that insight to redesign the Shinkansen’s nose. The result was remarkable: ↳ sonic boom dramatically reduced ↳ trains became about 10% faster ↳ electricity use dropped by around 15% But this was never just about noise. This is the deeper impact: ↳ 15% less energy has been framed as 200,000 fewer tons of CO2 annually ↳ 10% faster speeds can mean more people living outside expensive cities while still commuting ↳ quieter tunnels can mean families near the tracks finally sleeping through the night That is what makes this story bigger than engineering. One bird’s beak did not just improve a train. It reshaped how an entire system could perform, with less friction for people and the environment. I see a much bigger lesson here. The best innovation does not always come from adding more power, more cost, or more complexity. Sometimes it comes from observing better. Nature has already solved for speed, efficiency, resilience, and adaptation. The real question is whether we are humble enough to learn from it. Because the future will not belong only to those who build more powerful systems. It will belong to those who build systems that work better with reality. What system in your industry is still being forced forward when it should be fundamentally redesigned? #Innovation #Biomimicry #Engineering #Leadership #Technology #Transportation #Sustainability #AI #FutureOfWork #PascalBornet
Pascal Bornet54,380 views • 2 months ago
This video made me smile… and wince at the same time. Client → Business Analyst → Developer → Code. Same message. Four interpretations. One completely different output. We laugh because it’s funny. We cringe because it’s true. In many companies, this is how “communication” still works. Not because people are bad at their job — but because every layer introduces assumptions, translation, and context loss. 💡 My take Most people don’t know this, but miscommunication isn’t the biggest problem — missing shared context is. Teams think they speak the same language, but they actually speak four different dialects of “business logic.” What changes everything? A shared model of the truth: clear data structures, shared definitions, examples, edge cases, user stories connected to real business data… This is why AI agents, knowledge graphs, and semantic layers matter so much. They reduce interpretation and increase fidelity from idea → execution. In other words: If the context is aligned, the code stops guessing. I’m curious: Have you lived through this “telephone game” in real projects? What was the funniest (or most painful) misunderstanding you saw between a client and a dev team? #communication #productmanagement #softwaredevelopment #businessanalysis #developerlife #innovation #AI #context #digitaltransformation #teamwork
Pascal Bornet113,695 views • 5 months ago
I watched Jensen Huang being asked who the smartest person he’s ever met was. He smiled — and refused to answer. Instead, he questioned the question itself. He said what we call “smart” — coding, solving complex problems, optimizing systems — is quickly becoming commoditized. AI already does that better. That struck me. Because it means intelligence is no longer about how fast we think — but how deeply we understand. Jensen said the future belongs to those with emotional depth, adaptability, critical thinking, and the ability to navigate ambiguity. I couldn’t agree more. In a world where machines learn patterns, humans must learn perspective. Maybe being smart isn’t about knowing more… It’s about feeling and deciding better. What do you think — are we ready to redefine intelligence for the AI age? #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Leadership #Technology #FutureOfWork #EmotionalIntelligence #Innovation #Mindfulness #HumanInTheLoop #AIandHumanity
Pascal Bornet79,901 views • 3 months ago