The Weird Reality of China’s Robot Maid Invasion
In China, an army of humanoid robots is rolling into households. They’re attempting what everyone else so far has failed to do.
World Models
World models are a class of AI systems that learn internal representations of how the physical or virtual worlds work so autonomous agents can predict outcomes, simulate scenarios, and plan actions before execution.
The Startup Trading Free Cleaning for In-Home Video Data
Shift, the new startup that’s offering to clean NYC apartments for free in exchange for in-home video data to train robots, is based in Germany, where it would face much tougher legal barriers.
Huawei-Backed Robot Maid Enters Wuhan Apartments for Free Testing
The Huawei-backed startup GigaAI just launched its AI-powered robot maid, the SeeLight S1.
Shenzhen’s KinetixAI Surprises with Ultra-Lifelike KAI Humanoid Robot
The latest Chinese humanoid robot is so humanlike, people are convinced it’s a person in a costume.
What Is So Special About Generalist AI’s GEN-1?
Generalist AI has been publishing research since January 2026, but their latest release has generated a lot of buzz with their GEN-1 model.
Are Humanoid Robots Learning Fast Enough to Make It?
Coming out of CES 2026 and its unprecedented robotics display, expectations are through the roof. So is skepticism.
Beijing Open-Sources First AI Robot Brain That Passes China’s Autonomy Standards
China just open-sourced a robot brain the government says can safely think, move, and work on its own.
The Teenager Who Hacked Smart Glasses and Built World’s Largest Human-Labor Dataset
Eighteen-year-old Eddy Xu says he dropped out of Columbia, moved to Asia, and convinced thousands of factory workers to wear head-mounted cameras to create what he calls the world’s largest manual-labor dataset.
Google Veo, Runway AI Pitched as World Models for Next-Gen Robotics
The world’s most popular AI video-generation platforms are racing into robotics, reframing their creative tools as rehearsal spaces for next-generation machines.
World Labs Previews AI Tool to Transform Photographs into 3D Environments
Fei-Fei Li’s new $1 billion startup, World Labs, just unveiled its advanced AI system that generates immersive 3D scenes directly within a web browser.
OpenAI o1 Strawberry Model and Robotics, 1X World Model, Spot Robot Dog at Fusion Plant, DeepMind Accelerated Training
What impact could OpenAI’s new Strawberry model have on robotics?