Fresh coverage from across the beats.
What we’re watching next in humanoids
Two hundred startups chase a $100K prize—humanoid teams included. Startup Battlefield is back, inviting entries for its 200-strong cohort. The program promises three concrete benefits: access to venture capital, coverage from TechCrunch, and a $100,000 prize, all with a path toward broader visibilit
Orbiting AI: Data centers rise above Earth
Space-based data centers could finally cool AI’s surge without cracking the grid. That’s the bold claim rattling through Silicon Valley after MIT Technology Review reported that SpaceX filed with the FCC to launch up to one million orbiting data centers, a move meant to unleash AI at scale while sid
Humanoid Training Goes Home: The Gig Data Boom
Gig workers training humanoid robots at home just unlocked a data gold rush. In a Palo Alto startup’s quiet corner of the AI race, the quiet click of a phone camera is shaping the next generation of humanlike machines. Micro1 has built a sprawling, globally distributed workforce—thousands of contrac
Gig workers train humanoids at home, sparking AI benchmark rethink
Thousands of gig workers around the world are teaching robots at home—one chore video at a time. In Nigeria, a medical student named Zeus straps an iPhone to his forehead and records himself tidying an apartment, then sends the clips to robotics firms. The arrangement is becoming how humanoid robot
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I can’t write a humanoid-focused desk brief from the single source you provided. That TechCrunch article is about discounted passes for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, not about any humanoid robot, demonstration, or technical specs. I don’t want to miscast the event or invent details. If you’d like, I can
Apple to Appeal to Supreme Court Over App Store Fees
Apple is headed back to the Supreme Court to defend its App Store commissions. Apple has filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the timing and scope of commissions charged on mobile purchases when third-party payment systems are used. It also requested a stay on a lower-court ruling tha
Jurassic Bag Signals Auto-Bio Fabrication Era
A dinosaur-protein handbag signals a coming era of automated materials. The spectacle of a luxury bag stitched from dinosaur-protein textures headlines a broader shift: materials are being designed, grown, and assembled with an increasing blend of synthetic biology, AI-guided design, and automated m
New Jersey can't block Kalshi, court rules
New Jersey can't block Kalshi's prediction market. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the state lacks authority to regulate Kalshi's platform, which lets people bet on the outcomes of events, including sports. The decision centers on federal jurisdictio
Gig-Workers Train Humanoid Robots at Home
Gig workers are teaching robots to move like humans. A remote army of data couriers is quietly powering the next wave of humanoid robotics, recording themselves folding laundry, washing dishes, and cooking in makeshift studios around the world. The core event: real people with iPhones strapped to th
Fifty Years of Automation: The Original Palletizer
Monsanto's drum dilemma sparked a palletizer revolution. In 1976, two engineers at Monsanto spotted workers wrestling with heavy 55-gallon drums, weighing about 400 to 500 pounds apiece, and sustaining frequent injuries in the process. Their solution was elegantly simple: a modular palletizer that t
AI & Machine Learning
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Orbiting Data Centers: AI’s Clean-Energy Bet
One million orbiting data centers could finally sever AI from Earth's energy chokehold. MIT Technology Review reports a bold bet: SpaceX has filed with the FCC to launch up to one million data centers into orbit, a move designed to unleash AI at scale while sidestepping the planet’s resource constra
Gig workers train humanoids; benchmarks crumble
Gig workers at home train humanoids; AI benchmarks crumble. Zeus, a medical student in Nigeria, straps an iPhone to his forehead and records himself doing chores for Micro1, a startup that sells those videos to robotics labs hoping humanoids will one day clean our kitchens without supervision. The a
Orbital Data Centers Take Center Stage
SpaceX wants to park up to one million data centers in orbit. The audacious plan is pitched as AI’s answer to Earth’s climate and energy limits—move the compute, and the grid stress, up into space. The MIT Technology Review explainer outlines a bold constellation of ambitions: SpaceX has filed an FC
Industrial Robotics
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NLP in Test Automation Reshapes Factory QA
Plain-English prompts now generate the tests that keep automation honest. A new wave of NLP-driven test automation is moving from demo to deployment, and manufacturing teams are watching how it changes release cadences for control software, HMI interfaces, and PLC logic. In the article that’s turnin
Warehouse Robots People Actually Enjoy
Warehouse robots that people actually enjoy working with are changing the floor. At the Robotics Summit & Expo, the spotlight weren’t the latest actuators or fancy sensors, but the hard-to-quantify art of making automation serve human workers. Anthony Jules, co-founder and CEO of Robust.AI, led the
Warehouse Robots That Truly Work With Humans
Warehouse robots aren’t replacing workers; they’re partnering with them. At the Robotics Summit & Expo, industry leaders argued that true productivity gains hinge on designing automation that fits real human workflows, not just faster bots. The centerpiece of the discourse was a shift in mindset: au
Agile Robots buys Thyssenkrupp Automation Assets
Agile Robots snapped up Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering's assets. The Munich-based AI robotics specialist announced the acquisition of Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering’s assets in Europe and North America, a move designed to accelerate its push into next‑generation automation and broaden its
Humanoids
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Faraday Future's Aegis Clears U.S. Sales Certification
Faraday Future’s Aegis quadruped just earned a green light for U.S. sales. Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. announced that its FX Aegis quadruped has passed all FCC certifications needed to sell in the United States, joining its two humanoid siblings, FF Futurist and FF Master, which previou
Faraday Future Aegis Clears FCC, U.S. Sales
FCC clearance means Faraday Future can sell its four-legged Aegis in the U.S. starting now. Engineering documentation shows the FX Aegis quadruped has passed the FCC’s safety, security, and spectrum tests, the company disclosed. The certification, issued by the FCC Authorization and Certification Di
Invences Pushes Autonomous Networks for Small Biz
A Texas startup just wired small businesses with autonomous networks. Invences, founded in 2023 by Bhaskara Rallabandi and based in Frisco, Texas, is betting that automation will be the next big leap for everyday commerce. The company designs, builds, and installs data centers and private, secure wi
Laser Link to the Moon: Artemis II Optical System
Artemis II will beam moon data back to Earth in blazing laser light. MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) is the laser terminal flying with NASA’s crewed lunar mission. The system, developed in collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is designed
Consumer Tech
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Apple AI scraping suit shocks creators
Three YouTubers sue Apple, claiming the tech giant illegally scraped their videos to train its AI models. In a class-action filed recently, h3h3 Productions, MrShortGameGolf, and Golfholics allege that Apple circumvented “controlled streaming architecture” on YouTube to harvest video content for tra
NJ Ruling Undermines State Bets on Kalshi
A federal appeals court just told New Jersey: don’t try to ban Kalshi’s prediction market. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that New Jersey lacks the authority to regulate Kalshi’s platform, which lets people wager on the outcomes of events—from sports res
Analysis
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White House Unveils National AI Policy Framework
The White House just rolled out a federal AI playbook. The National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, released on March 20, lays out a broad set of legislative actions the administration wants Congress to take to govern AI in the United States. Policy documents show the framework’s centr
Print Blocking: Gatekeeping 3D Printing
Three states want 3D printers that only run vendor software. Policy documents show they’d also require each print to be checked for forbidden shapes. The proposal, first highlighted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, would tilt 3D printing from a broadly open, community-driven technology toward
Print Blockers on 3D Printers Headed to Statehouses
Print blockers on 3D printers head to statehouses—and they’ll fail. Legislators across the United States are weighing laws to force “print blockers” on 3D printers sold in their states, a move the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues is both anti-consumer and likely to backfire. In Permission to Pr
Federal AI rulebook to replace state patchwork
Congress now has a federal AI rulebook to replace a patchwork of state laws. The White House released a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence on March 20, urging Congress to enact nationwide legislation that would standardize AI governance across the United States. The policy documen
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