July 8, 2025

Wayve CEO Alex Kendall brings the future of autonomous AI to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 hits Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27–29, bringing together more than 10,000 startup and VC leaders for a deep dive into the future of technology. One of the most compelling conversations on one of the AI Stages will feature a panel of innovators redefining what intelligent systems can do — […]

Technology

A polyester-dissolving process could make modern clothing recyclable  

July 3, 2024
Less than 1% of clothing is recycled, and most of the rest ends up dumped in a landfill or burned. A team of researchers hopes to change that with a new process that breaks down mixed-fiber clothing into reusable, recyclable parts without any sorting or separation in advance.  “We need a better way to recycle…

From burritos to biotech: How robotics startup Cartken found its AV niche

July 3, 2024

Cartken and its diminutive sidewalk delivery robots first rolled into the world with a narrow charter: carrying everything from burritos and bento boxes to pizza and pad thai that last mile to hungry customers.  But the vision — thanks to the startup’s approach to autonomous vehicle technology — was always broader, according to Cartken co-founder […]

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The Download: listening robots, and Google’s AI emissions

July 3, 2024
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A way to let robots learn by listening will make them more useful Most AI-powered robots today use cameras to understand their surroundings and learn new tasks, but it’s becoming easier to train…

A way to let robots learn by listening will make them more useful

July 3, 2024
Most AI-powered robots today use cameras to understand their surroundings and learn new tasks, but it’s becoming easier to train robots with sound too, helping them adapt to tasks and environments where visibility is limited.  Though sight is important, for some of our daily tasks, sound is actually more helpful, like listening to onions sizzling…

The Download: mind-controlled prosthetics, and the price of AI training data

July 2, 2024
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. People can move this bionic leg just by thinking about it  What’s new: When someone loses part of a leg, a prosthetic can make it easier to get around. But most prosthetics are…

AI companies are finally being forced to cough up for training data

July 2, 2024
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The generative AI boom is built on scale. The more training data, the more powerful the model.  But there’s a problem. AI companies have pillaged the internet for training data, and…

The Download: fish-safe hydropower, and fixing space debris

July 1, 2024
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How fish-safe hydropower technology could keep more renewables on the grid Hydropower is the world’s leading source of renewable electricity, generating more power in 2022 than all other renewables combined. But while hydropower…

How fish-safe hydropower technology could keep more renewables on the grid

July 1, 2024
Hydropower is the world’s leading source of renewable electricity, generating more power in 2022 than all other renewables combined. But while hydropower is helping clean up our electrical grid, it’s not always a positive force for fish. Dams that create reservoirs on rivers can change habitats. And for some species, especially those that migrate long…

Robot cats, dogs and birds are being deployed amid an ‘epidemic of loneliness’

June 30, 2024

In the early 1990s, a researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology began work on what would become Paro. More than 30 years after its development, the doe-eyed seal pup remains the best-known example of a therapeutic robot for older adults. In 2011, the robot reached the zenith of pop cultural […]

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