Business
OpenAI Exits Video Generation: OpenAI will shut down Sora, its once state-of-the-art video model
OpenAI plans to shut down its video generator Sora in a sudden retreat from the video market.
Robotics
Machine Learning Research
Coherent, Interactive Worlds: Runway’s GWM-1 models generate videos with consistent physics for robots and entertainment
Runway’s GWM-1 family of video-generation models respond to user input in real time while producing scenes that remain consistent regardless of the camera’s position.
Machine Learning Research
Coordinating Robot Teams: Google DeepMind’s RoboBallet project blends GNNs with RL to drive 8-armed robots
In factories, where teams of robotic arms work in tight spaces, their motions are programmed by hand to keep them from interfering with one another. Researchers automated this programming using graph neural networks trained via reinforcement learning.
Machine Learning Research
Better Spatial Perception for Robots: MolmoAct creates spatial maps for robots to plot their actions before executing text directions
Robot control systems that accept only text input struggle to translate words into motions in space. Researchers developed a system that enables robots to plan spatial paths before they execute text instructions.
Business
China’s Emerging AI Hub: Inside DeepSeek and the other "little dragons" transforming Hangzhou into China's Silicon Valley
Hangzhou, a longtime manufacturing hub in eastern China, is blossoming into a center of AI innovation.
Robotics
Robot Antelope Joins Herd: Chinese scientists disguise modified robot dog as antelope to study herd behavior
Researchers in China disguised a quadruped robot as a Tibetan antelope to help study the animals close-up.
Machine Learning Research
Robot Surgeon Cuts and Clips: Doctors at Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Optosurgical operate on animal organs without human intervention
An autonomous robot performed intricate surgical operations without human intervention.
Science
Robotic Beehive For Healthier Bees: Beewise’s robotic beehive uses AI to save pollinators.
An automated beehive uses computer vision and robotics to help keep bees healthy and crops pollinated.
Hardware
Meta’s Smart Glasses Come Into Focus: Meta reveals further details of Aria Gen 2 smart glasses for multisensory AI research
Meta revealed new details about its latest Aria eyeglasses, which aim to give AI models a streaming, multisensory, human perspective.
Hardware
Hugging Face Rolls Out Open Robot: Hugging Face acquires Pollen Robotics, launches Reachy 2 robot for open-source research
Hugging Face has made a name by providing open AI models. Now it’s providing an open robot.
Hardware
Humanoid Robot Price Break: Unitree and EngineAI showcase affordable humanoid robots
Chinese robot makers Unitree and EngineAI showed off relatively low-priced humanoid robots that could bring advanced robotics closer to everyday applications.
Hardware
Household Help: π0, a machine learning system for household robotics
A new generation of robots can handle some household chores with unusual skill.