Robots articles

  • Befriend this flamethrowing robot dog before it’s too late

    Last week, flamethrowing robo-dogs became the newest draft pick for the military-industrial complex. Now, I love dogs. I am proudly a “dog person.” Hopefully, my dog buddies will be waiting for me in heaven. But I don’t know how to feel about Throwflame’s weaponized dog, Thermonator. With the push of a button for the plasma arc ignition, the murder mutt starts marching in a perfect cadence. This quarter-gallon of canned Mt. Vesuvius is undoubtedly capable of far more than we even...

  • The Download: robotics’ data bottleneck, and our AI afterlives

    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. The robot race is fueling a fight for training data We’re interacting with AI tools more directly—and regularly—than ever before. Interacting with robots, by way of contrast, is still a rarity for most.…

  • The robot race is fueling a fight for training data

    Since ChatGPT was released, we now interact with AI tools more directly—and regularly—than ever before. But interacting with robots, by way of contrast, is still a rarity for most. If you don’t undergo complex surgery or work in logistics, the most advanced robot you encounter in your daily life might still be a vacuum cleaner…