Chinese researchers just taught a Unitree G1 humanoid robot to play tennis using only five hours of imperfect motion-capture data. Through a framework called LATENT, the robot can track footwork, return balls traveling over 15 m/s with 90% accuracy, and sustain multi-shot rallies against human players.
Perplexity just introduced Personal Computer, an always-on AI agent powered by M4 Mac mini servers that integrates directly with local apps. The system runs queries in dedicated secure sandboxes with full audit trails, approval gates for sensitive actions, and a kill switch. A waitlist is live, though exact hardware specs and pricing remain unannounced.
Nosh Robotics just unveiled Nosh One, a $1,499 AI kitchen robot that automatically adds ingredients, stirs, and monitors cooking via an onboard camera. The companion app lets you prompt custom recipes alongside 500 built-in meals, with Kickstarter preorders set to ship in summer 2026.
Figure just demonstrated Helix 02 cleaning a living room using a single end-to-end neural system running directly from pixels. Without changing algorithms or writing custom controllers, the robot learned complex tasks like spraying and wiping tables, tucking bins under its arm, and operating a remote simply by training on more data.
OpenAI robotics lead Caitlin Kalinowski just resigned from the company, sounding the alarm on government surveillance and autonomous weapons. While acknowledging AI's role in national security, she warned that domestic surveillance without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human sign-off are crossing dangerous ethical lines.
Meta is facing a U.S. class-action lawsuit alleging that overseas contractors reviewed sensitive footage captured by Ray-Ban AI smart glasses, including intimate moments. The lawsuit targets Meta's "built for privacy" marketing, pointing out users cannot opt out of the data review pipeline. Meta maintains it only reviews media that users explicitly share with Meta AI.
Meta is facing backlash after an investigation revealed outsourced workers in Kenya reviewed sensitive videos—including footage of people undressing and having sex—captured by Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office just announced it is questioning the tech giant over privacy compliance. Why it matters: users think their smart glasses are private, but their raw footage is quietly training someone else's AI model.
Researchers just open-sourced OmniXtreme, a control framework that teaches humanoid robots high-agility moves like backflips, breakdancing, and handstands. A two-stage approach combines scalable simulation pre-training with residual learning to protect real-world hardware. Why it matters: It breaks the generality barrier, proving humanoids can execute complex acrobatics with a single unified policy without wrecking their motors.
Deveillance just unveiled the Spectre I, a hardware device built to block unwanted audio recordings from nearby microphones. As AI and always-listening gadgets take over private and business conversations, the company aims to physically restore conversational privacy. Detailed hardware specs, pricing, and a launch timeline haven't been revealed yet.
Qualcomm just unveiled the Snapdragon Wear Elite, a new 3nm chip built specifically for screenless AI gadgets like pins, pendants, and smart glasses. The processor packs a Hexagon NPU capable of running two-billion-parameter AI models directly on-device at up to 10 tokens per second, cuts GPS power draw by 40 percent, and adds Linux support for startups. Why it matters: Even without a breakout hit in wearable AI yet, major chipmakers are betting the category is worth custom silicon.
HONOR just revealed its Robot Phone concept and first humanoid robot at MWC 2026. The futuristic handset packs a micro 4DoF gimbal system and a 200MP camera, moving physically to nod, track subjects, and express emotion. Why it matters: Hardware makers are pushing to move AI out of glass screens and into embodied physical interaction.
Subcontractors at Meta partner Sama in Nairobi are manually reviewing intimate video clips from Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, according to a joint investigation by Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten. Workers reported seeing bank cards, nudity, and bedroom scenes recorded without wearers realizing. While retailers claimed data stays local, network tests confirmed the glasses constantly transmit data to Meta's servers for AI processing.
Alphabet's robotics software bet Intrinsic just merged into Google as a distinct group, teaming up with Gemini, Google Cloud, and DeepMind. The move connects its modular Flowstate robotics platform directly to Google's frontier AI models to automate factory floors and warehouses. Physical AI is finally getting the Android treatment.
Unitree just revealed the As2, a quadruped companion robot packing 90N·m of torque and industrial-grade specs into a compact frame. It features over 4 hours of no-load runtime, IP54 rainproofing, and can haul a 15kg payload across more than 13km. With open secondary development, it basically bridges domestic companionship with practical utility.
Taalas just introduced the HC1, an AI accelerator that bakes the Llama 3.1 8B model directly into hardware to generate a blistering 17,000 tokens per second. By merging compute and storage on a single chip, it claims 40 times the speed of Nvidia's B200 at a fraction of the cost, though it is permanently tied to that specific model.
Figure just put a fleet of seven Figure 03 humanoids into 24/7 autonomous operation at its California headquarters, powered by its Helix 02 neural network. The bots monitor their own battery telemetry, stepping onto 2 kW inductive charging docks and swapping tasks without human intervention. It marks a serious technical milestone for humanoid uptime, even if Figure hasn't disclosed what actual work they're doing yet.
A software engineer building a custom gamepad app just accidentally gained access to nearly 7,000 DJI Romo robot vacuums across 24 countries. Using an AI coding assistant to reverse-engineer cloud communications, he exposed live camera feeds and home floor plans. DJI rolled out an automatic patch on February 10.
OpenAI is quietly building a 200-person hardware team led by Apple veterans to launch consumer AI devices. Its first product is reportedly a $200 to $300 smart speaker packed with cameras for facial recognition and proactive life nudges, slated for February 2027 at the earliest. Smart glasses and a lamp are also in the pipeline.
Meta reportedly considered rolling out facial recognition to its Ray-Ban smart glasses during political distractions, letting wearers identify strangers with public Instagram profiles. While the tech has obvious accessibility uses, the covert hardware and Meta's tainted privacy track record are sparking fierce backlash. Why it matters: Impressive hardware can't outrun destroyed public trust.
Toyota just contracted seven Digit humanoid robots from Agility Robotics to work at its Canadian RAV4 plant under a robots-as-a-service deal. Following a year-long pilot, the bipedal bots will start unloading auto parts from tuggers this April. While backflip demos grab headlines, integrating real humanoids into daily factory shifts is a far bigger milestone.
