A new neuromorphic robotic skin enables humanoid robots to sense pain, detect injury, and trigger rapid reflex responses.

L’idée, si on résume, c’est un peu de traiter le soleil comme un interrupteur. Il fait nuit, mais seulement sur une partie de la Terre. Le soleil ne s’arrête jamais de briller donc ses rayons sont toujours là. C’est une source d’énergie quasiment inépuisable pour encore cinq milliards d’années en tout cas, ce qui laisse le temps de voir venir. Les deux jeunes fondateurs de Reflect Orbital pensent qu’il ne faut pas forcément améliorer le rendement des panneaux solaires ou concevoir des batteries pour stocker l’énergie. Il suffit "juste", selon eux, d’allonger les journées.

A controversial scheme will begin to reflect sunlight to Earth with satellites next year, so that dark places can be temporarily lit for visibility or energy production. But astronomers are sceptical about the plan’s efficacy and possible scientific consequences.US company Reflect Orbital, which aims to provide “sunlight on demand”, intends to launch its first satellite as soon as early 2026, beaming sunlight to 10 locations as part of an initial “World Tour”. The company then plans to launch thousands of satellites, equipped with mirrors spanning tens of metres, so that light can be reflected to Earth for “remote operations, defense, civil infrastructure, and energy generation.”

US deep-tech AI startup Tiiny AI has released a groundbreaking demonstration showing a 14-year-old PC running a 120-billion-parameter AI model smoothly without any internet connection.

From pipes to machine governance: how 5G and 6G turn the telco stack into deterministic coordination, trusted identity, and real time control for billions of robots

Revolut has not entered mobile communications to outperform network operators on coverage or spectrum efficiency. The company has entered the market because mobile connectivity has become another digital capability that fits naturally within a platform already handling identity, payments, subscriptions, rewards, travel, and daily financial behavior. When connectivity is viewed as software rather than infrastructure by the customer, the economics shift upstream.

Each company faces its own mix of tariff pressures, supply chain issues, and shifting markets, but together they tell a larger story about the challenges of building physical products in an era of global trade tensions and cheap overseas competition. From the Roomba maker that almost got acquired by Amazon to the e-bike company that couldn’t escape its Chinese supply chain, this week’s bankruptcies are a warning sign for hardware startups everywhere. 

Les robots Unitree se font pirater en 60 secondes via Bluetooth : une faille si débile qu'elle devient comique (injection de code dans les champs SSID/mot de passe) 14 000 euros de robot transformé en botnet ambulant : comment une clé AES codée en dur rend TOUS les modèles Unitree de la planète hackables d'un seul coup

At the Fangchenggang project, Walker S2 units will help border staff guide passenger queues, direct vehicles, and answer simple questions from travelers. Some robots will patrol corridors and waiting areas, watching for blocked exits or crowd patterns that might require human officers to intervene. Others will move between cargo lanes to support logistics teams, checking container IDs, confirming seals, and relaying status updates to dispatch centers. Away from the border itself, the fleet is expected to inspect steel, copper, and aluminum facilities, walking structured routes through hot industrial yards.

The robot in question ran off an internal AI agent. By exploiting a flaw in the software, the researchers were able to take over the robot while it was connected to a network, at which point the researchers had the robot use local wireless communication to spread the hack to another nearby robot that actually wasn't even connected to the network at the time. Spreading the hack from one robot to another only took a matter of minutes. Even worse, the researchers were able to issue a command for the robot to physically strike a mannequin on stage.

Impossible enfin d’évoquer cette édition sans souligner la montée en puissance des robots connectés. Le célèbre Ballie – robot sphérique jaune signé Samsung – fait parler de lui malgré ses multiples annonces reportées. Qu’il soit à nouveau sous les projecteurs ou non, la robotique domestique sera omniprésente entre aspirateurs autonomes perfectionnés et robots dotés d’algorithmes IA capables de mieux appréhender leur environnement. Les avancées autour des modèles « monde réel », censés offrir une compréhension plus fine des espaces physiques par l’IA, pourraient bien façonner les discussions cette année.

The growing demand for advanced materials, miniaturized devices and integrated microsystems calls for the reliable fabrication of complex, multiscale, three-dimensional (3D) architectures, a need increasingly addressed through light-based and laser-based processes. However, owing to the field-of-view (FOV) limitations of conventional imaging optics, existing 3D laser nanofabrication techniques face fundamental challenges in throughput, proximity error and stitching defects on the path to scaling. Here we present a scalable 3D nanofabrication platform that uses a metalens-generated focal spot array to parallelize two-photon lithography (TPL)1 beyond centimetre-scale write field areas.

One-third of all food produced globally spoils before anyone eats it. Edible fruit coatings can slow decay by retaining moisture and inhibiting bacteria, but they remain passive layers that cannot signal when something goes wrong. Researchers have now built a coating from kitchen staples that does both: it actively suppresses bacterial growth while harvesting enough electricity from humid air to power environmental sensors. Made from gelatin, glycerol, and citric acid, paired with thin edible gold foil electrodes, the film extends fruit shelf life 2.5 to 3.4 times.

Electrical nerve stimulation emerged as a more sophisticated alternative. By delivering targeted pulses to peripheral nerves, these devices can jam pain signals before they reach the brain, much like static overwhelming a radio broadcast. Patients have found relief from conditions ranging from post-amputation phantom limb pain to chronic back problems. But the hardware creates its own complications.

Developing mechanically tough and sustainable plastics from renewable resources such as biomass may certainly give a promising solution to the replacement of petroleum-based plastics and eliminate microplastics. Here, we report a cellulose-based supramolecular plastic (CMCSP) synthesized by supramolecular “ionic” polymerization of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as an oxyanionic monomer and a hyperbranched polyguanidinium ion (PEIGu) as a cationic monomer. CMCSP is mechanically strong but inherently brittle. However, as highlighted in the present paper, we could overcome the brittleness issue by adding (2-hydroxyethyl)trimethylammonium chloride (choline chloride, ChCl) to CMCSP. This FDA-approved, biodegradable ionic human nutrient served as a particular plasticizer, enabling broad modulation of stiff, glassy CMCSP to a tough, flexible material and further to a soft, elastic material. We demonstrated that plasticized CMCSPChCl could be processed into a flexible plastic bag, which was mechanically tough but perfectly dissociable in seawater and closed-loop recyclable with electrolytes. Hence, CMCSPChCl never generates microplastics.

Success, no matter how small, reinforces what was done last time. There’s safety in doing it again. The return may be small, but the wheels won’t fall off. You may run yourself into the ground over time, but you won’t fail catastrophically. You may not reach your growth targets, but you won’t get fired for slowly destroying the brand. In short, you won’t fail this year, but you will create the causes and conditions for a race to the bottom.

Researchers harnessed the power of light to create a chip that could perform complex generative tasks with vastly improved energy efficiency

When things go wrong for your customer, that’s when you have the best opportunity to prove how good you really are. Anyone can look good when everything is running smoothly, but your true customer service “chops” show up during a service failure.

Conventional PFAS degradation methods pose challenges as they necessitate harsh chemicals or substantial energy. The advancement of innovative, sustainable, and energy-efficient techniques is essential to facilitate the recycling of PFAS and alleviate the environmental risks associated with these substances. The recent study investigated the potential application of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocrystals (NCs) in the process of PFAS defluorination. These NCs, recognized for their photocatalytic characteristics, can harness light to produce reactive species that break down organic contaminants. To improve their efficiency, NCs were capped with various ligands.

A new eco-friendly technology can capture and destroy PFAS, the dangerous “forever chemicals” found worldwide in water. The material works hundreds to thousands of times faster and more efficiently than current filters, even in river water, tap water, and wastewater. After trapping the chemicals, the system safely breaks them down and refreshes itself for reuse. It’s a rare one-two punch against pollution: fast cleanup and sustainable destruction.