Ready For Tomorrow #71

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The robots are getting louder, smarter, and… a lot more fun.
From sipping cocktails in space to doing front flips and grinding metal, July has been wild in the world of robotics.
Here’s your roundup of what’s shaking the bolts loose.

The robot hears. And so do you.

Foxglove just added sound. And we are not talking gimmicks here. This is a real game changer.

Until now, robots could have microphones, but so what? The recordings were buried deep in the logs. You had to extract them manually, convert them, and sync them. In short nobody actually did it.

And then out of nowhere, Foxglove, the open source platform for visualizing and analyzing robot data, kind of like a cockpit for engineers, launches the Audio Panel. It lets you monitor in real time: camera feeds, sensor data, motion trajectories, and now also sound.

Click and listen. Live or from a log.

See the waveform, jump to the key moment, sync it with video and robot movement. Suddenly you get the full picture, including the acoustic one.

It is not just useful for diagnosing a broken mic or supporting an operator remotely.

It also opens the door to AI that hears. Detecting alarms, recognizing voice commands, responding to ambient sounds. The robot now has even more data to process.

Is it a little scary? Yes, it kind of is. Spy robots are stepping up their game. And doing it quietly.

But hey, GDPR will save us ;)

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EngineAI secures 140 million USD for humanoid robots

Chinese company EngineAI has raised a massive 140 million USD to develop humanoid walking robots. Their flagship model – SE01 – stands 170 cm tall, weighs 55 kg, and has 32 degrees of freedom.

It walks at 2 meters per second, which is basically a very fast walking pace. It does squats, jumps, and even front flips.

But the most fascinating part? Everything runs in end to end mode. The robot does not rely on classic motion control. Instead, neural networks analyze the environment and directly generate movements. Brain and muscles combined in a single AI model.

This is yet another sign that China is going all in on humanoids, aiming for mass production. And this AI-driven approach could mean robots that learn new tasks faster and adapt better to change.

The global race is in full swing. All we can do now is buckle up.

ADAM serves cocktails… in space (almost!)

A robot with a drink in hand and AI on board just landed at the Kennedy Space Center

Seventy five years of the American space program. A room full of VIPs, rockets in the background, camera flashes. And behind the bar, not a bartender but an android with two arms. His name is ADAM and he is not just mixing drinks. He is doing it with surgical precision, down to the last millimeter.

He serves space-inspired cocktails, tracks every glass movement, adjusts the pouring angle, flow rate, and volume. This is not a trade show gimmick. It is a real AI-powered system running in a closed loop. Sees. Analyzes. Reacts. No mistakes. No fatigue. No tips.

And this perfectly shows how AI-driven service robots are entering the mainstream. Not as a novelty but as part of real customer service. Casinos, bars, and now parties at NASA.

Not long ago he would have looked like cosplay. Today he is on the payroll.

Teqram enters the US: grinding robot now operating in two AMP factories

Two facilities of AMP (Accurate Metal Products) in the United States have started using the EasyGrinder robot from Dutch company Teqram. This marks the first deployment of such a system in the American market.

EasyGrinder is an automated steel grinding station that does not require programming. Thanks to its 3D vision system and AI algorithms, the robot automatically recognizes the shape of the part, adjusts the tools, and performs the entire machining process from removing scale to rounding edges.

According to the manufacturer, the quality achieved by the system meets ISO standards such as R2 edge rounding or P3 surface finish. Its biggest advantage is flexibility. It can be used in environments where every part looks different.

This is another clear sign that AI-powered robots are starting to take over physically demanding and repetitive tasks in heavy industry. Not just for the sake of efficiency, but also for the health and safety of human workers.

Unitree R1 enters the market at 5 900 USD

Chinese company Unitree Robotics has unveiled R1, a compact humanoid robot with 26 degrees of freedom, a height of 121 centimeters, and a weight of around 25 kilograms. The key fact is the price. At just 5 900 USD, it is the most affordable humanoid of its class currently available.

R1 comes with a stereo camera, a four-microphone voice recognition system, and a computing unit equipped with an eight-core CPU and GPU. It can walk, run, perform flips, and respond to voice commands. All processing is done locally without the need for a constant cloud connection.

While the main focus is on movement, it is the surprisingly low price that marks a real turning point. Until now, humanoids have typically cost between 20 and 50 thousand dollars. Dropping below 6 thousand dollars could be a breakthrough for researchers, developers, and education.

Unitree R1 could become the entry point for widespread research and development in humanoid robotics. It is not just a low-cost test model. It is also a signal that mobile robots with artificial intelligence are becoming genuinely accessible.

The boundaries of robotic reality are shifting fast.

That’s it for now – stay curious, stay creative.
Have a good time, good people ✌️

Cheers, Jacek!