Who doesn’t know and love the little lamp from Pixar Animation Studios that appears in the opening credits of every new film from the animators in Emeryville, between Berkeley and Oakland? It all began 40 years ago with a Pixar … Continue reading The Lamp Robots Are Coming!
The New Year has just begun—earlier for us, yesterday for China—and 2025 already seems like ancient history. At least when it comes to advances in humanoid robots. For the Chinese New Year show, robots were once again integrated into the … Continue reading Kung Fu Robots! Impressive, But Really Just Smoke And Mirrors.
I have identified more than 140 manufacturers of humanoid robots for my upcoming book. Around 30 manufacturers were represented at CES 2026 in Las Vegas with 40 humanoids, plus just as many companies that manufacture robot components for them. And … Continue reading Round 1: How Robot Companies Troll Each Other
Less than three months ago, the first demonstrations of a humanoid robot by a Palo Alto-based company raised doubts about the capabilities and future of humanoids, but now the situation has changed. Figure.AI, a three-and-a-half-year-old startup in San Jose, showed … Continue reading The Robot as a Kitchen Helper
These are some of the robotic hands I saw at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The video shows hands from the following manufacturers: I didn’t include all of them in the summary. More hands can also be seen in the … Continue reading Robotic Hands at CES 2026
CES 2026 clearly demonstrated one thing: humanoid robots have suddenly become the hot topic of the future. Whereas in 2025 there were only two or three humanoid robots on display in showcases, this time there were almost two dozen, and … Continue reading Humanoid Robots at CES 2026
“How can we bring in the magic?” This is what a Disney employee told us during a presentation of Disney’s first iPad app in 2010. For Disney, it was not only important to develop things that work, but also to … Continue reading The Surprise Magic That Exceeds Expectations
For months, German media such as Handelsblatt, manager-magazin, and other media outlets in Europe have been painting a picture of impending disaster: the AI bubble will soon burst, leading to an AI crash. These warnings are primarily being voiced by … Continue reading Why the AI Bubble Isn’t Bursting After All
We are at the dawn of the age of humanoid robots. To mark the completion of my book HOMO SYNTHETICUS: How Man and Machine Merge (in German), I would like to give a brief insight into the history and current … Continue reading Talk: Humanoid Robots – Part 5
We are at the dawn of the age of humanoid robots. To mark the completion of my book HOMO SYNTHETICUS: How Man and Machine Merge (in German), I would like to give a brief insight into the history and current … Continue reading Talk: Humanoid Robots – Part 4