Research & Development news

• Techman’s Humanoid Robot Astonishes GTC 2026 Crowd, Redefining Industrial Robotics

  19-03-2026 22:35 via eweek.com
  A robot that can see, think, and act like a human helper took center stage at Nvidia’s GTC 2026, as Techman Robot unveiled its latest push into the world of Physical AI.Techman Robot used the global AI conference to introduce the TM Xplore I, a next-generation humanoid robot designed for industrial work. Unlike traditional humanoid designs, the robot combines a human-like upper body with a wheeled base, a choice the company says improves both stability and flexibility in factory environmen
  
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• DoorDash Launches App Paying Workers to Train AI

  19-03-2026 19:08 via eweek.com
  Your next delivery driver might also be training your AI. Welcome to the gig economy’s newest side quest: data wrangler with a dash of camera work.
  DoorDash is rolling out a new “Tasks” app that pays couriers to complete small digital jobs, like recording videos and capturing real-world data to help train AI systems. The move signals a broader shift in how tech companies are sourcing the human input that powers machine learning and robotics.
  Instead of relying solely on traditi
  
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• Meet the $300K Robot Dogs Guarding Massive Data Centers

  19-03-2026 17:27 via eweek.com
  Data centers are getting bigger… and so is the cost of securing them. To keep up with the demand for constant security across their massive facilities, some of the largest data center operators in the US are turning to robot dogs. According to Business Insider, these are not experimental machines. They’ve already been deployed by both first responders and law enforcement and are equipped with advanced surveillance technologies designed for high-security environments. Despi
  
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• Pentagon Seeks Anthropic Alternatives Amid $200M Contract Dispute

  19-03-2026 17:14 via eweek.com
  It looks like the Pentagon and Anthropic will not be patching things up anytime soon, as the Department of Defense is already pursuing multiple language models to replace the AI company.The Department of Defense (DoD) is exploring the use of OpenAI’s GPT and xAI’s Grok, both of which have signed contracts with the Pentagon following the fallout from the Anthropic split.Anthropic had its $200 million contract with the Pentagon terminated after the two sides were unable to agree on ter
  
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• Nvidia Signals Comeback in China After Months of AI Chip Restrictions

  19-03-2026 17:04 via eweek.com
  After months of regulatory hurdles and geopolitical tension, Nvidia is preparing a significant return to China’s artificial intelligence chip market.CEO Jensen Huang recently suggested the company is now positioned to restart production and prepare deliveries to Chinese customers, potentially reopening a market worth tens of billions of dollars. The AI chip giant confirmed this week that it has received multiple US government licenses and new purchase orders from Chinese customers, allowin
  
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• Comet Hits iOS: Perplexity Brings Its AI Browser to iPhone

  19-03-2026 16:53 via eweek.com
  After making waves on desktop and Android, Perplexity is finally bringing its AI-powered browser, Comet, to the iPhone.While most mobile browsers are just windows to the web, Comet wants to be the assistant that actually reads the pages for you. Originally slated for a March 11 release, the app officially hit the App Store on Thursday after a brief one-week delay.What makes Comet different isn’t the page-loading. Apple’s platform rules require every iOS browser to run on WebKit, the
  
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• AI Brings Val Kilmer Back for One Final Performance in New Drama

  19-03-2026 16:29 via eweek.com
  Nearly a year after his death, Val Kilmer is getting one more shot at the movies. The “Top Gun” star, who passed away in April 2025 at 65 from pneumonia following a long battle with throat cancer, will appear posthumously in the upcoming drama “As Deep as the Grave,” brought to life through AI. Production company First Line Films announced this week that an AI-generated likeness of Kilmer will appear in a significant portion of the film.This marks what the company ca
  
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• This Week in AI: Meta Incident Highlights a Loss of Control

  19-03-2026 14:52 via eweek.com
  This week, five stories landed within hours of each other that, on the surface, look unrelated. Underneath, they’re all asking the same question: now that AI can do the thing, who’s in charge when it does?Let’s start with Meta: Apparently, one of their AI agents went rogue, posted unauthorized analysis of company and user data on an internal forum, and triggered a Sev 1 security incident (the same severity level reserved for major outages and data breaches).Meta ran its employe
  
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• Trevor Milton’s Post-Pardon Jet Bet Takes Off

  19-03-2026 12:30 via eweek.com
  Trevor Milton is trying to raise $1 billion for AI-powered planes, putting the Nikola founder back in the spotlight with a new aviation pitch nearly a year after his presidential pardon.
  The new effort centers on SyberJet Aircraft, a struggling aviation company that Milton and an investment group bought late last year. The plan is not a modest relaunch of an existing business jet. It is a much bigger bet on building aircraft around AI-focused flight technology, with Milton once again pitching an
  
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