Honda's full-electric 0 Series concepts graduate to become prototypes, arriving with the automaker's newly announced Asimo OS onboard.

Robovacs and robotic moppers are a great labor saving tools for homeowners, but their ability to clean comprehensively can be a mixed bag. Ecovacs is aiming to change that at CES 2025 with its new lineup. There's the Deebot X8 Pro Omni, which can both vacuum and mop and comes with advanced navigation, the Deebot T50 with powerful suction in a slim design and the Goat A3000 LiDAR, the flagship in a series of robotic lawn mowers and finally, the Winbot, a window cleaning robot.Here's what's new from Ecovacs, with more details about pricing and availability to follow after CES.Deebot X8 Pro Omni Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. The X8 Pro Omni is Ecovacs' new flagship robovac and mop combo. It comes with Ozmo technology for robotic mopping. Previous Deebot models included features like simultaneous vacuuming and mopping, dual oscillating mop pads, automatic mop-raising, hot water cleaning, and hot air drying. The X8 Pro Omni now adds Ozmo Roller self-washing. The X8 Pro comes with a self-emptying base station and can both vacuum and mop. EcovacsAs it sounds, the new tech helps minimize cross-contamination during mopping. Created in collaboration with Tineco, an intelligent home appliance brand, the technology continuously cleans the mop roller while the robot works. According to Ecovacs, this minimizes streaks across all floor types, reduces maintenance and requires minimal user intervention. The X8 Pro Omni also comes with improved edge and corner cleaning with the adaptive mop and side brush extensions, which allow for closer contact with walls and baseboards.It's a neat feature and may help address one of the main issues we have with robot mopping. Regarding other capabilities, the X8 Pro mopping has 4,000 Pa of pressure and 200 rotations per minute to put elbow grease into removing stains. The vacuum has 18,000 Pa of suction power and ZeroTangle 2.0 to reduce the number of brushes caught. CES 2025 Proves It's Still Deeply Weird With These Bonkers Gadgets See all photos Finally, navigation is also improved. The X8 Pro uses an embedded laser LiDAR system along with a TruEdge 3D edge sensor, which creates a real-time 3D map of the environment. This should minimize, if not eliminate, collisions. Naturally, like every other robovac being showcased at CES, Ecovacs is incorporating AI into the robot to help with object recognition. The X8 Pro should be able to better differentiate between things like shoes and cables. It can also adapt to surroundings in real time by combining 3D structured light sensors with visual and language recognition. It even comes with YIKO-GPT voice interactions, meaning you can give it voice commands. The X8 Pro can self clean its roller while mopping. EcovacsDeebot T50 Max and T50 Pro OmniThe Deebot T50 is only a robovac, but it has plenty of improvements. Ecovacs has gotten rid of the top-mounted mechanical LiDAR in favor of a sleeker, front-mounted solid state LiDAR. This makes the design more compact and less prone to getting stuck under couches and other low furniture.In terms of technology, you're looking at the same ones on the X8 Pro, with TruEdge Adaptive Edge Clening, 3D mapping and ZeroTangle 2.0 for the brushes. There's 18,500 Pa of suction and, according to Deebot, this boosts the T50 Max large particles pick-up rate by 100% and carpet dust cleaning by 93%.The T50 Pro Omni is also part of the lineup. It is the slimmest robovac in Ecovac's lineup, measuring just 81 millimeters thick (3.2 inches), allowing it to clean under sofas and beds. It's also certified by TV Rheinland for edge and corner cleaning. The A3000 features a dual-plate cutting system. EcovacsGoat A3000 LiDAR and Goat O FamilyEcovacs isn't just limiting itself to indoor cleaning. The Goat A Family and O Family are robot lawnmowersaimed at homeowners with yards that need upkeep. The A3000 has dual LiDAR, 360-degree top-mounted scanning and 3D laser imaging to help with mowing and obstacle avoidance. There's also a dual-plate cutting system for more coverage in a single pass. The O Family is designed for smaller, more intricate lawns. It's more maneuverable in tight spaces and can handle more complex garden layouts. The O Family is more maneuverable for more complex gardens. EcovacsWinbot W2 Pro Omni and Winbot MiniEcovacs is also tackling window cleaning with the Winbot W2 Pro Omni. It comes with enhanced edge-cleaning, optimized spray coverage and intelligent path planning to reduce streaks. A portable docking station includes charging, letting the Wibot charge while cleaning without needing to be plugged into an outlet. It can even be used outdoors.Also part of the lineup is the Winbot Mini, a slimmer model that weighs 2.9 pounds. The more compact size is targeted toward apartment residents who have limited space.

January 9, 20254 min readLos Angeles Fires Could Push Californias Insurance System to the BrinkDamages from the recent fires in the Los Angeles area could overwhelm Californias already stressed insurer of last resortA cyclist pedals along Pacific Coast Highway past burning homes in Malibu, CA on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. High winds escalated the spread of several blazes across Southern California. David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | LOS ANGELES Wednesday's firestorm in a wealthy area of Los Angeles could be the final straw that breaks California's insurance market.The state's insurance market has been teetering on the edge of insolvency for years thanks to catastrophic wildfires that have driven many insurers to stop writing new policies and drop existing ones. Wednesday's wind-driven wildfires in a part of Los Angeles packed with multimillion-dollar homes could accelerate its collapse.Its obviously going to be bad, said Rep. Brad Sherman, the Democrat who represents the neighborhood between Malibu and Santa Monica where the Palisades Fire one of six burning uncontained across the region had destroyed more than 1,000 buildings as of Wednesday afternoon. Weve already seen big increases. And weve seen these increases not only in houses that are close to the brush, but in areas where youre surrounded by other homes.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.President-elect Donald Trump called out the issue Wednesday as he bashed Democrats for the deadly, wind-fueled conflagrations that forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country, he wrote on Truth Social. In many circles, theyre doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe.The states insurer of last resort, known as the FAIR Plan, predicted that it would be able to pay out. We are aware of misinformation being posted online regarding the FAIR Plans ability to pay claims, spokesperson Hilary McLean said in a statement on behalf of the FAIR Plan. It is too early to provide loss estimates as claims are just beginning to be submitted and processed, McLean wrote, noting the plan was prepared for this kind of a disaster and has payment mechanisms including reinsurance, to cover claims.But California faces a double-barreled threat: Private insurers could continue to drop policies and decline to write new ones, as they've been increasingly doing since a series of severe fires beginning in 2017 with the Tubbs Fire in Northern California. And the FAIR plan, which has been absorbing the shrinking private market, could run out of money to pay its claims.That wouldnt mean going bankrupt, as McLean noted. Instead, it would draw from primary insurers to recoup its costs under state law, raising rates across all private policies and sending rates skyrocketing across the state.This is sort of what everybody's been preparing for, said Karl Susman, an insurance broker in West Los Angeles who's filing dozens of claims on behalf of clients. This is why rates are going up. This is why carriers are freaking out.State Farm dropped nearly 70 percent of its policies in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood last year, according to a state filing more than any other ZIP code in the state in a sign it saw the neighborhood as risky. That forced more people onto the FAIR Plan, which was originally created in the 1960s to insure riot-scarred Los Angeles neighborhoods but has since found more demand in rural and suburban fire-prone regions.In Pacific Palisades alone, the FAIR plan insures nearly $6 billion worth of property, according to September figures more than all but four communities in California. Across the state, the total value of FAIR-insured properties was $458 billion, triple the total insured value in 2020, according to FAIR Plan data.The damages, which AccuWeather estimated Wednesday at $52 billion-$57 billion, could continue to rise as hurricane-force winds forecast through Wednesday and Thursday put thousands more homes at risk."Should a large number of additional structures be burned in the coming days, it may become the worst wildfire in modern California history," AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said in a statement.State officials who have been trying to stanch insurers' exodus said they were prepared to limit the impact, including by passing a temporary year-long moratorium on nonrenewals in areas recently burned."Insurance companies are pledging their commitment to California, and we will hold them accountable for the promises they have made," Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement.Susman called the fires a proving ground for rules Lara finalized just weeks ago to entice property insurers back to the market and force them to write more in fire-prone areas.The rules gave insurance companies permission to pass along the costs of reinsurance to customers and use forward-looking so-called catastrophic models that take into account the likelihood of the type of climate-fueled fires raging in Los Angeles to raise rates, in exchange for meeting a certain quota of policies in disaster-prone areas. Insurers like Allstate have promised to return to the market following the changes.If they hadnt gone into effect in December, I could see the carriers literally saying, OK, we're leaving. We're done, Susman said about the rules. Now, because they can properly underwrite, because they can offer certain types of discounts, and they can be more granular in how they're coming up with rates and underwriting, they can find a path back into the market.But that might be optimistic. Michael Wara, director of Stanford's Climate and Energy Policy program and consultant to the states Public Utilities Commission on wildfire issues, said the new rules may not be enough to keep insurers around if the insurance payouts get too high.We may have crossed a threshold now where we need larger measures in order to essentially create a solvent insurance system, he said. And those measures are going to be politically difficult. They may create substantial risk for the balance sheet of the state of California.Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

If your outdoor furniture could use a refresh, you dont have to wait until warmer temperatures come back around or shop in-store to save big. The winter (a.k.a. the off-season for outdoor furniture for most of us) is an ideal time to shop must-haves for your patio, deck, or backyard at a discount. And even better, some of the best outdoor furniture stores are hosting winter sales now on some of their most highly coveted collections.What types of items are on sale, you ask? Patio umbrellas, dining sets, sofas, and daybeds are all in the mix. Even essentials like fire pits and weather-resistant furniture covers are available at huge markdowns to help you enjoy the great outdoors and protect your furniture when its not in use. Without further ado, scroll below to find the best outdoor furniture sales and get a head start on revamping your backyard oasis.Our Top Picks:Best Sofa Set: Outer Brown Wicker Outdoor Sofa with Armless Chairs, $6,950 $4,170Best Fire Pit: Tiki Smokeless Fire Pit, $395 $295Best Bistro Set: Corrigan Studio 3-Piece Patio Bistro Set, $195 $160Best Lounge Chair: Knoll Risom Outdoor Lounge Chair, $1,655 $1,324Best Dining Set: Castlery Sorrento Outdoor Dining Table Set, $1,598 $1,519Best Sectional: Crate & Barrel Batten 5-Piece Teak Outdoor Sectional, $9,590 $5,895Outer: Up to 50% OffThanks to their sustainably made furniture and ease of delivery and assembly, Outer has long been an AD-favorite outdoor furniture brand. From patio furniture sets with deep seating to spacious ottomans and furniture covers, you can nab up to half off the brands open box, overstock, and clearance items during the sale. Plus, save 20% on orders of $12,000 or more with code OUTERYARD at checkout.Outer Brown Wicker Outdoor Sofa with Armless ChairsOuter Teak Outdoor OttomanAmazon: Up to 40% OffHidden in Amazons many storefronts is its winter sale with up to 40% off cozy must-haves like adirondack chairs. An outdoor living space during the cold weather months is hardly complete without heaters or fire pits to keep warm. When it comes to the latter, this Tiki fire pit offers a smokeless design and a durable metal frame built to last.Tiki Smokeless Patio Fire PitSerwall Foldable Adirondack ChairSerena & Lily: 20% Off SitewideWelcome coastal chic design to your outdoor space with Serena & Lily. We love the brand for its beach-inspired furniture and outdoor decor. With code NEWFINDS, take 20% off everything you add to cart.Serena & Lily Outdoor Riviera Dining ChairSerena & Lily Blithedale Dining TableWayfair: Up to 45% OffWayfair is a key destination for some of the biggest furniture sales youll find year-round (like the aptly named Way Day that takes place in May), but the brands daily sales page isnt one to overlook. Youll find outdoor bestsellers like rattan bistro sets and whimsical outdoor umbrellas up to 45% off right now.Corrigan Studio 3-Piece Bistro Rattan ChairBirch Lane Iago Outdoor UmbrellaDesign Within Reach: Up to 20% OffIf you want to create a high-end, design-forward space, look no further than Design Within Reach. Save big and add a sophisticated touch to your homes exteriors with 20% off during the brands New Years Sale event. Pull out your credit card to shop our favorite finds like a stylish outdoor chair and outdoor chaise lounge to relax poolside this summer.Knoll Risom Outdoor Lounge ChairDesign Within Reach Terassi ChaiseCastlery: Up to $470 OffCalling all minimalists: Castlery brings an elevated, cozy feel to the outdoors with clean lines and weather-resistant materials. (Think teak lounge chairs with an included end table and wicker dining table sets.) Right now, snag $400 off sitewide and an extra $70 off when you spend above $2,000 with promo code WINTVX while supplies last.Castlery Sierra Outdoor Dining Table and Chair SetCastlery Rio Outdoor Lounge Chair and Table SetWest Elm: Up to 50% OffFor a contemporary touch to your outdoor furniture, dont skip West Elms offerings. At this moment, you can take advantage of the brands outdoor furniture sale for 50% off au courant furniture and decor, like a ceramic planter or expandable dining table.West Elm Marta Ceramic PlanterWest Elm Hargrove Outdoor Expandable Dining TableCrate & Barrel: Up to 60% OffDuring Crate & Barrels End of Year Warehouse Sale (which, yes, is still running), you can score outdoor furniture for up to 60% off to outfit your space. Another brand with contemporary, traditional picks, youll find nature-inspired seating like outdoor teak sectionals. Plus, picks with functionality like a kitchen island that can double as an outdoor bar.Crate & Barrel Batten 5-Piece Teak Outdoor SectionalCrate & Barrel Batten Teak Outdoor Kitchen IslandCB2: Up to 60% OffA modern spin on items youll see at Crate & Barrel, sister site CB2s End of Year Warehouse Sale also includes 60% markdowns. Were eyeing the brands collection of unique armchairs and teak planters to incorporate in any avant-garde outdoor area.CB2 Ferrat Teak Outdoor PlanterCB2 Cabra Teak Outdoor Corner ChairRove Concepts: Up to 25% Off and 20% Back in Vouchers for MembersWith modular silhouettes and furniture materials like concrete, Rove Concepts is one of our top picks for modern outdoor furniture designed to withstand inclement weather. Shop the site for up to 25% off items like coffee tables and sectionals and 20% back in vouchers for members while the sale lasts.Rove Concepts Maria Coffee TableRove Concepts Dresden Outdoor Modular Sectional

Sellers looking to off-load properties in the Midwest, Northeast, and South in the next 12 months may be in for a good year, according to Zillow. The real estate website recently released its forecast predicting the hottest housing markets for 2025and most of the top 10 cities are in these regions.These hot housing markets are where demand for housing is not matched by supply, explains Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow. This means competition is often fierce among buyers, and homes sell quickly at or above asking price. To calculate its rankings, Zillow considered forecasted home value growth, recent housing market velocity and projected changes in the labor market, home construction activity, and number of homeowner households. These were the cities anticipated to warm up in 2025.Zillows Hottest Housing Markets for 2025Buffalo, New YorkIndianapolis, IndianaProvidence, Rhode IslandHartford, ConnecticutPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaSt. Louis, MissouriCharlotte, North CarolinaKansas City, MissouriRichmond, VirginiaSalt Lake City, UtahA closer look at the 10 hottest housing marketsFor the second year in a row, Buffalo, New York ranked first on Zillows list. Buffalo is expected to be the hottest market for the second consecutive year because it offers relative affordability, and housing supply there is limited, Ng says. Thats expected to fuel continued strong competition among buyers.Further, the city has a strong job market, which often means new residents to drive up demand. Buffalo has the most new jobs per new home permitteda key component thats kept Buffalo at the top of the list for two years running, along with expected appreciation, the report explains.Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana.Photo: Ron and Patty Thomas/Getty ImagesIndianapolis, which ranked second on the list, is expected to see houses appreciating faster than the typical US home. In fact, Zillow forecasts that home values will rise by 3.4% in the Midwest city in 2025. This signals a healthy demand for homes, driven by relative affordability and job growth, Ng says. While home prices are expected to rise, the market remains affordable compared to other major metro areas, and thats a big reason why its so attractive to buyers.Demand in cities like Providence, Hartford, and Philadelphia is driven by relative affordability compared to nearby metros, such New York City or Boston. These markets offer job opportunities and all the amenities of big-city living at a more affordable price, Ng adds. Plus, hybrid or remote employees may find they can occasionally manage an extra-long commute when they need to be in the office. That makes these markets very attractive to first-time home buyers who want to put down roots in the Northeast and find they can have a similar quality of life at a lower cost.What to expect in hot housing marketsThe metro cities will largely be sellers markets this year. If they hire a great agent who can help price and market their listing correctly, sellers can expect to command a strong price and sell their home quickly, Ng says. However, most will likely re-enter the market as buyers and will face heightened competition, so it will be important to time a sale with the purchase of a new residence well.

Google searches for how to cancel and delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts have seen explosive rises in the U.S. since Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will end its third-party fact-checking system, loosen content moderation policies, and roll back previous limits to the amount of political content in user feeds.Critics see the move as an attempt to cater to the incoming Trump administration and avoid political retaliation, suggesting the consequences of Metas new policies could have serious implications for the types of posts, hateful and violent speech, and misinformation that can spread even faster than they already do across Metas platforms.The backlash has been swift. Interest in searches related to getting off Meta platforms soared this week, particularly in the last two days. Google searches for terms like how to permanently delete facebook hit a maximum score of 100 the highest level of interest possible on Google Trends.Image Credits:Google TrendsAccording to Google Trends, related searches like how to delete all photos facebook, alternative to facebook, how to quit facebook, how to delete threads account, and how to delete instagram account without logging in have become breakout searches, with popularity suddenly increasing by over 5,000% compared to previous periods.The explosive growth underscores a recoil against Metas decision to roll back protections against hateful speech and inflammatory political content.Meta had put fact-checking and content moderation policies into place after years of misinformation and violent speech proliferating on its platforms, which have caused real-world harm. Case in point, the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which was fueled by coordinated calls for violence on Facebook and Instagram. Internal documents revealed that Facebook did not act forcefully against the Stop the Steal movement pushed by Trumps allies, even though the company had identified ways to diminish the spread of political polarization, conspiracy theories, and incitements to violence.A Breakout means that the search term grew by more than 5000%.Image Credits:Google TrendsMeta has also admitted that its platforms were used to incite violence in Myanmar, where members of the Burmese military committed genocide against the Rohingya people.In 2021, Zuckerberg said that the Meta community doesnt want politics and fighting to take over their experience on our services, leading to the companys push to scale back political discourse. Last year, the company also stopped proactively recommending political content to users on Instagram and Threads, a move that was controversial among creators and users. Now Meta will phase back in political content to feeds.Zuckerberg said that the new policies are an attempt to restore free expression on Metas platform, parroting comments made by Elon Musk on his platform X. The Meta CEO noted that his platforms would replace third-party fact-checkers with a community notes system akin to Xs, in which users can flag posts they think need more context.Searches for Bluesky also explode following Metas content moderation and fact-checking changes.Image Credits:Google TrendsOver the same period, Google searches facebook alternatives have also skyrocketed, as have searches for Bluesky and Mastodon, two decentralized social media platforms that have been gaining in popularity since Elon Musk took over Twitter and renamed it X.Mastodons CEO Eugen Rochko spoke out this week about Metas content moderation changes, calling the changes a concern to anyone with a conscience. He also noted that users who cross-post from Threads to Mastodon via Threads fediverse-sharing feature will be monitored on Mastodon for hate speech and violation of the platforms policies.

ICON Technologies Inc., which builds homes using 3D printing, is laying off 114 people, according to a WARN letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.A spokesperson for the company confirmed the news to TechCrunch, providing a statement that ICON had recently made a difficult decision to re-align its team and team size to focus on our highest priorities and continue to invest in our best growth opportunities.ICON was founded in late 2017 and launched during SXSW in March 2018 with the first permitted 3D-printed home in the U.S. That 350-square-foot house took about 48 hours (at 25% speed) to print.Over the years, Austin-based ICON has raised over $450 million in funding from investors such as Tiger Global Management, Norwest Venture Partners, 8VC, and others. At the time of its last raise in February of 2022 a $185 million extension of a Series B round ICONs valuation was said to be approaching $2 billion.It is unknown just how many employees ICON will have after the layoffs take place, which according to the letter, will occur on March 8. The Austin Business Journal reported that ICON had about 400 employees at last count, so a layoff of 114 people would be more than 25% of its workforce. A spokesperson for the company said only that ICON had less than 400 employees prior to this workforce reduction.At the time of its last raise, the startup said it had delivered more than two dozen 3D-printed homes and structures across the U.S. and Mexico. More than half of those homes were built for the homeless or those in chronic poverty. For example, in 2020, ICON delivered 3D-printed homes in Mexico with nonprofit partner New Story. It also completed a series of homes serving the chronically homeless in Austin, Texas, with nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes.The startup broke into the mainstream housing market in early 2021 with what it said were the first 3D-printed homes for sale in the U.S. for developer 3Strands in Austin, Texas.Then, in October 2021, ICON announced a partnership with Lennar, one of the nations largest homebuilders and an investor in the startup through its venture arm, LENx.An ICON spokesperson on Thursday told TechCrunch the companys priority now is to accelerate the development of Phoenix, its line of multi-story 3D printers and begin putting the robotic technology into the hands of builders.While our mission remains to develop these intelligent machines to build humanitys future, we will continue to design and build a selection of key projects across residential, hospitality, social/affordable and those within the Department of Defense with a more streamlined team, the spokesperson added.Want to reach out with a tip? Email me atmaryann@techcrunch.comor send me a message on Signal at 408.204.3036. You can also send a note to the whole TechCrunch crew attips@techcrunch.com. For more secure communications,click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop and links to encrypted messaging apps.

In BriefPosted:3:41 PM PST January 9, 2025Defense startup Epirus in talks to raise over $150M, potentially cutting valuationDefense tech startup Epirus is reportedly raising between $150 million and $200 million in a new funding round led by Joe Lonsdales venture firm 8VC, Bloomberg reports. The round could give the company, which develops technology to intercept drones, a valuation of about $1 billion. If thats the final valuation, it would be a decrease from the companys previous $1.35 billion valuation.(Epirus did not comment to Bloomberg.)Lonsdale co-founded the company in 2018 with Bo Marr, Max Medni, Nathan Mintz, Grant Verstandig and John Tenet. The startup has already raised nearly $300 million from investors like DCVC and Bedrock, according to PitchBook. Its also one of the few American-based defense tech unicorns, alongside companies like Anduril, Shield AI and Rebellion Defense.Only time will tell if 2025 defense funding will reach the highs of last year, where startups in the space had scored almost $3 billion by November.Topics

CES 2025 has been a mixed bag for humanoid robots. The form factor had a watershed moment, as images of the top players flanked NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang during his Monday keynote.Of these, Agilitys Digit also showed up alongside a miniature conveyer belt at a closed access NVIDIA booth. It was a nice return for the bipedal robot, an older form of which appeared at CES 2020 as part of Fords showcase.Beyond this, humanoid representation has largely been limited to smaller companies, with the exception of Apptronik. The Austin firms Apollo robot made an appearance as part of Texas Instruments presence at the show. The humanoid utilizes some of the Dallas-based semi-conductor giants modules internally.After a few near misses, this was the first time Ive seen Apollo in-person. When Apptronik showed TechCrunch the first footage of the robot in 2023, I had to double check that it wasnt an animated render. Theres something other worldly about the robot. Its honestly refreshing, as so much of the competition has offered similar aesthetic visions for humanoids: dark, sterile, even apocalyptic. Apollo is bright and almost cartoony, with a pair of big eyes and a head shape that brings back warm memories of early iMacs. Like other first-gen humanoids, Apollo will largely focus on factory work, but just because its destined for an industrial setting doesnt mean it has to be unwelcoming and cold.Image Credits:Brian HeaterApollos movements were smooth, and the robot even hammed it up for the camera as I snapped some photos. It should be noted, however, that this was an extremely limited pick-and-place demo that exists for demonstration purposes only. This was not the intelligent, autonomous version of the robot set to be deployed in factories.Notably, Apptronik began factory pilots with Mercedes in March, following the announcement of similar deals between Figure and BMW and Agility and Amazon.

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