As Bungie gets ready for the September 23 release of its PvPvE extraction shooter Marathon, the studio has found itself embroiled in a new controversy. A visual artist, going by Antireal, has taken to social media platform X accusing Bungie of stealing the artistic style and design elements from projects she had worked on back in 2017. In her post, Antireal said, “the Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017.” She went on to say that, while Bungie wasn’t obligated to offer her a job for her design work, the company outright stealing her ideas without appropriate attribution or compensation wasn’t a good thing. “Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution,” wrote Antireal. “I don’t have the resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally but I have lost count of the number of times a major company has deemed it easier to pay a designer to imitate or steal my work than to write me an email.” “In 10 years I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living.” Antireal’s posts are accompanied by a host of images showcasing some of her work, which does bear a striking resemblance to the overall design language we’ve seen from the various trailers and artwork released for Marathon over the last couple of years. Some elements from Antireal’s art seem to be outright lifted and pasted into Marathon, including words like “Aleph” which feature prominently in the artist’s work. In response, Bungie took to X to confirm that Antireal’s work was indeed seemingly used during the development of Marathon. However, the studio notes that this issue was unknown for its art team, and that it is taking investigating how this kind of slip up could happen. Bungie has referred to the use of Antireal’s work in Marathon’s textures an “unauthorised use of artist decals.” “This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred,” wrote the studio. “We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to [Antireal] to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.” “As a matter of policy, we do not use the work of artists without their permission.” Bungie has also said that, moving forward, it will be conducting a thorough review of its in-game assets to ensure that there are stricter checks to document artist contributions. “We value the creativity and dedication of all artists who contribute to our games, and we are committed to doing right by them,” it wrote. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention.” Marathon is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and is currently undergoing playtests. bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language i have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution. pic.twitter.com/G3FbPtbPJD— N² (@4nt1r34l) May 15, 2025 This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred.We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to @4nt1r34l to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.— MarathonDevTeam (@MarathonDevTeam) May 16, 2025 To prevent similar issues in the future, we are conducting a thorough review of our in-game assets, specifically those done by the former Bungie artist, and implementing stricter checks to document all artist contributions.— MarathonDevTeam (@MarathonDevTeam) May 16, 2025

Bungie has admitted to finding stolen art assets in its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. Graphic artist Antireal has taken to X to claim that Bungie used their poster designs from 2017 without compensation or credit. Bungie admits the claims, and says it will undertake a complete review of the game's assets.Antireal posted to X on May 15, claiming that "The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017." They tagged both Bungie and Marathon's franchise art director, Joseph Cross.Artist Antireal posted comparison between in-game screenshots and their original art.They continue, "Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution."Continue Reading at GameSpot

Lisa Occhino smiling for the camera in front of a beautiful sunset. Courtesy of Lisa Occhino 2025-05-16T10:15:02Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? I permanently moved from New York City to Lisbon in 2022. I'd planned to continue working remotely, but after my pay and benefits were cut, I quit soon after. I took a few months off to recover from burnout, but soon realized I would need longer than that. When I moved solo from New York City to Lisbon in 2022, quitting my remote job wasn't part of the plan.However, a few months after settling into my new life, steeped in a culture known for its relaxed pace, I could no longer ignore just how burned out I had been for years.After HR informed me they'd be drastically cutting my salary and nearly all of my benefits, I found myself at a crossroads. Luckily, I've always been frugal. I made it my quiet mission for the rest of that year to pad my savings account as much as possible.That winter, I mustered up the courage to finally pull the plug and quit. As a lifelong planner, I had to make peace with not knowing what would happen next. All I could do was trust that if I fully committed to the rest I needed, clarity would come.It's the best decision that I never could have made if I were still living in the US.I filled my days with curiosity instead of urgencyIt helped immensely that I was now living in a city more affordable than New York, and in a country where a trip to the ER isn't a financial risk. (Ironically, I experienced my first-ever emergency surgery not long after — reinforcing that I'd left the US just in time.)I was amazed by how full my life felt without work, and that "full" didn't have to automatically mean stressful.Part of that was due to being a naturally curious person: I learned new things, tried new activities, explored new places, had deep conversations, and indulged in research rabbit holes, without feeling guilty that I "should" be doing something else instead.However, the more profound shift arose from tuning into the rhythm of a city that's not ruled by urgency. I took each day more slowly — in true Portuguese fashion — and focused on what brought me joy, peace, and comfort.I distinctly remember one random Wednesday when I hopped on the train from Lisbon to Sintra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site just 40 minutes away. I was enchanted by the charm of the Portuguese town, the colorful Pena Palace crowning the misty hilltop, and the crisp scent of forest air. I breathed it in and exhaled slowly, awestruck that magical moments like this had become my new normal.I had given myself the rare gift of simply existing, and little by little, I felt my creative spark coming back.I initially estimated that I'd recover from burnout in three months, but by March, I had barely scratched the surface. I became more intentional about chipping away at the conditioning of American hustle culture, and gradually quieted the voice in my head telling me to be more productive.What started as a three-month sabbatical turned into six — and before I knew it, a full year had gone by. I'm rebuilding my life around my well-beingMoving to Portugal and taking a year off fundamentally reshaped my relationship with work.Instead of returning to a 9-to-5 job, which I knew would jeopardize my well-being in the long run, I freelance now. I enjoy the clients I work with and devote more creative energy to my own projects. This helps me prioritize my health over frantically trying to optimize every spare minute I have.Recently, I celebrated my three-year anniversary of living in Lisbon and will be applying for Portuguese citizenship as soon as I'm eligible at the five-year mark.In this new chapter, climbing the corporate ladder holds no appeal for me. I'm building something much more meaningful: a life of deep fulfillment and inner peace where my curiosity and creativity take the lead, and I no longer measure my self-worth by my productive output. Recommended video

you believed that? Tesla changes lease policy, didn’t use old cars as robotaxis From 2019–2024, Tesla would not offer a buyout to lease customers. Jonathan M. Gitlin – May 15, 2025 2:29 pm | 83 Vehicles at a Tesla store in Colma, California, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Vehicles at a Tesla store in Colma, California, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Tesla has raised the ire of some of its customers, who are accusing the carmaker of misleading them. Until recently, it would not allow customers who leased its EVs to purchase them at the end of the lease. Instead, the leases stated that it "plan[s] to use those vehicles in the Tesla ride-hailing network." Tesla instituted that policy for Model 3 leases starting in 2019 and later expanded it to the Model Y until changing the policy last November. But Tesla is not currently sitting on a fleet of several hundred thousand ex-lease autonomous Models 3 and Y, and as of today there exists no actual Tesla ride-hailing network. Instead, it has been spiffing up the ex-lease cars with software updates and then selling them to new customers, according to Reuters. And that has made some former leasers a little unhappy that their old EVs weren't pressed into service making money for Tesla on an ongoing basis but rather just as a one-time transaction. Although Tesla Models 3 and Y depreciate heavily now, that was not the case for much of the duration of the "no buyout" policy. Were buyouts permitted then, it's likely that the buyout amount would exceed the actual value of those 3-year-old Teslas, which therefore may possibly have done these aggrieved owners a favor. In the meantime, Tesla's share price benefited heavily from CEO Elon Musk's constant promotion of the cars' supposed ability to drive themselves and the scale this would enable for a putative ride-hailing network. If his word is to be believed, autonomous Teslas will start offering rides in Austin, Texas, next month. Jonathan M. Gitlin Automotive Editor Jonathan M. Gitlin Automotive Editor Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC. 83 Comments

Top 50 Club Steam now lets you check out each month's top 50 best-selling games, and scroll all the way back to Half-Life 2's release if you want to feel mega old Valve has given Steam's monthly game charts a big refresh, for those of us who really want to study the most popular games on the platform. Image credit: Valve News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on May 16, 2025 Steam’s charts continue to be one of the best sources of information across the entire industry when it comes to sales, player activity and a lot more. Steam has always had the big Top Sellers chart, which lists the platform's top-grossing games, and tracks their movements within it each day. You could also see each month’s top-selling games, but thanks to a new update, the monthly lists are a lot more detailed and relevant. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. The big Top Sellers page on Steam has the current chart, weekly, as well as monthly. Valve has refreshed the monthly charts to include 50 games, sorted by revenue. All sales charts across Steam are based on game revenue, which is why free-to-play games often occupy the top spots. The refresh now allows you browse every month from April 2025, all the way back to November 2004 - when Half-Life 2 was initially released. The monthly reports are nicer to look at, too, starting off with a trailer for every game in question. The list can even include pieces of DLC, assuming they’re popular enough to rank among the top 50 games. The new layout will make that clear as you browse. For even more accurate details, you can filter by genre, theme, style, supported feature, or tag. Valve explained that the data is based on the first two weeks of revenue for each title released during that month. Each month is split into three tiers: gold (12 games), silver (next 12), and bronze (all the rest). One of the big advantages of this refresh is that reports will be now be automatically compiled, meaning that you’ll find the previous month’s report exactly 14 days into the next one. The only problem is that, if a game is not available in your region, you won’t be able to see it on the list, even if it’s included in the top 50. Click the link above to see the new layout for yourself, or travel back in time to any month you want. In other Steam news, Valve recently released an official comment regarding an alleged data breach of one of its cloud partners, and it appears there’s no cause for alarm.

At the AJ100 Club lunch last week, Wright, chief architect at the DfE, and his colleague Jennifer Singer underlined the size of their team and spoke of his hopes of quadrupling the delivery of school buildings and transforming pupils’ access to nature. Together with his colleague and fellow architect, head of technical assurance Singer, the duo gave an insight into the important work of the 30-architect team, which is responsible for the design and construction standards for all state schools in England, including developing net zero carbon standards for new school buildings, as well as retrofit strategies for the school estate. According to Wright, there is more public sector architecture than people realise, pointing out that the DfE spends nearly £2 billion annually on schools and builds approximately 50 new schools a year.Advertisement ‘That’s a lot of architects’ fees and a lot of architects working in the public sector, as well as our team itself,’ he said. The talk was an opportunity to celebrate the team’s recent 75-year anniversary, with the desire to create good schools for all borne out of what Wright described as the post-war ‘nexus’ of the welfare state and international modernism. Wright took over the DfE design team in 2017, the year of the Grenfell Tower fire. Another key event, he said, was the Government’s commitment in 2019 to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Keen to bring the work of the team ‘out of the doldrums’, he talked about the importance of studying ‘the whole school ecology’ of what schools are, before considering individual school buildings. He also put in place clear structures and missions for standards and delivery, setting up one of the largest POE programmes in in the UK, which has so far visited over 200 completed schools. Learnings from this evidence feed back into the development cycle to deliver, he said, better standards for new school buildings. Source:Theo WoodThe Department for Education's Jennifer Singer Singer talked about the challenges of creating a more sustainable school estate that can support future generations of children up to and beyond 2050. As well as adapting to climate change, mitigating flood risk and meeting net zero, this also means accommodating potential changes in the curriculum and digitalisation in schools. ‘We want to make sure we’re providing an education estate that is inclusive, is equitable and is sustainable in all ways,’ she said.Advertisement Singer drew attention to the department’s ‘important’ range of technical standards and guidance that inform how public funding is invested in schools, covering standards for space, acoustics, ventilation, thermal comfort, fire safety and much more. These include the Building Bulletins, which date back to 1949 and have now reached number 104, covering everything from door handles to daylight, and from specialist facilities to different stages of education. Along the way, they tell the story of the post-war school estate as it dealt with the baby boom, the raising of the school leaving age, the growth of system buildings, the energy crisis, estate rationalisation, Building Schools for the Future under New Labour, and more. Singer also celebrated the contribution of key figures in the design team’s history, including architects David and Mary Medd, and more recently Beech Williamson (reference to obit here). Another important figure was Stiratt Johnson-Marshall, who led the way for standardisation and system building in schools as chief architect at the Ministry of Education from 1948-1956 before co-founding RMJM. This neatly led back to the current work and future aspirations of the team. These were set out by Wright, who identified build and construction quality as a problem. ‘We’re determined to get better-quality buildings. The first step in that is standardisation,’ he said, adding that the benefits of this are ‘pretty clear’. ‘We’re not thinking standardisation means everything’s exactly the same. We’re really concerned with creating really good quality, beautiful spaces for people to learn in. But that doesn't mean you have to redesign every individual element of the building every time we get a new project,’ he said. The team is developing an education-based grid which can deliver all flexible types of spaces in a school building, and is also looking at what clusters of spaces work well together, and at block replacement. The hope is to be able to deliver not 50 schools a year as it currently does, but 200. ‘It’s not about reducing things down to the common denominator. It’s about trying to improve things and get better outcomes, and get better buildings from a large-scale approach to school design,’ he said. Asked later about how standardisation could inform retrofit, Wright talked about this in terms of standardising the approach of what needed to be done to post-war buildings and the techniques, rather than standardisation of space. ‘Refurbishment is a whole new world that’s complicated,’ he said. In response to the net-zero emissions by 2050 target, the DfE design team obtained funding from government innovation agency Innovate UK to develop the GenZero ultra-low carbon concept as part of a new platform for school construction. This led to a prototype timber-framed classroom exhibited at COP 26. This initiative has been developed further, with projects including a UK-timber classroom and sports block by Waugh Thistleton. In Derby, St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy was the first school built to GenZero net zero carbon specification. This pilot biophilia project also aimed to set new standards for connecting to the natural environment.  Wright said that the primacy of nature would come through in all of its infrastructure standards in future, including the importance of biodiversity and green infrastructure in helping to cool buildings, improve air quality and also foster wellbeing. With all these initiatives, the design team was, he said, ‘an exciting place to work with government’ with lots of exciting projects and lots more to come. The lunch, held at The Lighterman in London’s King’s Cross, was supported by sponsors MSA Safety and Ceramica Sant-Agostino and hosted by the AJ’s Will Hurst. Source:Theo Wood

In every generation there is a chosen one, and Generation Alpha’s has just been announced. 15-year-old American Horror Story and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew actor Ryan Kiera Armstrong will be joining OG Buffy the Vampire Slayer star (and reboot producer) Sarah Michelle Gellar in the series revival Hulu pilot. No further character details have been announced for the new role – including a name or whether or not Armstrong is actually playing a new slayer as is being reported elsewhere. Deadline report that her character will be “an introverted high-school student”. Will she come into her Slayer powers in the pilot, or could she be playing, say, Buffy’s teenaged daughter? Time will tell. Whatever the specifics of the role, it’s being touted as the new lead. On a video call with Ryan and her actor-producer father Dean Armstrong, Gellar welcomed the youngster to “the new Sunnydale,” telling her that ever since she saw her audition tape, that “there was only one girl that [she] wanted by [her] side”. She had one question for the 15-year-old (who’s a few years off the age that 19-year-old Gellar was when she first started playing Buffy Summers): are you ready to save the world? A tearful yes was the answer. Armstrong has already been acting for over a decade, with movie appearances in IT: Chapter Two, Black Widow, and the Firestarter remake under her belt. On television, she played the spirited and mischievous Minnie-May Barry in Canadian Netflix series Anne With an E, violinist child prodigy Alma Gardner in American Horror Story: Double Feature, was recently seen as Fern in 2024 Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (pictured above), and will soon be seen alongside Ethan Hawke in FX series The Lowdown.

Destiny 2 developer Bungie is once again battling accusations of plagiarism after yet another artist accused the studio of "lifting" aspects of their artwork, this time for its upcoming sci-fi shooter, Marathon.After numerous artists and a writer came forward claiming Bungie used their work without authorization or credit, yet another artist is claiming their work was used in the environments of Marathon. In screenshots taken from Marathon's alpha playtest accompanying the tweet, artist Antireal alleged they could see distinct icons and graphics they designed, some of which were originally shared on social media years ago in 2017."Bungie is, of course, not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution," the artist wrote in a statement posted to X/Twitter."I don't have the resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally but I have lost count of the number of times a major company has deemed it easier to pay a designer to imitate or steal my work than to write me an email. In 10 years, I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living."Bungie responded within hours. Though it did not publicly apologize, it said it had now launched an investigation, attributing the "issue" to a former Bungie artist, and reached out to the artist concerned.Play"We immediately investigated a concern regarding unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game," the team said in a statement. "This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred."We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to [the artist] to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist. As a matter of policy, we do not use the work of artists without their permission."To prevent similar issues in the future, we are conducting a thorough review of our in-game assets, specifically those done by the former Bungie artist, and implementing stricter checks to document all artist contributions. We value the creativity and dedication of all artists who contribute to our games, and we are committed to doing right by them. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."This is not the first time Bungie has been accused of lifting ideas from elsewhere. In October, the studio was slapped with a lawsuit after a writer claimed the studio stole plot elements from his story and used them for content in Destiny 2's 2017 storyline, The Red War. Bungie recently tried to get the lawsuit dismissed but a judge denied the request as Bungie scrambled to provide evidence having since "vaulted" the content so it is no longer publicly playable.Just weeks before that lawsuit was filed, Bungie launched a different investigation to ascertain how a NERF gun based on Destiny 2's iconic Ace of Spades was lifted almost wholesale from fanart designed back in 2015, including every brush stroke, scratch, and smudge on the weapon.Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Cool Finds Archaeologists Unearth an Ancient Relief Depicting an Assyrian King and Rare Deities The artifact was found in Mosul, Iraq, buried in the ancient city of Nineveh Researchers found the stone slab broken and buried in an ancient throne room. Aaron Schmitt In the ruins of the ancient Assyrian metropolis Nineveh, in modern Iraq, researchers have unearthed a rare artifact: a massive stone relief depicting important deities and Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Assyrian empire that dominated northern Mesopotamia between the 14th and 6th century B.C.E. Nineveh, located in Mosul in northern Iraq, was the Assyrian empire’s urban center, and archaeologists have been researching the site for centuries. In the late 1800s, British researchers explored the city’s North Palace, which was built during Ashurbanipal’s reign, between 668 and 627 B.C.E., and found some large, detailed reliefs. But they didn’t find them all. Since 2022, Aaron Schmitt, an archaeologist at Heidelberg University in Germany, has been leading an excavation of the North Palace. It was beneath the palace’s throne room that his team recently unearthed the rare stone slab carved with the likeness of King Ashurbanipal, as well as two Mesopotamian deities—Ashur, Assyria’s national god, and Ishtar, the goddess of war and sex. Today, Nineveh is surrounded by the Iraqi city of Mosul. Aaron Schmitt “Among the many relief images of Assyrian palaces we know of, there are no depictions of major deities,” Schmitt says in a statement from the university. Though found in broken fragments, the 12-ton relief once measured 18 feet long and nearly 10 feet tall. Researchers have concluded it was carved in the seventh century B.C.E. and originally placed in a niche across from the throne room’s entrance. Likely during the third or second century B.C.E., the relief was mysteriously broken and buried in a pit behind the niche, per the statement. “We have no information on the reasons that led to the relief being buried,” Schmitt tells Live Science’s Kristina Killgrove. “This is quite enigmatic.” At the center of the relief is King Ashurbanipal, with Ashur and Ishtar at his sides. The gods are flanked by fish and scorpion deities. The presence of the latter figures suggest a “massive winged sun disk was originally mounted above the relief,” Schmitt says in the statement. The researchers created a 3D model of the carved slab, digitally adding a reconstruction of its missing left section. A 3D model of the relief portrays the found pieces in dark grey and a speculative reconstruction of the missing piece in light grey. MIchael Rummel Assyria began as a dependency of Babylonia, but it became an independent state in the 14th century B.C.E., some 3,000 years ago, and grew into a major regional power in the historic Middle East. Nineveh, on the banks of the Tigris River, entered a golden age under Assyrian king Sennacherib, who made the city his capital before dying in 681 B.C.E. Later, Ashurbanipal established Mesopotamia’s first organized library in Nineveh. A few decades after Ashurbanipal’s death, the Assyrian empire fell. And several centuries after that, Nineveh was likely settled by Greeks, who may have broken and buried the newly discovered relief. But as Schmitt tells Live Science, Nineveh’s Hellenistic period isn’t well documented. “We do not know if they were negatively disposed towards the Assyrian king and the Assyrian gods,” Schmitt says. “I hope we will be able to get a clearer picture through our future excavations.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Amazon recently unveiled a new warehouse robot that can “feel,” according to the company.  Called the Vulcan robot, the two-armed beast is already working in Amazon fulfillment centers in Spokane, WA, and Hamburg, Germany, where it’s handled more than half a million orders. The Vulcan’s sense of touch comes from force-sensitive grippers and sensors on its joints, which provide data to its AI about the edges, contours, and resistance of the items it picks up, moves, and places in a new location. With this faculty, Vulcan can grip a soft bag of candy gently, but a heavy coffee table book more firmly without crushing the candy or dropping the book.  One way to look at the benefit of a robot that can detect what it’s gripping is that it provides flexibility, enabling a wider range of products to be handled. According to Amazon, Vulcan can handle about 75% of the million or so products in a typical Amazon warehouse. Aaron Parness and his roughly 250-person robotics team at Amazon created the Vulcan robot. The company revealed it to the world on May 7 at its “Delivering the Future” event in Dortmund, Germany.  Mixed feelings about tactile robots Vulcan is the first Amazon robot with what the company calls a “genuine sense of touch,” thanks to force feedback sensors and AI-powered software that lets it “feel” items, not just see them (cameras are the main sensors on most Amazon robots).  If you’re familiar with my views on anthropomorphicization (i.e., “humanizing”) of robots and AI, you might guess what I’m about to say. Amazon says its Vulcan robot can feel (without quotation marks). This isn’t true.  When a robot like Vulcan “feels” something, it uses sensors that measure force, pressure, and sometimes texture or shape, turning these signals into data that AI can interpret. Vulcan’s sensors are built into its gripper and joints, so when it touches or grasps an object, it detects how much force it’s applying and the contours it’s encountering. Machine learning algorithms then help Vulcan decide how to adjust its grip or movement based on this feedback. By contrast, a person feels with a network of millions of nerve endings in the skin, especially in the fingertips. These nerves send detailed, real-time information to the brain about pressure, temperature, texture, pain, and even the direction of force. The human sense of touch is deeply connected to memory, emotion, judgment, and consciousness. Robots like Vulcan can now match or even exceed humans in detecting pressure or identifying textures, but their “feeling” is purely mechanical and digital. They don’t experience sensation or emotion, and they only know what their sensors can measure and their software can interpret. Humans, on the other hand, feel in a way that’s physical, emotional, and conscious. With that caveat out of the way, it has to be said that Vulcan is pretty amazing.  Giving warehouse workers a hand Parness says Vulcan’s sense of touch is a breakthrough because it brings “physical intelligence” to robots, and that’s the categorical breakthrough here. The main advance robots will undergo over the next decade or two will involve sensors increasingly being able to detect and adapt to real conditions in the real world and being trained in virtual physical AI environments.  Despite the advanced state of Vulcan’s technology, its main job is actually limited:  to pick products from bulk storage and pack them into movable shelves, a task that used to require human dexterity.  Vulcan is neither a humanoid robot nor is its hand modeled after human hands. I’ve weighed in before about how modeling factory robots after human body parts makes no sense.  Vulcan’s “hand” combines a conveyor belt gripper with a spatula-like tool, both of which are fitted with sensors that constantly measure pressure and torque. A ruler-like tool attached between the paddles acts as a spatial guide, nudging existing items in storage bins to create space for the new items it is laying into place.  The robot’s AI, trained on thousands of hours of physical interaction data, calculates the right amount of force for each object in real time. Vulcan can work up to 20 hours a day without ever taking a coffee break or using the bathroom, moving at speeds comparable to a human worker, but always behind a safety fence in case it suddenly goes bananas like that Chinese robot in the TikTok video people have been talking about and misinterpreting. (It just malfunctioned. It didn’t try to “attack” people.)  The Vulcan robot has real limitations. For example, it’s too weak to lift anything heavier than 8 pounds and can only move products from one place to another. If the robot encounters an unfamiliar item or something that exceeds its 8-pound weight limit, it flags a human worker for help. Grasping the importance of tactile robots Vulcan isn’t the only robot with a sense of touch. RoboTact and RoboTouch sensors, developed over decades and now used in everything from humanoid robots to service bots, give machines the ability to sense contact, pressure, and even the shape of objects, allowing for delicate and precise handling.  Sanctuary AI enhanced its Phoenix robot with tactile sensors that let it handle complex, touch-driven jobs. Their technology means Phoenix can detect things like slippage or excessive force, even when it can’t see what it’s doing.  Meta created its Digit 360 sensor, a fingertip-shaped device that can register forces as tiny as one millinewton and pick up details down to seven microns. The sensor is still in the lab, but Meta’s partnership with GelSight and Wonik Robotics is helping to eventually bring these sensors into real-world use.  Eventually, robots with a sense of touch will revolutionize robotics and enable them to perform a wide range of tasks that robots currently cannot do, like picking strawberries, performing surgery, and defusing bombs. But for now, Amazon is using some of the most advanced tactile robots on the planet to help ship bathrobes, books, and batteries to customers.