Robotics Special: DoorDash unveils new delivery robot

Welcome back, Superhuman. Turns out Waymo can break the law and get away with it: California police landed itself in what’s effectively a legal gray zone (for now), trying to ticket the robotaxi for an illegal U-turn. Meanwhile, the food delivery market is set to be disrupted by the automation wave, with one of the biggest players in the space unveiling a "cute" new delivery robot this week.

WHAT’S NEXT

The most important news and breakthroughs in robotics this week

1. DoorDash rolls out a "cute" new delivery robot: The company has unveiled "Dot," its first standalone autonomous delivery robot that can zip through busy streets while carrying up to 30 pounds of your favorite takeout. Currently being tested in Phoenix, the robot aims to slash missing item complaints by 30% thanks to its SmartScale weighing feature. The move follows competitors like Uber, which recently teamed up with drone startup Flytrex.

2. Meta reveals strategy to lead the pack in robotics: According to CTO Andrew Bosworth, the company’s recently formed robotics team is pivoting away from hardware towards solving software challenges — particularly ones around "dexterous manipulation". It’s an interesting strategy: rather than compete with rivals like Figure, OpenAI, and Tesla in making robotics hardware, Meta plans to license its planned software platform to hardware makers, similar to Google's Android approach.

3. Spider-like robot can reportedly 3D-print an entire house in a day: Australian researchers have unveiled a six-legged robot that they claim can 3D print a 200-square-meter house in under 24 hours. Designed to tackle the global housing affordability crisis, the robot packs earthen materials into fabric tubes and compacts them layer by layer, similar to the sustainable earthbagging technique. The robot could also be used on the Moon, where it could potentially construct habitats using Moon soil.

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ROBOTS IN ACTION

How robots are transforming the world around us

🚗 Gray Area: A driverless Waymo car gave California police officers a surprise when they attempted to ticket it for an illegal U-turn — only to find there was nobody to hand the citation to. While police hope a quick "reprogramming" will keep the car on the straight and narrow, legislators are now looking to prepare laws to counter what’s effectively a legal gray zone.

🌪️ Eye of the Storm: NOAA's tiny four-foot C-Star robot just made history as the first uncrewed vessel to transmit live data from inside a Category 5 hurricane's eyewall, braving 150 mph winds in Hurricane Humberto while sending measurements every two minutes — a feat that could potentially revolutionize storm forecasting.

👮 Security Check: Private businesses may soon have their own aerial surveillance teams thanks to Flock Safety's latest offering. The company, known for providing drones to police departments, is now pitching its tech to retailers, hospitals, and warehouses to combat issues like shoplifting. The move has raised multiple red flags amongst privacy advocates, who are concerned about the broader implications of its surveillance.

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Everything else you need to know this week

Here are the biggest developments in the robotics space that you should know about:

• Zoox has launched test vehicles in Washington, D.C., as it maps the area before introducing autonomous testing later this year.

• Periodic Labs, founded by ex-OpenAI and ex-DeepMind researchers, has secured a $300M seed round to automate scientific discovery.

• NVIDIA has released new open models and simulation libraries that transform vague instructions into step-by-step plans using reasoning abilities.

• Seven-Eleven Japan has unveiled plans to deploy humanoid robots in convenience stores by 2029 to address labor shortages.

• YouTuber Basically Homeless has unveiled a robotic exoskeleton that improved his Aimlabs performance by 63%, catapulting him to second place globally.

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ROBOT OF THE WEEK

A robot that caught our eye this week

You don’t have to worry about dropping your drone in the water anymore.

HoverAir’s Aqua doesn’t mind getting wet. The drone is the world's first fully waterproof self-flying camera. It floats, takes off from water, and films 4K at 100 fps with automatic tracking via a wearable beacon. The device can fly up to 23 minutes per charge and withstands winds up to 38 mph. You can watch it zip through the skies and seas here.

You can check it out here.

ROBO REEL

Watch: Troops deploy ground robot to rescue cat from frontline

Ukrainian troops used an unmanned ground robot to rescue a cat from the line of fire. The cat had been sharing trench life with the brigade for months before soldiers decided to relocate it to safer quarters. The three-hour mission saw the robot first deliver supplies to forward positions before returning with the cat securely stowed inside.

Ukraine's military has increasingly deployed UGVs for everything from ammunition delivery to medical evacuations, showcasing robotics' expanding role in modern warfare.

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Zain and the Superhuman AI team