Weekly Piece of Future #100
From Brain-Computer Interfaces to Exoskeletons and AI Supercomputers
Hey there, fellow future-addicts!
Welcome to this week's edition of Rushing Robotics! We’re celebrating 100 weeks of delivering the latest and most exciting tech, AI, and biotech breakthroughs. From robotics and brain-computer interfaces to groundbreaking advancements in solar and AI computing, this milestone issue brings you the innovations shaping our world today. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey!
🤯 Mind-Blowing
This week’s breakthroughs are sure to amaze. NeuroXess has developed a brain-computer interface that allows a patient to control a robotic arm and communicate with AI, all through real-time thought decoding. German Bionic’s new Apogee ULTRA exoskeleton offers up to 80 lbs of lifting support, revolutionizing physical labor. And NVIDIA’s Project DIGITS introduces the world’s smallest AI supercomputer capable of running 200-billion-parameter models, bringing AI power to your desktop.
🔊 Industry Insights & Updates
Stay ahead with this week’s top industry advancements. Sambo Motors’ HAM III-2 hybrid aircraft marks a major leap in urban air mobility, while BMW’s AR dashboard is transforming how we navigate. Halliday’s smart glasses use AI to project images directly onto your eyes, blending style with cutting-edge tech.
🧬 BioTech
In BioTech, Caltech’s microrobots can deliver drugs precisely to targeted areas in the body, offering a non-invasive alternative for treatment. An AI model is predicting Alzheimer’s disease progression with over 78% accuracy, paving the way for early diagnosis and monitoring. Columbia’s all-optical nanoscale sensors can measure mechanical forces remotely, opening new possibilities for robotics and biophysics.
💡 Products/Tools of the Week
This week’s tools include Hyperbrowser, a platform for scaling web automation; Fenado AI, which enables no-code app and website creation; and CodeAnt AI, a platform that improves code quality and security. Plus, Erayaha AI simplifies contract reviews with powerful AI-driven insights.
🎥 Video Section
Check out exciting videos from CES 2025, including Jensen Huang’s presentation on NVIDIA’s AI supercomputer, NeuroXess’s brain-computer interface breakthrough, and the Unitree G1 humanoid robot in action.
Each week brings us closer to a world we once thought was impossible. Thank you for being part of this journey! Stay hungry, stay futurish!
🤯 Mind-Blowing
NeuroXess, a Chinese startup, has achieved significant advancements in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, successfully decoding thoughts in real-time and allowing a brain-damaged patient to control a robotic arm and communicate with AI. Their new BCI, implanted in a 21-year-old epileptic patient at Huashan Hospital, can interpret complex Chinese language and control digital avatars. The 256-channel, high-throughput flexible BCI device records electrocorticogram (ECoG) signals from the brain, translating them into movements and sensory data. Within 48 hours, the patient was able to play computer games, and in two weeks, she operated smartphone apps using NeuroXess’ XessOS.
German Bionic, a leading robotics company, has unveiled its latest exoskeleton, the Apogee ULTRA, touted as the world’s most powerful exoskeleton. Designed to assist users in carrying heavy loads, the Apogee ULTRA offers up to 80 lbs (36 kg) of lifting support. Additionally, it provides "active walking support," making a 6-mile (10 km) walk feel like 5 miles (8 km). The exoskeleton is intended for industries where heavy lifting is common, such as construction and baggage handling, but its walking aid feature could benefit sectors like nursing, where workers cover long distances. Wearable exoskeletons like the Apogee ULTRA aim to significantly enhance human physical labor.
NVIDIA has introduced Project DIGITS, featuring the new GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, which debuts as the world’s smallest AI supercomputer capable of running 200-billion-parameter models. This personal AI supercomputer, part of the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform, delivers a petaflop of AI computing power, enabling researchers, data scientists, and students to prototype, fine-tune, and run large AI models directly on their desktops. Project DIGITS allows users to develop and run inference on AI models locally and then deploy them seamlessly on cloud or data center infrastructure. "AI will be a part of every application in every industry. Project DIGITS brings the Grace Blackwell Superchip to millions of developers," said Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s CEO.
A Chinese manufacturer has broken the world record for solar module efficiency. Trina's large-surface n-type completely passivated heterojunction (HJT) modules achieved an efficiency rate of 25.44 percent in lab tests, a milestone confirmed by the leading solar research institute, Fraunhofer CalLab in Germany. Trina asserts that this result sets a new benchmark for HJT technology and marks a significant advancement in the photoelectric conversion efficiency of single-crystalline silicon solar modules. Previously, the company announced that its larger-area n-type TOPAS solar cell, also based on HJT, reached a record efficiency of 27.08 percent for front and back contact cells.
BYD’s Yangwang U9 made a series of astonishing moves captured on camera, where the self-driving car leaped over obstacles like water-filled potholes and road spikes. The latest video demonstrates the car’s ability to automatically detect various types of obstacles and decide to jump over them. During the recent tests, the Yangwang U9 briefly had all four wheels off the ground, hovering just inches above while clearing the obstructions.
🔊 Industry Insights & Updates
South Korea’s Sambo Motors Group has unveiled its latest advancement in urban air mobility (UAM) technology with the world debut of the HAM III-2 at CES 2025. This two-seater hybrid aircraft marks a major progression in the UAM sector, outperforming its predecessor, the HAM III-1, in size, performance, and technological innovation. The HAM III-2, designed to carry multiple passengers, boasts a 9-meter wingspan, stands 4.5 meters tall, and weighs 850 kilograms. Its hybrid powertrain is expected to set new benchmarks for fuel efficiency and flight safety in the burgeoning UAM market.
BMW has unveiled its first augmented reality (AR) dashboard, which projects navigation information directly onto the windscreen. The German automaker also introduced a futuristic steering wheel equipped with haptic feedback buttons. The new iDrive system features a sci-fi-like heads-up display (HUD) that spans the entire windscreen, using AR to provide directions and other essential data, ensuring drivers can keep their focus on the road.
Halliday has introduced revolutionary eyewear we didn’t know we needed: smart glasses that project images directly onto the eye. Unveiled at CES 2025’s CES Unveiled event, Halliday’s AI smart glasses beam images straight into the user's field of vision, bypassing the need for traditional lens projection. These glasses, merging style with advanced technology, are the first to feature a proactive AI agent and DigiWindow technology—a near-eye display that delivers information directly to the eye without using a lens. While the glasses can still hold prescription lenses, the projection system does not rely on the lens itself.
Single crystal electrodes in lithium-ion batteries allow them to last several times longer than current technologies. New research indicates that batteries with these "single-crystal electrodes" could power electric vehicles (EVs) for millions of miles, outlasting other vehicle components. A lithium-ion battery featuring this advanced electrode has been undergoing continuous charging and discharging for six years, maintaining nearly 80% of its original capacity. This performance is equivalent to an electric car covering 5 million miles (8 million kilometers), cycling eight times longer than a standard lithium-ion battery.
🧬 BioTech
In the future, the precise delivery of therapeutic drugs within the body could be handled by tiny robots—not traditional metal humanoid or bio-mimicking machines, but rather, small bubble-like spheres. These microrobots would face stringent requirements, such as surviving in bodily fluids like stomach acid, being controllable for precise targeting, releasing their medical payload only upon reaching the intended site, and being safely absorbed by the body afterward. A team led by Caltech has developed microrobots that meet these criteria and successfully used them to reduce bladder tumors in mice.
An artificial intelligence (AI) model analyzing speech transcripts from cognitive tests has predicted the progression of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer’s disease within six years with an accuracy of over 78%. The AI model achieved a 78.2% accuracy rate in forecasting which participants would progress from MCI to Alzheimer’s in that timeframe. Researchers see this as evidence of the potential for AI speech analysis to serve as a convenient and cost-effective cognitive testing tool that can be used remotely. They suggest this method is more accurate than other noninvasive tests and can aid medical professionals and clinical trial managers in identifying individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s.
Researchers at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed 'all-optical' nanoscale sensors that change their intensity or color when subjected to mechanical force. This innovation allows for remote read-outs without the need for wires or physical connections, according to a press release. Mechanical forces play crucial roles in both physical and biological processes. The ability to measure these forces remotely could benefit diverse fields such as robotics and cellular biophysics. Although light-based mechanical force sensors have been created to measure forces at the nanoscale (piconewtons) and larger scales (micronewtons), a single sensor capable of measuring across this broad range has not existed until now. The research team aims to apply these sensors to impactful areas like studying embryonic development.
💡Products/tools of the week
Hyperbrowser offers a sophisticated solution for running and scaling headless browsers in secure, isolated environments. It facilitates the automation of web tasks like scraping, testing, and form submission at scale. The platform is equipped with features such as AI agent support, captcha handling, and stealth browsing. Hyperbrowser’s scalable and secure nature makes it invaluable for developers, data scientists, and marketing teams who need to perform large-scale web operations, ensuring efficiency and undetectability in their web automation efforts.
Fenado AI empowers entrepreneurs to realize their dreams without the need for coding skills or a tech team. With no coding required and no development team needed, entrepreneurs can bring their ideas to life as fully functional mobile apps and websites. For years, many brilliant ideas have been stifled by the high cost and scarcity of skilled tech talent. Fenado AI revolutionizes this by democratizing app and website development, enabling entrepreneurs to create their solutions without the traditional complexities of coding or assembling a tech team.
Erayaha AI is a powerful contract review tool that analyzes documents to identify risks, financial consequences, and obligations. It integrates naturally with Microsoft Word and Google Docs, letting users operate within familiar interfaces. Employing sophisticated agentic AI reasoning, Erayaha provides accurate and logical insights into complex contracts, helping users make well-informed decisions. The platform supports SaaS and self-hosted deployments, offering both flexibility and robust data security.
CodeAnt AI is a cutting-edge AI-driven platform designed to improve code quality, security, and efficiency in software development. It automates the detection and resolution of code issues, integrates seamlessly with development tools, conducts security testing, and offers code governance features. Developers and organizations can leverage CodeAnt AI to save time, enhance code integrity, boost security, and streamline the development process, reducing technical debt and increasing overall productivity.
