Archive 01.04.2025

Ever asked a question and been met with a blank stare? It's awkward enough with a person—but on a humanoid robot, it can be downright unsettling. Now, an international team co-led by Hiroshima University and RIKEN has found a fix: giving androids a "thinking face." Their study reveals that when robots squint and furrow their brow while processing information, they appear more relatable, easing the eerie discomfort we feel with artificial beings that look almost, but not quite, human—known as the "uncanny valley" effect.

Growing up in Spain, Cecilia Huertas Cerdeira was captivated by the elegant movements of aquatic life during frequent vacations to the Atlantic coast. Later, as a doctoral student at the California Institute of Technology, she steered her surfboard into Pacific waves.

Sealing technology plays a decisive role in ensuring performance stability, reducing friction, and protecting components from environmental influences. High-performance seals are essential for extending the life of robotic joints, actuators, and automated systems.

AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use them, especially with children.

Like a bumblebee flitting from flower to flower, a new insect-inspired flying robot created by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, can hover, change trajectory and even hit small targets. Less than 1 centimeter in diameter, the device weighs only 21 milligrams, making it the world's smallest wireless robot capable of controlled flight.

Built to operate in dynamic and unpredictable environments, BroBot™ utilizes a hybrid analog-digital interface, autonomous task protocols, and situational awareness systems to perform essential duties with minimal supervision.

ChatGPT’s new AI-image generator – perfect for writers looking to add supplemental images to their copy — has become a viral sensation across the Web.

Simultaneously embraced by millions of users as AI imaging’s ‘Next Big Thing,’ the new tool has been described as an ‘astounding’ leap forward by Al Samson, a graphic artist with 15+ years experience.

Essentially, the new tool features stunning imaging, extreme detail and much more control over the final image users are looking to create, according to Samson.

A few of the near-infinite number of use cases available with the AI imager include:
~precise image rendering in a photo-realistic or illustration style
~the ability to tweak an image of yourself to make yourself
look ‘more handsome,’ ‘more beautiful’ – or more or less any number of other qualities
~the ability to drop a reliable image of your product into any scene you can imagine
~instant-rendering of any image in your brand colors
~instantly recognizable caricatures of celebrities and the famous
~instant creation of a comic-strip in your desired style

While not perfect, Samson says the new imaging tool – which replaces ChatGPT imaging that used to run on the DALL-E AI imaging engine has grabbed the throne as “the best image-generation tool on the market.”

(Fans of DALL-E can still find that imaging tool in ChatGPT’s “GTPs” section.)

For an extremely informed and nuanced overview of everything ChatGPT’s new imaging tool has to offer, check-out Samson’s in-depth, extremely insightful, 29-minute video on the upgrade.

In other news and analysis on AI writing:

*35% of Office Workers Now Use ChatGPT: Apparently, being first with a magical new tech has its advantages.

A new study from DeskTime finds that 35% of office workers worldwide now use ChatGPT in some capacity.

In contrast, office worker use of ChatGPT competitors – like Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude and Xai Grok – pales in comparison.

*AI Now a Major Force in Press Release Writing: A new study from Stanford University finds that 24% of press releases are now written by AI.

Observes Stanford University researcher Weixin Liang: “Even high-level international organizations like the United Nations showed roughly 14% LLM (AI chatbot) usage in its press releases.”

Adds writer Tor Constantino: “The research is among the largest empirical investigations of AI writing adoption, reviewing more than 300 million online documents and posts between 2022 and 2024.”

*Google Lunges Ahead to Number One Spot with New Chatbot Upgrade: In the never-ending horserace among the top AI chatbots, Google has lunged into first-place with its new Gemini 2.5 upgrade.

With the overhaul, the Gemini 2.5 chatbot beats-by-a-nose fierce competitors like ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude and Xai Grok.

Observes writer Amanda Caswell: “Gemini 2.5 is designed to comprehend vast amounts of data and handle complex problems across various information sources — including text, audio, images, video and even code repositories.”

*Another Columnist Discovers ChatGPT Can Do His Job: Add columnist Harley Hays to the growing cadre of writers who are discovering – often uncomfortably – that they have nothing on ChatGPT.

Hays asked ChatGPT to try its hand at writing the kind of columns he writes – and also to write columns using his personal writing style.

Hays’ reaction: Yikes!

*AI Writing Tools, On-the-Cheap: A new aggregation app – dubbed ‘Together Chat’ – is now offering free access to a number of AI writers/chatbots – although they’re not state-of-the art.

Writers looking to try-out a number of AI writers at no cost can sample an early version of the DeepSeek chatbot using the free Together Chat app – as well as versions of Llama, Qwen and Flux Schnell.

Observes Hassan El Mghari: “Whether you’re brainstorming ideas, drafting code, doing research with the Web, generating images, or exploring creative writing, Together Chat puts cutting-edge open-source AI at your fingertips.”

*Google Docs to Get AI Summaries: Google is promising to soup-up Google Docs with AI designed to summarize its documents for you.

Observes Jorge A. Aguilar: “Gemini’s summary can be added directly to the document, and users can update it if they change the original content.

“The AI summary tool is basically meant to make long documents easier to read and understand.”

*New Guide Released on ChatGPT for Work: OpenAI has dropped a new AI video primer on how to get the most from ChatGPT at work.

The video explores how ChatGPT has evolved since its introduction – including its enhancements in interactivity and customization.

The video also explores how ChatGPT can be used to work independently on specific tasks for you at work.

*The AI Takeover of Customer Service is Well Underway: A new study from Forrester Consulting finds that 52% of business decision-makers are looking to integrate AI into their customer service.

Observes Pete Lavache, CMO, Avaya – the company that commissioned the Forrester study:

“Companies know exceptional customer experiences drive revenue.

“The major hurdle is being able to actually orchestrate those experiences leveraging any — or every — AI tool they choose.”

*AI BIG PICTURE: Chinese ChatGPT Competitor: Ferociously Closing the Gap: China – once perceived as a year or more behind the U.S. in AI development – has quickly closed the gap with its new AI chatbot DeepSeek.

These days, China is probably just three months behind the U.S. in some facets of AI development because of its products like DeepSeek, according to AI expert Lee Kai-fu.

Moreover, Kai-fu added that on a few AI frontiers, China has actually pulled ahead of the U.S. in AI sophistication.

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–Joe Dysart is editor of RobotWritersAI.com and a tech journalist with 20+ years experience. His work has appeared in 150+ publications, including The New York Times and the Financial Times of London.

The post ChatGPT’s New AI Image-Maker: ‘Astounding’ appeared first on Robot Writers AI.

Many of the robotic systems developed in the past decades are inspired by four-legged (i.e., quadruped) animals, such as dogs, cheetahs and horses. By replicating the agile movements of these animals, quadruped robots could move swiftly on the ground, crossing long distances on various terrains and rapidly completing missions.

Novel artificial neurons learn independently and are more strongly modeled on their biological counterparts. A team of researchers has programmed these infomorphic neurons and constructed artificial neural networks from them. The special feature is that the individual artificial neurons learn in a self-organized way and draw the necessary information from their immediate environment in the network.

Claire chatted to Benjamin Mottis from ANYbotics about deploying their four-legged ANYmal robot in a variety of industries.

Benjamin Mottis is a Robotics Engineer in charge of ANYmal Research at ANYbotics. After graduating in robotics from EPFL, he joined ANYbotics as a Field Engineer in 2023. He specializes in deploying ANYmal and training customers across all ANYbotics verticals (Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Metals, Chemicals, etc.). Since 2024, as the Global Research Community Manager, he has been working on expanding the ANYmal Research Community and helping world-leading researchers push the boundaries of robotics with ANYmal.

By having Stretch take on the physically demanding task of unloading trailers stacked floor to ceiling with boxes, the company has reduced injuries, lowered turnover, and watched employees get excited about automation intended to keep them safe.

A company that specializes in early wildfire detection has developed a new, AI-based drone it says will help speed up the detection, location and monitoring of fires.

Recent work in 6D object pose estimation holds significant promise for advancing robotics, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), as well as autonomous navigation. The research, published in the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering, introduces a method that enhances the accuracy, generalization, and efficiency of determining an object's rotation and translation from a single image. This could significantly improve robots' ability to interact with objects, especially in dynamic or obstructed environments.

Aging and illness in humans are accompanied by decline in motor and cognitive functions, causing difficulties in daily life and communication and often leading to anxiety and depression. Human-collaborative robots that can interpret the intentions of humans promise to mitigate these issues and enhance independence.

Imagine navigating a virtual reality with contact lenses or operating your smartphone under water: This and more could soon be a reality thanks to innovative e-skins. A research team has developed an electronic skin that detects and precisely tracks magnetic fields with a single global sensor. This artificial skin is not only light, transparent and permeable, but also mimics the interactions of real skin and the brain.