Sanctuary AI announced that it will be delivering its humanoid robot to a Magna manufacturing facility.
As is often the nature of these deals, the parties have not disclosed how many of Sanctuary AI’s robots will be deployed.
The news follows similar deals announced by Figure and Apptronik, which are piloting their own humanoid systems with BMW and Mercedes, respectively.
For its part, Magna invested in Sanctuary AI back in 2021 — right around the time Elon Musk announced plans to build a humanoid robot to work in Tesla factories.
The company would later dub the system “Optimus.” Vancouver-based Sanctuary unveiled its own system, Phoenix, back in May of last year.
Google VidsLeveraging AI to help customers develop creative content is something Big Tech is looking for, and Tuesday, Google introduced its version.
Read moreImagen 2In February, Google announced an image generator built into Gemini, Google’s AI-powered chatbot.
“Vertex AI Agent Builder allows people to very easily and quickly build conversational agents,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said.
Read moreNvidia’s Blackwell platformOne of the anticipated announcements is Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell platform coming to Google Cloud in early 2025.
This, Kyle Wiggers writes, is “Google’s most capable generative AI model,” and is now available in public preview on Vertex AI, Google’s enterprise-focused AI development platform.
Don’t have time to catch the Google Cloud Next livestream?
Here’s whyNvidia’s Blackwell platformOne of the anticipated announcements is Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell platform coming to Google Cloud in early 2025.
Read moreImagen 2In February, Google announced an image generator built into Gemini, Google’s AI-powered chatbot.
Read moreChrome Enterprise PremiumMeanwhile, Google is expanding its Chrome Enterprise product suite with the launch of Chrome Enterprise Premium.
This, Kyle Wiggers writes, is “Google’s most capable generative AI model,” and is now available in public preview on Vertex AI, Google’s enterprise-focused AI development platform.
Agility Robotics on Thursday confirmed that it has laid off a “small number” of employees.
The well-funded Oregon-based firm says the job loss is part of a company-wide focus on commercialization efforts.
Ultimately, however, those efforts were placed on the back burner, as the company shifted focus to understaffed warehouses.
Two years ago this month, the company announced a $150 million Series B. Amazon notably participated in the round by way of its Industrial Innovation Fund.
Last month at Modex, Agility showcased updates to Digit’s end effectors designed specifically for automotive manufacturing workflows.
Google announced today that it will soon roll out on-device AI-powered features such as recording summaries and smart replies on the Pixel 8.
These features will be based on Gemini Nano, a small-sized model Google released last year, primed to run on devices.
The company announced these features last October during the Pixel 8 launch.
In January, Google introduced “Circle to Search” for select Pixel and Samsung Devices.
The company announced this week that more Pixel and Sasmung phones along with select tablets will get Circle to Search feature.
Banking-as-a-service startup (BaaS) Synctera has conducted a restructuring that has resulted in a staff reduction, the company confirmed to TechCrunch.
While Synctera did not share how many employees were impacted, a report in Fintech Business Weekly pegs the number to be about 17 people, or about 15% of the company.
Synctera built a platform designed to bring together fintech companies and sponsor banks.
Treasury Prime slashed half its 100-person staff in February, a year after it announced a $40 million Series C raise.
Meanwhile, Piermont Bank reportedly cut ties with startup Unit, FinTech Business reported.
Apple SVP Greg “Joz” Joswiak just confirmed via the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that the company’s annual World Wide Developer Conference is set for June 10-14.
In what is no doubt a nod to the company’s artificial intelligence ambitions, the exec is promising that the event will be “Absolutely Incredible.”Mark your calendars for #WWDC24, June 10-14.
pic.twitter.com/YIln5972ZD — Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) March 26, 2024As the name “D” in WWDC suggests, the event is heavily focused on developers for Apple’s various operating systems.
WWDC seems like the most likely platform for such an announcement — and, perhaps, details on a rumored Google Gemini partnership for the iPhone.
As ever, the event will include a small cohort of “winners,” 50 of whom will be invited to the in-person event in Cupertino.
But that’s how things are at Microsoft now: everything needs to have a Copilot angle — even its most straightforward hardware events.
“Windows 11 and Windows 365 promise a new era of AI productivity,” Melissa Grant, Microsoft’s senior director for Windows Enterprise said.
Microsoft is also betting on cloud PCs delivered through Windows 365 as a surface for the Copilot.
Microsoft says that Windows App usage has now reached over 3 million active hours since it entered preview at the Microsoft Ignite 2023 in November.
And those Windows 365 cloud PCs?
Ford was the first to start offering the so-called North American Charging Standard (NACS) adapters last month for free.
Most automakers have announced that future EVs will incorporate Tesla’s charging tech into future vehicles.
Rivian’s next-generation vehicles, which it just revealed earlier this month, will also include the Tesla charging port.
Making Tesla’s Supercharger network accessible to owners means they now have 15,000 new fast chargers where they can plug in.
Rivian has also been building out its own network of fast-charging stations, which it calls the Rivian Adventure Network.
The TechCrunch team is in Barcelona this week to bring you all the action going on at Mobile World Congress 2024.
So far, we’ve seen some big announcements from companies, including new Android features from Google, Lenovo’s new laptop concept and rollable phone concept and Xiaomi’s robotic dog.
Motorola’s rollable concept phoneWhat’s the maximum size of a device that you will wear on your wrist?
The company has designed what it’s calling a “rollable concept phone” for Motorola that folds around your wrist.
In addition to design, Xiaomi has developed the five core EV technologies: E-Motor, CTB Integrated Battery, Xiaomi Die Casting, Xiaomi Pilot Autonomous Driving, and Smart Cabin.
