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Iván Hernández Dalas: I developed an app that uses drone footage to track plastic litter on beaches

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By Gerard Dooly , University of Limerick Plastic pollution is one of those problems everyone can see, yet few know how to tackle it effectively. I grew up walking the beaches around Tramore in County Waterford, Ireland, where plastic debris has always been part of the coastline, including bottles, fragments of fishing gear and food packaging. According to the UN, every year 19-23 million tonnes of plastic lands up in lakes, rivers and seas, and it has a huge impact on ecosystems, creating pollution and damaging animal habitats. Community groups do tremendous work cleaning these beaches, but they’re essentially walking blind, guessing where plastic accumulates , missing hot spots, repeating the same stretches while problem areas may go untouched. Years later, working in marine robotics at the University of Limerick, I began developing tools to support marine clean-up and help communities find plastic pollution along our coastline. The question seemed straightforward: could we ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Automation World in Seoul to feature Chinese humanoid makers

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Five leading humanoid robot developers from China will exhibit and speak in Seoul. Source: AW 2026 As humanoid robots continue to draw attention from global technology, investment, and industrial leaders, the “Big 5” humanoid developers of China will gather in South Korea for the first time next week. Smart Factory & Automation World (AW) 2026, which described itself as “Asia’s leading manufacturing AX expo,” last week announced that AGIBOT, Fourier, Huawei, Leju, and Unitree have confirmed their participation. The companies will exhibit and speak at the China Humanoid Robot Conference, or “China Humanoid: First Journey to Korea,” affiliated with AW 2026. “The gathering of world-class humanoid-robot companies in Korea goes far beyond a simple conference, marking the start of intensified global competition in the humanoid-robot market, with Korea emerging as a key hub,” stated the event organizers. Chinese humanoid companies to discuss global tech trends “China is already rec...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Intrinsic is joining Google to advance physical AI in robotics

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Intrinsic Flowstate is a developer environment to build production-grade robotics. | Source: Intrinsic Just five years after spinning out from Alphabet Inc.’s “moonshot factory,” Intrinsic Innovation LLC is joining Google LLC. The physical AI startup said that being part of Google will allow it to amplify its work across frontier AI, from research and development through deployment and daily operations, enabling industrial use cases in manufacturing and logistics. The companies did not disclose financial details of the transaction. As a distinct group within Google , the company will continue evolving the Intrinsic platform, using the capabilities of Google Gemini models and Google Cloud, as well as working closely with Google DeepMind . Wendy Tan White, the current CEO of Intrinsic, will remain in her position, reporting to Hiroshi Lockheimer, the chief product officer of Other Bets at Google. The rest of the unit’s reporting and leadership team remains the same, an Intrinsic sp...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Translating music into light and motion with robots

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Image taken from the YouTube video created by the authors (see below). A system developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo lets people collaborate with groups of robots to create works of art inspired by music. The new technology features multiple wheeled robots about the size of soccer balls that trail coloured light as they move within a fixed area on the floor in response to key features of music including tempo and chord progression. A camera records the co-ordinated light trails as they snake within that area, which serves as the canvas for the creation of a “painting,” or visual representation of the emotional content of a particular piece of music. “Basically, we programmed a swarm of robots to paint based on musical input,” said Dr Gennaro Notomista , a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Waterloo. “The result is a cohesive system that not only processes musical input, but also co-ordinates multiple painting robots to create adaptive, expressive...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Wayve raises $1.2B with plans to bring robotaxis to London

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Wayve plans to launch commercial trials of robotaxis using its AI Driver this year. Source: Wayve Wayve Technologies Ltd. today said it has closed a Series D round of $1.2 billion, bringing its post-money valuation to $8.6 billion. The London-based company said it plans to use the funding to accelerate commercialization of its “end-to-end AI platform” for autonomous driving. “With $1.5 billion secured, we are building for a total addressable market that spans every vehicle that moves,” stated Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve. “Autonomy will not scale through city-by-city robotaxi deployments alone. It will scale through a trusted platform that automakers and fleets can deploy globally and improve continuously.” “This investment accelerates our path to widespread commercial deployment and positions us to build the autonomy layer that will power any vehicle everywhere,” he added. Wayve builds autonomy for automakers Founded in 2017, Wayve said its AI Driver does not rely...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: AI2 Robotics raises Series B funding to advance AlphaBot, embodied AI

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AI2 Robotics has developed VLA models for its AlphaBot 2 robot. Source: AI2 Robotics AI 2 Robotics this week reportedly raised CN¥1.2 billion ($144.7 million U.S.) to continue developing embodied AI. The company said it plans to use the funding to advance its model toward general-purpose humanoid robots. Dr. Yangdong Eric Guo founded Shenzhen, China-based AI 2 Robotics in 2023. The startup (not to be confused with the Allen Institute for AI or Ai2 ) said its AlphaBot wheeled humanoid robots integrate proprietary foundation models with machine learning and robust hardware. “AI² Robotics is committed to accelerating the global adoption of general-purpose robots, making them as accessible as smart cars and smartphones, becoming a universal device for everyone,” said the company. AI² Robotics develops VLA model as ‘China’s Tesla’ AI 2 Robotics has developed the Global and Omni-body vision-language-action (GOVLA) model for “full-space understanding, whole-body coordination,...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Aramine AutoNav makes mining safer at Reward Gold Mine

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Epiroc installed AutoNav Tele on an Aramine L350D loader operating at a mine in Australia. | Credit: Aramine The Reward Gold Mine site at Hill End, New South Wales, Australia, is deploying a new autonomous loader. The Vertex-operated mine is using the Aramine L350D mining loader, equipped with Epiroc’s AutoNav Tele software from partner RCT. The L350D is a diesel-powered small underground loader that is designed for narrow-vein mining, making it suitable for underground mining operations. RCT works to make mining safer and again profitable The historic gold mining town lay dormant for decades after mining operations ceased around 2010. The town is northwest of Sydney, on the east coast of Australia. Today, the site is undergoing a revival with the construction of a brand-new plant tailored for small-scale mining. “This is more than just a machine installation,” said Owen Perrott, RCT ’s East Coast branch manager. “We’re introducing technology that can access areas previously ...
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