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Category: robotics/AI – Page 12

Medra Raises $52 Million to Speed Drug Discovery With AI Robots

Medra, which programs robots with artificial intelligence to conduct and improve biological experiments, has raised $52 million to build what it says will be one of the largest autonomous labs in the United States.

The deal brings Medra’s total funding to $63 million, including pre-seed and seed financing. Existing investor Human Capital led the new round, which came together just weeks after the company started talking publicly about its work in September, Chief Executive Officer Michelle Lee said in an interview at the company’s San Francisco lab. The company recently signed an agreement to work on early drug discovery with Genentech, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG.

Scale of living things

Neal Agarwal published another gift to the internet with Size of Life. It shows the scale of living things, starting with DNA, to hemoglobin, and keeps going up.

The scientific illustrations are hand-drawn (without AI) by Julius Csotonyi. Sound & FX by Aleix Ramon and cello music by Iratxe Ibaibarriaga calm the mind and encourage a slow observation of things, but also grow in complexity and weight with the scale. It kind of feels like a meditation exercise.

See also: shrinking to an atom, the speed of light, and of course the classic Powers of Ten.

Scientists just uncovered a major limitation in how AI models understand truth and belief

A new study has found that artificial intelligence systems struggle to distinguish between objective facts and subjective beliefs. This limitation poses risks as these technologies enter high-stakes fields like medicine and law.

The rhythm of swarms: Tunable particles synchronize movement like living organisms

A collaboration between the University of Konstanz and Forschungszentrum Jülich has achieved the first fully tunable experimental realization of a long predicted “swarmalator” system. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows how tiny, self-propelled particles can simultaneously coordinate their motion and synchronize their internal rhythms—a behavior reminiscent of flashing fireflies, Japanese tree frogs or schooling fish.

The results underline how collective dynamics can arise from simple interactions, without overarching leadership or control. Possible applications include autonomous robotic swarms.

Swarmalators—short for swarming oscillators—are systems in which each individual not only moves but also oscillates, with motion and rhythm influencing one another.

Quantum machine learning nears practicality as partial error correction reduces hardware demands

Imagine a future where quantum computers supercharge machine learning—training models in seconds, extracting insights from massive datasets and powering next-gen AI. That future might be closer than you think, thanks to a breakthrough from researchers at Australia’s national research agency, CSIRO, and The University of Melbourne.

Until now, one big roadblock stood in the way: errors. Quantum processors are noisy, and quantum machine learning (QML) models need deep circuits with hundreds of gates. Even tiny errors pile up fast, wrecking accuracy. The usual fix—quantum error correction—may work, but it’s expensive. We’re talking millions of qubits just to run one model. That’s way beyond today’s hardware.

So, what’s the game-changer? The team discovered that you don’t need to correct everything.

Breakthrough uses artificial intelligence to identify different brain cells in action

A decades-old challenge in neuroscience has been solved by harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to identify the electrical signatures of different types of brain cells for the first time, as part of a study in mice led by researchers from UCL.

AI Guides Robot on the ISS for the First Time

Dr. Somrita Banerjee: “This is the first time AI has been used to help control a robot on the ISS. It shows that robots can move faster and more efficiently without sacrificing safety, which is essential for future missions where humans won’t always be able to guide them.”

How can an AI robot help improve human space exploration? This is what a recent study presented at the 2025 International Conference on Space Robotics hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated new methods for enhancing AI robots in space. This study has the potential to help scientists develop new methods for enhancing human-robotic relationships, specifically as humanity begins settling on the Moon and eventually Mars.

For the study, the researchers examined how a technique called machine learning-based warm starts could be used to improve robot autonomy. To accomplish this, the researchers launched the Astrobee free-flying robot to the International Space Station (ISS), where its algorithm was tested floating around the ISS in microgravity. The goal of the study was to ascertain if Astrobee could navigate its way around the ISS without the need for human intervention, relying only on its algorithm to determine safely traversing the ISS. In the end, the researchers found that Astrobee successfully navigated the tight terrain of the ISS with limited need for human intervention.

RAM is so expensive, Samsung won’t even sell it to Samsung

More hints that the Singularity really has begun: and more importantly: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/after-years-of-resisti…ublic-why/

The second article is how Elon is going to have SpaceX go public at $1.5 trillion so he has more money to put into AI. Of course, Elon is not the only one putting money into AI and $1 trillion will be spent on AI data centers next year.

Due to rising prices from the “AI” bubble, Samsung Semiconductor reportedly refused a RAM order for new Galaxy phones from Samsung Electronics.

Pneumatic-suction robot clears 75,000 lb of cargo an hour

It’ll likely be a while before we have humanoid robots taking over our household chores, but what you can count on sooner is seeing more robots in industrial settings, like factories and warehouses.

Robots already move pallets and bins of goods across warehouse floors, replacing forklifts. There are also articulated arms involved in packaging tasks, and even assembly operations.

A startup founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alumni wants these bots to do some heavy lifting, literally. Pickle Robot Company’s robot systems feature AI smarts, cameras, sensors, and enormous single-armed machines to unload shipping containers filled with cases weighing up to 50 lb (22.5 kg) each.

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