The Innovation Report
Apple Building Better Recycling Robot
Last week, TechCrunch paid a visit to Apple’s Austin, Texas, manufacturing facilities. Since 2013, the company has built its Mac Pro desktop about 20 minutes north of downtown. The 400,000-square-foot facility sits in a maze of industry parks, a quick trip...
Little Robot Could Explore Furthest Reaches Of Other Planets
Researchers in the US are working on a lightweight robot designed to explore extreme terrain, including the next celestial bodies to be studied by humans. The Loris robot (for "Lightweight Observation Robot for Irregular Slopes") has been designed to explore terrain...
AV Company Zoox Testing Self-Driving Cars
Zoox, the self-driving-vehicle unit of Amazon.com Inc. will soon expand street testing to Austin, Texas, and Miami, Fla. In a blog post Wednesday, Zoox said the expansion “marks a significant step forward.” Zoox vehicles first started testing on the streets of San...
How Electric Car Batteries Might Aid The Grid
Electric cars are more expensive than gasoline models largely because batteries cost so much. But new technology could turn those pricey devices into an asset, giving owners benefits like reduced utility bills, lower lease payments or free parking. Ford Motor, General...
Boeing’s Starliner Arrives At ISS Today
Boeing's Starliner capsule will reach the International Space Station today (June 6) on its first-ever crewed mission, and you can watch the action live. Starliner is expected to dock with the orbiting lab today around 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT) on its historic...
Yoshi Mobility Launches Mobile EV Charging
GM is partnering with Yoshi Mobility to launch its mobile EV charging technology. This platform utilizes a “high-power mobile charging unit” to turn a vehicle into what the company calls “a supercharger on wheels.” GM enters the picture by providing the first host for...
AI-Backed Robots Roll Through Seattle Construction Site
A couple of high-tech workers are part of the crew helping to construct a new residential tower in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. They roll through the place, take a bunch of pictures, upload everything to an artificial intelligence platform, and in the process...
World’s First Wooden Satellite Is Tiny, Ingenious, Headed To Space
When satellites re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their lives, they leave behind metal particles in Earth’s orbit and atmosphere and studies suggest that aluminum introduced during the burning fireball of reentry could also contribute to the depletion of...
BMW Begins Using Human-Like Robots On Production Lines
Now, BMW is overtaking Tesla and has signed a contract with the American company Figure for their human-like robot to work at their factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which produces the crossover models X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7. The humanoid robot can perform...
Boeing Starliner Astronauts Arrive At Launch Site For June 1st Flight
The first Boeing Starliner astronauts are back at the launch site. NASA Crew Flight Test (CFT) astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday (May 28) ahead of their expected liftoff of...
