😸 $100M Robot

Hi, hi, hi! Welcome back to the daily digest. In today’s highlight, I’m covering the latest home robot that’s taken the internet by storm. But first…

Some headlines: 

💌 X now lets you edit DMs — here’s how you do it. 

😣 CrowdStrike is facing legal action over its infamous software crash.

🧑‍⚖️ Brazillian judges have voted to confirm the X ban and fine those using VPNs.

The race to launch the first humanoid robot is quickly becoming one of 2024’s most defining tech stories. Throughout the year, we’ve seen a number of demos from Tesla, Boston Scientific, and more showcasing humanoid robots designed to complete tasks both in professional and home environments.

The latest robot friend to grab the internet’s attention is the Neo Beta. It’s built by 1x Technologies, a company backed by Open AI and most recently raised a whopping $100 million in funding. It’s designed from the ground up as the company’s first foray into home robotics after a decade of building for factories. 

It’s designed for general purposes, such as tasks around the home like cleaning, moving furniture, carrying objects, and even pouring a beverage. All of these tasks are performed autonomously using a built-in AI system. It stands at about the height of an average human, can lift double its weight (66 pounds, by the way), and can run up to speeds of 7.5 miles per hour. 

Understandably, one of the big questions about AI-powered humanoid robots is safety. The last thing humanity needs is a human-robot war akin to Terminator or, on a lesser scale, a robot giving you attitude. To this effect, the Neo bot has been specially designed to avoid posing a threat. It’s considerably lighter and softer than other competitors. It’s clad in a jumpsuit-like material instead of metal or hard plastic and has cushions where human muscles would be. 

1x plans to start deploying Neo bots in a few select homes this year, with a big focus on research and development before the company begins to open the technology to the general public. My only question is, when are we going to get a Wall-E-style robot?

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS 

Spellar Pro is a a Copilot designed to assist you in meetings. It can answer questions, facilitate brainstorms, generate icebreakers, and more.

Instead of juggling multiple apps and tabs, ScreenHint lets you capture a piece of your screen, turning it in to a snapshot that hovers over your other windows.

DEVELOPER TOOLS

undb is a local-first, offline-first no-code platform that empowers you to build and manage your own databases with ease. 

Maxium gives you real-time insights on your engineering team by categorising code changes and estimating the effort required to put them together as a function.

LIFE TOOLS

Shut Up & Breathe is a minimalist app that gives you two minutes of peace by having you take a break from whatever you’re doing, breathe, and destress.

OneMovie is an app that makes it easy to find movies to watch based on your tastes, mood, and streaming subscriptions.