Tesla engineers are building an AI-powered humanoid robot. Musk said that the 5'8" tall prototype, nicknamed 'Optimus', will be ready by next year. The vision for Tesla Robot is to have it obey simple commands like "Pick up the bolt and attach it to the car with that wrench", Musk informed. "You will be able to run away from from the bot and even overpower it", he said. But we couldn't just let go of his maniacal laugh after he said that. Tesla and Boston Robotics - two are enough to give us sleepless nights.

"ARC" is the official brand name for Intel's GPUs. The ARC brand will have the hardware and software under its gamut. The first GPU from ARC is "Alchemist"; and is expected to launch in 2022 to compete with AMD and NVIDIA. Alchemist GPUs will support hardware-based ray tracing, mesh shading, variable rate shading and DIrect 12X Ultimate. Intel is competing NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling with its "AI Intelligence-Driven Super Sampling".

Tom Hanks' next movie - Finch is all set to release on November 5, 2021 on Apple TV+. Tom Hanks plays the role of a robotics engineer and is accompanied by a robot and a dog. The trio take a journey across a desolate American wasteland. Will they get along, well find out on November 5.

NASA wants to test the possibility of using regolith (loose soil or rock) to 3D print structures right on the Moon. It has sent Redwire Regolith Printer (RRP) - a 3D printer to the International Space Station (ISS) to test 3D printing in low gravity. The study will show whether we can use regolith to build strong structures to withstand the extreme conditions on Moon and the Mars.

DJI's most affordable drone, the DJI Mini SE is priced at just $299. Following are the notable differences between new DJI Mini SE and DJI Mini ($399) -

1. USB-C charging port vs. micro USB
2. Firmware supports 24p video and manual ISO settings
3. No '4K' printed on the lens
4. Rear aircraft status indicator not clickable The drone only supports 2.7K and 1080p video and no provision to swap the controller. The USP of the Mini SE is that it weighs 249 grams; which means you don't need to register it to fly.

Beyond's Classon 'smart helmet' is equipped with onboard computers, sensors, cameras and a 2800 mAh battery to help you ride better. The helmet, company claims will offer ~4 hours of runtime per one hour charge. You can have the helmet turn on left/right indicators based on your hand gestures and also alert the rider about approaching vehicles that are out of sight. The cameras can record up to 6 hours of footage. It's IP65 certified and adds only 580 grams to your head. Not bad, for $399; say what?

Mercedes-Benz cars will now be able to talk to each other to stay informed about the potholes and speed bumps. Daimler AG, the owners of Merc brand informed that two new functions have been added to the their Car-to-X Communication service. When the car chassis control unit registers a pothole or speed bump; it communicates this data to central cloud. Other cars can now access this data and inform other cars 10 seconds in advance before the section is reached. Drivers will receive information as audio alert "Attention, speed bump".

GitHub has announced that its entire engineering team has adopted Codespaces to get rid of local development environments. GitHub Codespaces offers Visual Studio in the cloud - powered by virtual machines (VMs) running on the cloud. GitHub's own repository is ever growing and is now ~13 GB on disk; and bootstrapping would take around ~45 minutes on average. With Codespaces, GitHub engineers can create preconfigured codespaces in under 10 seconds.

ISRO - India's official space agency informed that the GSLV F10 mission didn't succeed because of a technical anomaly. ISRO was planning to put Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-03) in orbit to obtain the geo-imaging data of the Earth. The lift-off was successful at 05:43 IST and performance of first two stages of launch was normal. However, Cryogenic Upper Stage ignition failed. This is GSLV's fourth failure out of 14 launches since 2001.

TATA group is all set to launch satellite based Internet services in India by 2024. NELCO, a TATA group company is reportedly in talks with Telesat Lightspeed to bring the technology to India. Telesat has raised $5B to setup 298 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These satellites offer better connectivity and connection speeds. With satellite internet, Tata's will challenge Jio's dominance in the broadband sector and also reach remote areas which are difficult to connect using fiber. Elon Musk's competing service - Starlink is set to debut in India by May 2022.

Xiaomi's Cyberdog looks like a 'healthier' version of Boston Dynamics 'SPOT' - the quadruped that impresses every engineer with its smooth moves. Currently only available for 1000 Xiaomi hardcore fans and devs for $1540; Xiaomi says the CyberDog is packed with 11 sensors, proprietary servo motors, cameras and GPS. The machine is controlled by NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX which they call it the world's smallest AI supercomputer. CyberDog can track human faces and pick individuals in a group. Xiaomi wants the devs and engineers to explore the possibilities with CyberDog. Impressive!

Elon Musk's SpaceX has bought Swarm Technologies - the company that specializes in manufacturing smallsat hardware to offer connectivity to IoT devices. Swarm has had its own ups and downs with the FCC. In 2017, FCC had denied Swarm to launch its satellites as they could be safety hazard to spacecrafts. With its latest acquisition, SpaceX is looking to benefit from Swarm's IP and expertise for its ambitious Starlink project - which is installing several Internet satellites in space.

Xiaomi is launching two new OLED TV models in its Mi TV Master Series - 55" and 65". The first gen of Mi OLED TV had 65" display size with 4K resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. We'd expect most of the first-gen features to make it to the new generation; with additional premium features. Xiaomi said that these TVs will be launched along with Mi Mix 4, Pad 5 and a high-end smart speaker.

Apple top officials were in Korea to talk about semiconductors and display units. However, Korea Times reported that Apple execs also held secret talks with LG, SK, Hanwha; but those are very early stages. These talks were focused on possible partnerships for Apple's next mega secret project - The Apple Car. Apple seems to have entered 'advanced talks' with SK Innovation for the battery technology. We promise to keep you posted. Until then, enjoy the imaginary photo of Apple Car (credit:dazeinfo.com)

Simple Energy's electric scooter is set to debut on Indian roads on August 15, 2021 with a price tag of ~$1500 (INR. 1.1L). Several publications suggest that the e-scooter will offer a range of 240 Km in eco-mode. Speed-heads may enjoy going 0-50Km in just 3.6 seconds; but the top speed is capped at 100 kmph. Under the hood, Mark 2 is powered by 4.8 kWH li-ion battery. The touchscreen dash is IP67 certified with 4G connectivity. Will Simple Energy make a dent in Ola Electric's market? Let's see.