Latest from 42HOW
42HOW Robotics · RoboticsHugging Face’s Pollen Robotics Launches $399 Microduck Robot for Embodied AI Training
Hugging Face’s Pollen Robotics has opened pre-orders for Microduck, a $399 bipedal robot designed as an affordable development platform for reinforcement learning and sim-to-real deployment.
42HOW Robotics · IndustryNewcomer Lingxi Zhiyong Ranks Top Three in World Humanoid Robot Games with ROSS Harness
Lingxi Zhiyong's robot achieved 160 points and ranked among the top three at the World Humanoid Robot Games. The company attributes this success to its self-developed ROSS Harness Agent, which bridges AI models and hardware execution.
42HOW Robotics · RoboticsGalaxea's Hang Zhao: The Next Embodied AI Scaling Goes Beyond Pre-Training
At the 2026 WRC Forum, Galaxea Chief Scientist Hang Zhao argues that Embodied AI's next scaling depends not just on pre-training data and models, but on continuous learning from real-world operations through post-training and real-robot reinforcement learning.
42HOW Robotics · IndustryWhy AgiBot Became the Top Medal Winner at the Robotics Competition
At the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games, AgiBot won 18 gold, 16 silver, and 12 bronze medals, ranking first in both gold and total medal counts. This success highlights its dual strengths in embodied AI motion control and commercial deployment capabilities.
42HOW Robotics · AI HardwareRayNeo iO Launches With 'All-Day Memory' Feature, Betting on Wearable Form Factor
RayNeo has launched the iO AI glasses at RMB 1,996 after subsidies, prioritizing an all-day memory assistant over camera or speaker features. The device aims to prove that comfortable form factor is the prerequisite for viable embodied AI applications.
42HOW Auto · New Cars & Market Signals5:10A Bed in the Car? Qijing’s Second Model, the GX7, Is a Bit Interesting
Qijing introduces its second vehicle, the GX7, with related topics highlighting in-car sleeping configurations and new vehicle features.
42HOW Robotics · InterviewsHopTo Technology CEO Fangzheng Wang: Building a Robot That Jumps and Flies
In an interview, HopTo Technology CEO Fangzheng Wang discusses the commercialization of Hopcopter, a hybrid drone-leg robot that transitions between jumping and flying. The company aims to launch its first product for overseas markets at under USD 1,000.
42HOW Auto · Autonomous Driving7:59Can Bosch's Single-Stage End-to-End System Handle Mountain Roads, Rough Terrain and Obstacles?
42HOW Auto examines whether Bosch's single-stage end-to-end autonomous driving solution can effectively navigate complex real-world scenarios including mountain roads, rough terrain and obstacle avoidance.
42HOW Robotics · InterviewsDaxiao Robotics and NUS Release ACE-Data-0, a High-Density Multimodal Embodied AI Dataset
Daxiao Robotics and NUS S-Lab released ACE-Data-0, an L5 multimodal embodied dataset. We discuss how high-density, physically grounded data is shifting the industry bottleneck from model architecture to physical supervision.
42HOW Robotics · InterviewsHuawei Veteran Zhou Shunbo’s New Home Robot Startup Secures Hundreds of Millions in Funding
Zhou Shunbo, founder of Ou La Wan Xiang, discusses his journey from Huawei to creating a wheeled home robot. He argues that data is the first principle of embodied AI and believes that high-value, non-AGI-dependent robots can succeed in family scenarios.
42HOW Robotics · ResearchEgo2Robot: Scaling Robot Data Synthesis from Egocentric Human Video
Ego2Robot demonstrates that scalable robot data synthesis from egocentric human video relies less on model architecture and more on rigorous data governance, including action alignment, visual alignment, and multi-level quality filtering.
42HOW Robotics · ResearchTrack4Action: Distilling 3D World Dynamics Into VLA Policies for Robust Robot Control
A new approach by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zhejiang University integrates 3D world tracking knowledge into Vision-Language-Action models to help robots understand how their actions change the physical environment.
42HOW Robotics · ResearchThree Major Embodied AI Papers Reveal the Gap Between VLMs and Reliable Robotic Agents
Recent reports from Anthropic highlight the race to make LLMs and VLMs the brains of robots. Three new papers from Meta/NUS/University of Washington, Sungkyunkwan University, and Tsinghua/Purdue propose different frameworks to bridge the gap between frozen models and reliable robotic agents.
42HOW Robotics · ResearchThe University of Hong Kong and INFIFORCE Team Tests VLA Continual Learning on Real Robots
A new study from HKU and other institutions demonstrates how experience replay and action normalization can prevent catastrophic forgetting in Vision-Language-Action models during continuous learning on real-world robots.
42HOW Auto · New Cars & Market Signals5:32Absurd! This Car Comes With a Built-In "Nanny"
The Volkswagen T6 features a new generation of infotainment system described as the brand's most powerful to date, introducing an advanced in-car intelligent assistant designed to enhance user experience.
42HOW Robotics · ResearchINTACT: Search-Free World Model for Robotics Achieves Faster, More Reliable Control
Researchers propose INTACT, a search-free world model framework that aligns physical and goal intentions using a shared operator. Achieving 95.33% success rate with 300x faster inference than LeWM, it upgrades JEPA from prediction to deployable control.
42HOW Robotics · ResearchFirst collaborative study by 30 researchers from PKU, NTU & others maps the embodied data pyramid
A comprehensive review by nearly 30 researchers clarifies the five-layer embodied data pyramid, exploring data scaling laws, model-specific requirements, and the synergy between simulation and real-world data.
42HOW Robotics · IndustryChemical Materials Firm's Subsidiary Launches Consumer Robot Division in Shanghai
PrimeBot New Ventures (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., a robotics subsidiary of Shangwei New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., has officially settled in Zhangjiang Robotics Valley, Pudong, Shanghai. The project was signed during the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC).
42HOW Robotics · InterviewsD-Robotics Unveils 0.04B X-Lens for Real-Time Depth Estimation on Heterogeneous Cameras
D-Robotics, in collaboration with Tokyo University and Suzhou University, released a technical report on July 15 introducing X-Lens, a lightweight depth estimation model with only 0.04B parameters. Capable of real-time metric depth estimation with heterogeneous cameras on edge devices, X-Lens uses a 'ray space' approach to unify fisheye and pinhole camera inputs, achieving high accuracy and efficiency compared to larger models.
42HOW Robotics · ResearchHow 500,000 Hours of First-Person Video Can Add 'Touch' to Embodied World Models
BeingBeyond releases Being-H0.8, a latent tactile world-action model trained on over 500,000 hours of first-person video. By generating pseudo-tactile labels from visual data and unifying robot sensor inputs, it aims to bridge the gap between visual observation and physical contact for embodied AI.