Scientists ‘knit’ soft robotic wearables for easier design and fabrication

Scientists have made considerable progress with soft robots used for assistive wearables, rehabilitative technologies and more. Powered by compressed air, they offer advantages over regular robots like sensing capabilities, soft touch, and high power-to-input ratios. 

Designing and building them has been a challenge, however, due to the need for a manual design and fabrication pipeline that requires a lot of trial and error. Now, scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have come up with a new pipeline called “PneuAct” that uses computers and a special knitting process to design and digitally fabricate the soft pneumatic actuators. Their work could eventually lead to new assistive and rehabilitative devices. 

“PneuAct uses a machine knitting process — not dissimilar to your grandma’s plastic needle knitting — but this machine operates autonomously,” according to CSAIL researchers. The designer simply needs to specify the stitch and sensor design patterns in software to program actuator movements, which can be simulated before printing. The textile piece is then fabricated by the knitting machine, which is fixed to a rubber silicone tube to complete the actuator. 

The actuators use conductive yarn for sensing so they can essentially “feel” or respond to what they grab. As proof of concept, the team developed several prototypes including an assistive glove, soft hand, interactive robot and a pneumatic walking quadruped, as shown in the video above. 

The new devices are considerably improved over older designs, incorporating programmed bending when inflated and the ability to incorporate feedback. “For example, the team used the actuators to build a robot that sensed when it was touched specifically by human hands, and reacted to that touch,” the team wrote. The glove could be worn to supplement finger muscle movement, adding extra force for grasping to help people with finger or hand injuries. 

The team plans to explore actuators with different shapes, and incorporate task-driven designs with target poses and optimal stitch patterns. “Our software tool is fast, easy to use, and it accurately previews users’ designs, allowing them to quickly iterate virtually while only needing to fabricate once,” said Harvard University’s Andrew Spielberg, an author on the paper. 

Embracer is buying Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and three Square Enix game studios

Swedish game company Embracer Group has just made a blockbuster deal to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal for what seems like a bargain $300 million price, the company confirmed in a press release. The deal includes a “catalogue of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 back-catalogue games from Square Enix Holdings,” it wrote. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. 

Those studios represent around 1,100 employees across eight global locations, the company noted. When the deal is finalized, Embracer will have 14,000 employees, 10,000 game developers and 124 internal studios. It has more than 230 games in development, with 30 of those being AAA titles. “This acquisition will bring additional scale to Embracer’s current AAA segment, and Embracer will have one of the largest pipelines of PC/Console games content across the industry, across all genres,” it said. 

As part of the deal, Eidos Montreal plans to revive Deus Ex and use new Unreal Engine 5 technology, the studio said during the acquisition conference call, as Shack News reported. “At this time, we are crazy people who have decided to revive the Deus Ex IP as our first game,” Eidos Montreal Studio Head David Anfossi said. “A new team, a very complex production, a new tech, and a new studio, an easy challenge.” Anfossi noted that Deus Ex console sales have exceeded 12 million units. 

Last month, Crystal Dynamics announced that it was developing a new Tomb Raider game, also based on Unreal Engine 5, with plans to “push the envelope of fidelity.” The studio also developed Marvel’s Avengers, among other titles. Eidos Montréal created Thief 4, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and more, and is “working on a host of AAA projects including both new releases from beloved franchises and original IP,” according to the Embracer press release. 

As we detailed in a feature last year, Embracer is perhaps “the biggest games publisher you’ve never heard of,” founded by Swedish entrepreneur Lars Wingefors. It made a string of acquisitions over the last couple of years, most significantly purchasing Saber Interactive for $525 million and Gearbox Software for $1.3 billion.

It now own quite a list of iconic franchises, particularly in the classic category. On top of the newly acquired IP, it controls Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Metro, TimeSplitters, Borderlands, Darksiders, MX vs ATV, Kingdoms of Amalur, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Insurgency and World War Z. For some of those like TimeSplitters, the company has promised new titles from the original developers.

The Wikimedia Foundation won’t accept crypto donations anymore

After Wikipedia editors voted to drop cryptocurrency as a donation option last month, the Wikimedia Foundation has confirmed that it will no longer accept Bitcoin or other forms of crypto, The Verge reported. As part of that decision, it’s closing its Bitpay account to prevent any future donations. 

“The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to discontinue direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of donating. We began our direct acceptance of cryptocurrency in 2014 based on requests from our volunteers and donor communities. We are making this decision based on recent feedback from those same communities. Specifically, we will be closing our Bitpay account, which will remove our ability to directly accept cryptocurrency as a method of donating,” the WMF wrote in an update. 

“We will continue to monitor this issue, and appreciate the feedback and consideration given to this evolving matter by people across the Wikimedia movement. We will remain flexible and responsive to the needs of volunteers,” it added. 

Wikipedia editor GorillaWarefare (aka Molly White) wrote a proposal for the foundation to stop accepting cryptocurrencies, calling them “extremely risky investments.” She also pointed out that they may not align with the foundation’s commitment to environmental sustainability, as annual crypto production uses more energy than entire countries. White also cited the Mozilla Foundation’s change of heart in its decision to accept Bitcoin after facing a heavy backlash from users. 

Wikimedia welcomed requests for comments (RfC) to GorillaWarfare’s proposal, with 232 voting in favor of it and 94 against. The WMF said it would take all that into account before making a final decision. “I’m really proud of my community for making what I feel was the ethical decision after a lot of thoughtful discussion,” White told The Verge in a statement. “There are just too many issues with crypto for any potential donation revenue to be worth the cost of helping to legitimize it.”

Amazon permanently allows workers to carry phones following warehouse collapse

Amazon will permanently allow warehouse employees to keep their cellphones with them at work after temporarily permitting them during the pandemic, Vice has reported. “We recognize the desire for employees to keep their mobile phones with them inside facilities, and the last two years have demonstrated that we can safely do so,” an internal message seen by Motherboard stated. “Therefore, we are making the temporary phone policy permanent worldwide, in all of our operations facilities.”

Amazon planned to reinstate the mobile device ban following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when its Edwardsville, Illinois warehouse collapsed in a tornado, killing six people, angry associates demanded permanent cellphone access for safety reasons. They delivered a petition to six Amazon warehouses in December, saying “taking our phones away isn’t about safety, it’s about controlling us.” Workers who voted to unionize at Amazon’s Staten Island facility also made cell phone access a key demand. 

Amazon subsequently backtracked on the idea “until further notice,” and has now permanently removed the ban. Meanwhile, 1,500 workers at another Staten Island warehouse are voting on whether or not to unionize, with the vote counting set to start on May 2nd. Amazon avoided penalties in the warehouse collapse, but the US safety watchdog OSHA asked the company to review its procedures after discovering issues with its Emergency Action Plan (EAP).

Amazon one-day PC accessory sale offers savings of up to 48 percent

For anyone building a PC or looking for accessories like monitors, storage or keyboards, Amazon is having a one-day sale that might be of strong interest. A host of desirable items are significantly marked down, including keyboards, headsets, power supplies, displays, cases and storage, with discounts as high as 48 percent. 

Buy PC accessories at Amazon

There are a few standout deals, but lots of other choice as well. First on the list is the 31.5-inch 2,560 x 1,440 Acer Nitro XV322QU IPS gaming display, with features like DisplayHDR 400, AMD FreeSync, up to a 170Hz refresh rate, 0.5 millisecond lag and 90 percent DCI-P3 color accuracy. With a large size and extreme speed, it’s a highly desirable model and is at or near an all-time low of $299, for a savings of 45 percent or $250. 

Amazon one-day PC and accessory sale offers savings of up to 45 percent
Razer

Speaking of speed, Razer’s Huntsman V2 TKS Tenkeyless gaming keyboard (above) offers that in spades, with the “fastest linear optical switches with sound dampeners and an 8,000Hz polling rate,” the company says. In other words, it’s fast and quiet while offering great durability thanks to the Doubleshot PBT keycaps. It’s now on sale for $100, saving you $60 or 38 percent over the regular price. 

Finally, you’ll appreciate this deal if you’re a PC builder. Corsair’s HX850 platinum-certified, fully modular power supply is on sale for $120, for a savings of 35 percent of $65. That 850-watt category is the sweet spot for most enthusiasts, and the $65 savings might let you upgrade your CPU or RAM. 

There are numerous other items, including a Toshiba N300 14TB NAS drive for $265 (37 percent off), be quiet!’s 1,500W BN647 power supply for $300 (33 percent off) and Sennheiser’s GSX 1000 Gaming Audio Amplifier at $120 (48 percent off). Finally, while it’s not a PC accessory, the best deal in the sale is on Samsung’s 10.5-inch 256GB Galaxy Tab S6 for $300, a full 59 percent off. It’s best to act soon, though, as the sale ends in less than a day. 

Elon Musk must continue to have his Tesla tweets checked before posting

Elon Musk won’t be able to get out of his agreement requiring oversight of his tweets about the company, Bloomberg reported. A judge has rejected his request to drop the 2018 deal made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that required a company lawyer approve any Tesla-related tweets. The judge also denied Musk’s request to block an SEC subpoena related to possible insider trading. 

“Musk cannot now seek to retract the agreement he knowingly and willingly entered by simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time but now — once the specter of the litigation is a distant memory and his company has become, in his estimation, all but invincible — wishes that he had not,” US District Judge Lewis Liman wrote.

Musk may wish it were otherwise, but he remains subject to the same enforcement authority — and has the same means to challenge the exercise of that authority — as any other citizen.

After Musk tweeted in 2018 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420, the SEC sued saying that Musk had misled investors. The parties eventually settled, with Musk and Tesla agreeing to pay $20 million each and require lawyers to review Musk’s Tesla-related tweets. 

However, last month Musk asked a federal court to terminate the deal, saying he felt “forced” to sign the consent decree during a period when Tesla’s financial health was at risk. A self-described “free speech absolutist,” he also claimed through his lawyer that the deal impinged on his his First Amendment rights. 

The judge also denied Musk’s request to quash an SEC subpoena related to a Twitter poll he conducted asking users whether he should sell Tesla shares or not. Officials were concerned he might have told his brother Kimbal about the poll, leading the brother to sell 88,500 shares just a day before the November 6th, 2021 tweet. In response, Musk said that the Twitter poll in question was just meant to gather input and not a disclosure of information he’d have to report to the SEC.

“Musk may wish it were otherwise, but he remains subject to the same enforcement authority — and has the same means to challenge the exercise of that authority — as any other citizen,” Liman wrote. “Indeed, to conclude otherwise would be to hold that a serial violator of the securities laws or a recidivist would enjoy greater protection against SEC enforcement than a person who had never even been accused of a securities law violation.”

In response, Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro said that the court’s ruling still means he can address SEC subpoenas on a case-by-case basis. “The court is simply saying we can move to quash these subpoenas when they are compelled,” he told Bloomberg. “Nothing will ever change the truth, which is that Elon Musk was considering taking Tesla private and could have — all that’s left some half decade later is remnant litigation which will make that truth clearer and clearer.”

Lucid will sell up to 100,000 EVs to the Saudi government

Luxury EV maker Lucid Group has struck a deal to sell the government of Saudi Arabia up to 100,000 vehicles over the next ten years, it announced. The kingdom’s Ministry of Finance will buy at least 50,000 Air sedans and upcoming models from now until 2032, with an option to buy another 50,000 over the same period. 

Saudi Arabia’s public wealth fund invested $1 billion in Lucid in 2018 and owns a 62 percent stake in the company. The order will include vehicles from Lucid’s existing Arizona factory and a new one planned for Saudi Arabia. It’ll start next year with sales between 1,000 and 2,000 vehicles annually and ramp up to 4,000-7,000 per year in 2025, according to Lucid. 

Lucid recently launched its first vehicle into production, the $169,000 Air Dream Edition Performance sedan with 1,111 horsepower and 450 miles of range. The Air Grand Touring model will show up later for $139,000, followed by the $95,000 Air Touring and finally the base, sub-$80,000 Air. However, prices will also include “logistics and importation costs, and other costs of delivering and homologating vehicles to regulations of Saudi Arabia,” according to Lucid. 

“We are delighted to be supporting Saudi Arabia in achieving its sustainability goals and net zero ambitions, as outlined by Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, by bringing our advanced luxury EVs to Saudi Arabia,” said Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson. 

However, as part of those initiatives, the kingdom also plans to continue drilling for oil in what it calls a “circular carbon economy.” Critics have slammed that as greenwashing, citing recent UN reports stating that “time is running out” and that fossil fuel development is “dangerously out of sync” with climate change targets.

Ads are coming to YouTube Shorts

With YouTube’s Shorts gathering significant momentum over the past year, Google is now experimenting with ads on the platform, Bloomberg reported. At first, you’re likely to see app-install ads and other promotions, according to Google. “While it’s still early days, we’re encouraged by initial advertiser feedback and results,” said Google’s chief business officer Philipp Schindler on an investors call. 

Shorts launched in September 2020 to counter TikTok offering 15-second videos shot on mobile phones, and expanded to the US in March 2021. The platform now averages over 30 billion daily views, up more than four times over last year. “As we’ve always done with products, we focus on building a great user experience first, and we’ll work to build monetization over time,” said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

YouTube as a whole missed expectations by a good margin, posting $6.87 billion in sales compared to the $7.48 billion investors were expecting, according to Variety. Parent Alphabet also fell a bit short of targets with $68.01 billion in revenue, but that’s still up 8 percent over the same quarter last year.

Along with YouTube shorts, a bright spot was the YouTube TV cord-cutting subscription service that “continues to deliver substantial revenue growth,” the company said. Pichai also revealed that viewers watch more than 700 million hours of YouTube content per day on connected TVs. He added that YouTube will introduce new smartphone features for connected TVs this year that will make it easier for users to comment and share content. 

Amazon avoids fines and other penalties in Illinois warehouse collapse

Amazon won’t face fines and other penalties following the collapse of an Illinois warehouse that killed six workers during a tornado, CNBC has reported. However, the US Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) asked Amazon to review its procedures after discovering issues with its Emergency Action Plan (EAP). 

The storm that ripped across six states in December, well outside of tornado season, was one of the deadliest in years. Despite tornado warnings from the National Weather Service 36 hours ahead of the event, Amazon continued to operate the Edwardsville, Illinois warehouse. It was in the middle of a shift change when the tornado touched down with wind speeds up to 150 MPH, destroying the south side of the building. 

OSHA investigators concluded that Amazon’s severe weather emergency guidelines “met minimal safety guidelines for storm sheltering.” Because of that, “under our standards, there’s not a specific citation we can issue in light of the actions at Amazon,” OSHA’s assistant secretary of labor Doug Parker told reporters.

We’re making recommendations because under our standards, there’s not a specific citation we can issue in light of the actions at Amazon.

OSHA identified some workplace conditions as “risk factors,” though. A megaphone to be used to activate shelter-in-place procedures was locked in a cage and inaccessible, and some employees didn’t recall the location of the designated shelter-in-place location. In addition, Amazon’s EAP had a section for severe weather emergencies, but it wasn’t customized with specific instructions for the Edwardsville facility. To that end, investigators recommended that Amazon “voluntarily” take steps to address the issues.

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC that it would “carefully consider” the recommendations. “Employees receive emergency response training, and that training is reinforced throughout the year. OSHA’s investigation did not find any violations or causes for citations, but we’re constantly looking to innovate and improve our safety measures and have already begun conducting additional safety and emergency preparedness drills at our sites and will carefully consider any OSHA recommendation that we have not already.”

While Amazon avoided penalties from OSHA, it’s facing a separate probe in Congress and multiple lawsuits. The House Oversight committee announced it was investigating Amazon Warehouse safety earlier this month, saying it “seeks to fully understand the events that led to the tragedy at Amazon’s Edwardsville facility.” The company is also facing multiple lawsuits from several injured workers and the family of one of the people killed in the collapse. 

Roku will stream ‘John Wick 4,’ ‘Borderlands’ and other Lionsgate films for free

The Roku Channel has signed a multiyear deal with Lionsgate Films that will allow it to stream upcoming blockbusters like John Wick 4 and Borderlands for free, it announced. Roku will get those films in a timely fashion too, right after their initial streaming windows on Lionsgate’s Starz platform. “We are pleased to expand our relationship with our longstanding partner Lionsgate to provide our audience with exclusive first-time, free access to Lionsgate’s theatrical slate,” said Roku VP Rob Holmes in a statement. 

Other films that arriving to Roku include The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent starring Nicolas Cage, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, The Expendables 4 and White Bird: A Wonder Story (Helen Mirren and Gillian Anderson). 

Roku has made a steady push into free programming, buying all of Quibi’s short-form shows last year and later adding content from The Tribeca Film Festival, IGN, CBC News and AccuWeather. The new move is a bigger deal, though, as it will let Roku Channel users stream blockbuster films at no cost before they arrive on cable or other platforms. The company didn’t say if the films would stream with ads or not, but much of Roku’s free content is ad-supported. 

Roku also offers Premium subscriptions to HBO, Cinemax, Starz and other services. The new free movie streaming offerings are another shakeup in a crowded, volatile industry. Earlier this week, Netflix announced it would offer an ad-supported tier after 200,000 subscribers left the platform — the first such decline in over a decade.