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The good devices I noticed at Pepcom’s Spring Spectacular


I had the chance to attend Pepcom’s Spring Spectacular in NYC yesterday, an occasion for media the place tech firms demo off their newest devices. Whereas there have been a variety of cool improvements on show, listed below are a couple of that stood out to me. 

Robotic lawnmowers

If there’s one chore I hate doing essentially the most, it’s mowing the garden. Lymow affords an answer to this with its robotic lawnmower. In the event you’ve by no means seen one in motion, consider these like a Roomba for outdoor. 

Much less superior fashions depend on you inserting boundary wires round your property, which the mower will use to bounce round till the garden is mowed. Lymow’s mannequin, nonetheless, does away with boundary wires through the use of a mix of RTK satellite tv for pc navigation and cameras to know your property boundaries and keep away from objects like sprinklers or timber. 

It could possibly deal with 45° inclines and may traverse over obstacles as much as two inches tall, permitting it to navigate over roots, holes, bumps, or muddy areas of the yard. It could possibly additionally mow as much as 1.73 acres per day. 

Lymow initially ran the mower as a Kickstarter final yr, which was efficiently funded, and continues to be accepting orders from late backers; essentially the most primary possibility is $1999, which incorporates the mower, charging station, RTK station, and 528wh battery. 

Along with Lymow, there have been a couple of different firms displaying off their robotic mowers on the occasion, together with Husqvarna and Yarbo, which truly additionally affords a robotic snow blower and robotic leaf blower as nicely. 

The good devices I noticed at Pepcom’s Spring SpectacularThe good devices I noticed at Pepcom’s Spring Spectacular

Picture credit score: Lymow

Immediately charged telephone

Swippitt is a telephone charging system that provides you entry to a completely charged battery in about two seconds. The system consists of a particular telephone case with an exterior battery that wirelessly fees your telephone and a charging hub that accommodates and fees 5 exterior batteries. When inserting your telephone within the hub, it swaps the present battery out for a completely charged one.

It’s primarily a fancier approach to make the most of wi-fi charging energy packs, so you would technically replicate this concept by shopping for a few these and retaining them totally charged and swapping them in your telephone as wanted, however this provides a little bit bit further comfort since you don’t must preserve observe of which of them are charged, and the truth that the battery is within the telephone’s case make it a bit extra superb for on-the-go use.  

Picture Credit score: Swippitt

A full gymnasium expertise in a single piece of kit

Speediance’s Fitness center Monster 2 is an all-in-one system for your entire at-home energy coaching wants. It could possibly act as many items of kit you’d see at a gymnasium, like a squat rack, ski machine, cable machine, or rower, and may even be used to simulate a barbell or dumbbells.  

It helps 10 completely different exercise modes, together with energy, stretch, and cardio, and affords a library of over 300 exercises that make the most of over 400 completely different workout routines. It additionally options an AI coach that may provide you with a customized schedule that may dynamically change as your health progresses. 

Fitness center Monster 2 can go as much as 220 lbs in weight and customers can regulate in 1 lb increments, in contrast to conventional gymnasium tools the place there’s a greater soar between weights. The burden system affords 4 modes: normal (constant resistance), chain (variable resistance that appears like free weights), eccentric (better load on the downward motion of an train), and glued velocity (managed motion that enhances stability and endurance). 

Picture Credit score: Speediance

It contains some fascinating security options, equivalent to the power to detect muscle imbalances when doing actions with the barbell and an auto-rescue characteristic that reduces the burden when you may’t full a elevate.

A washer attachment to chop down on microplastic air pollution

CLEANR is a filter that attaches to your washer and filters out as much as 90% of microplastics. Based on the corporate, you may simply set up it your self on any washer in about quarter-hour. 

The corporate additionally has an app you may set up in your telephone that reveals stats on the estimated quantity of microplastics it has captured, in addition to alerts on when upkeep is required.

Picture Credit score: CLEANR

Northeastern tender robotic arm wins MassRobotics Kind & Operate Problem at Robotics Summit


Northeastern tender robotic arm wins MassRobotics Kind & Operate Problem at Robotics Summit

The Northeastern crew developed a brand new kind of compliant robotic arm that may apply over 1 Nm of torque. | Supply: MassRobotics

MassRobotics introduced the winners of its third Kind & Operate College Robotics Problem on the Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston final week. Fifteen groups from across the globe showcased their initiatives on the present. The Transformative Robotics Lab crew from Northeastern College gained.

The successful robotic, a Comfortable Robotic Arm Screwdriver that spun and safely scrubbed plates, was picked by a panel of judges from the robotics business. The concept of this problem is to create a robotic that appears good (type) and works (perform).

As a primary in Kind & Operate historical past, second prize and viewers alternative have been each awarded to the identical crew, the College of Waterloo’s Gripper for First Responders. This crew had a novel gripper and arm that would assess victims in an emergency state of affairs.

Third prize was awarded to the returning Warmth Robotics College of British Columbia Okanagan Campus Wildfire Containment crew. It gained for its continued improvement and enhancements to its method to combating and stopping wildfires.

The competitors was intense this yr, and the judges mentioned they felt compelled to present an honorable point out to the Kurtz Robotics Boston College Automated Develop Mattress crew for its robotic, which may decide tomatoes in a scalable, cost-effective manner.

All the groups showcased progressive methods that impressed attendees. College students reported that corporations have been already providing jobs and even to work with them on their robots. The expertise of interacting and networking with business professionals was priceless to researchers who typically don’t get their work seen outdoors of their campus or labs.

MassRobotics sponsors, together with AltiumAMDAnalog UnitsAutodeskCopley ControlsDanfossFESTOHarmonic Driveigus, Lattice Semiconductor, maxonMitsubishi Electrical, and Novanta, donated parts and software program to the groups. This allowed the coed groups to make use of the newest choices within the business.

MassRobotics residents, healthcare startups additionally exhibit

On the Robotics Summit & Expo final week, MassRobotics additionally hosted a Startup Alley that showcased 21 of its resident startups, and the MassRobotics Accelerator. Powered by Mass Tech Collaborative, every of the businesses within the Accelerator cohort offered its applied sciences and enterprise fashions.

Startups that participated included Haystack Ag, LiftLabs, Mito RoboticsNexterityp!ngCrimsonefine Surgical procedureReviMoRevolute RoboticsTatum Robotics, and Variable Machines.

The Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst program highlighted its newest cohort of startups who made their remaining displays, sharing their milestones and achievements made throughout this yr’s program. Startups included OTSAW, ReviMoSixdof HouseSubtleboticTechNovatorTenomix.

Attendees have been capable of see improvements firsthand on the showroom ground — from a patient-transfer system to surgical instrument dealing with.

An image of the MassRobotics Form and Function Challenge on the Robotics Summit showfloor.

The MassRobotics Kind & Operate Problem on the Robotics Summit present ground. | Supply: MassRobotics

Strategic partnership continues at 2025 Robotics Summit

As a strategic companion with WTWH Media for the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo, MassRobotics performed a key function in offering steering and leveraging its in depth international community to assist the occasion. Over 5,000 attendees participated in periods led by business leaders comparable to PSYONIC, Symbotic, Amazon Robotics, MIT CSAIL, and Boston Dynamics, gaining insights into the way forward for robotics improvement. The exhibit corridor almost doubled in its footprint from final yr, with near 200 exhibitors.

“We set information for attendance and exhibitors on the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo, attracting members from greater than 45 international locations,” mentioned Steve Crowe, chair of the occasion and govt editor of The Robotic Report.

“This degree of development wouldn’t have been doable with out the assist of our strategic companion, MassRobotics. Its sturdy community of startups and deep business connections carry invaluable vitality, innovation, and experience to the occasion,” he added. “We stay up for rising this occasion in Boston and dealing with MassRobotics for years to come back.”


SITE AD for the 2025 RoboBusiness call for presentations.
Now accepting session submissions!


Now in Android #116. Google IO program lineup, Jetpack… | by Meghan Mehta | Android Builders | Might, 2025


The Google I/O agenda is now accessible, and you’ll register to discover periods on AI, Android, Net, and Cloud, going down Might 20–21. The Google Keynote might be on Might twentieth at 10:00 AM PT, with the Developer Keynote at 1:30 PM PT. You possibly can be a part of on-line for livestreams Might 20–21, with on-demand periods and codelabs on Might 22. Periods will cowl AI developments utilizing Gemini fashions, constructing apps for a number of gadgets utilizing Google AI, and new options for internet growth.

Jetpack Compose 1.8 is out with new options, API updates, and bug fixes. You possibly can improve your Compose BOM model to 2025.04.01 to make use of the brand new launch.

Listed here are among the key updates:

  • Now you can combine Autofill performance into your Compose purposes.
  • The brand new autoSize parameter lets the textual content dimension adapt to the container dimension
  • The onLayoutRectChanged modifier solves many use circumstances that the prevailing onGloballyPositioned modifier does; nonetheless, it does so with a lot much less overhead.
  • LookaheadScope is steady and consists of quite a few efficiency and stability enhancements, and features a new modifier, animateBounds

Take a look at the publish to be taught every thing new in Jetpack Compose 1.8.

Android 16 Beta 4 is out, marking the ultimate scheduled replace and platform stability. The developer APIs and app-facing behaviors are finalized.

Apps concentrating on Android 16 can now be made accessible in Google Play. This launch consists of the newest fixes and optimizations. Think about testing your apps in opposition to habits adjustments round JobScheduler, broadcasts, ART, intents, 16KB web page dimension, accessibility, and Bluetooth.

Word that should you develop an SDK, library, instrument, or recreation engine, it’s much more vital to organize any essential updates now to forestall your downstream app and recreation builders from being blocked by compatibility points and permit them to focus on the newest SDK options.

Whereas the API and behaviors are last and we’re very near launch, we’d nonetheless such as you to report points on the suggestions web page. The sooner we get your suggestions, the higher probability we’ll be capable of deal with it on this or a future launch.

The Google Play Console has a redesigned app dashboard that centralizes quality-focused metrics, serving to you enhance app efficiency and consumer expertise. The dashboard teams metrics into 4 core developer targets:

  • take a look at and launch
  • monitor and enhance
  • develop customers
  • monetize with Play

A brand new notification middle helps you keep updated along with your account and apps. New metrics embody:

  • pre-review checks for incorrect edge-to-edge rendering
  • a low reminiscence kill metric
  • extreme wake locks in Android vitals

To remain knowledgeable about all the newest Play Console enhancements and simply discover updates related to your workflow, discover our new What’s new in Play Console web page, the place you may filter options by the 4 developer targets.

The Android Builders weblog introduced new Android Vitals metrics aiming that will help you enhance app efficiency and battery life. The brand new metrics present fleet-wide visibility into efficiency and battery life, equipping you with the info wanted to diagnose and resolve efficiency bottlenecks. We simply launched the primary of those new metrics in beta: extreme wake locks. This metric immediately addresses one of the vital important frustrations for Android customers — extreme battery drain. By optimizing your app’s wake lock habits, you may considerably improve battery life and consumer satisfaction.

We launched the extreme wake lock metric documentation to supply clear steering on decoding the metrics. Please try this web page and supply suggestions along with your use case on this new metric. Your enter is invaluable in refining these metrics earlier than their normal availability.

Android Builders Weblog launches “Testing at Scale” sequence, that includes real-world testing methods and ideas from massive apps. This sequence enhances the brand new “Testing Methods” documentation and gives alternatives for builders to contribute their very own experiences. Take a look at the primary two elements posted under:

Partly 1 of the “Testing at Scale” sequence Ken Yee, Senior Engineer at Netflix, tells us concerning the challenges of testing a playback app at an enormous scale and the way they’ve advanced the testing technique.

Netflix’s Android app growth prioritizes complete testing, particularly on bodily gadgets as a result of huge machine assist. They’ve moved to native and are adopting Jetpack Compose. Their massive group makes use of unit assessments (Strikt, Turbine, Mockito, Hilt, Robolectric), screenshot assessments (Paparazzi, Espresso accessibility), and machine assessments (Espresso, UIAutomator). Minimizing flakiness (state, async code) is essential. They use a devoted machine lab and are exploring emulators, Roborazzi, and modular “demo apps” to enhance testing effectivity. The group has created a customized toolchain to isolate and notify engineers of flaky assessments. Characteristic builders personal all features of testing.

Partly 2 of the “Testing at Scale” sequence Ryan Harter, Employees Engineer at Dropbox, shares how the form of Dropbox’s testing pyramid modified over time, and what instruments they use to get well timed suggestions.

Dropbox’s Android app growth group makes use of a multi-faceted testing method, emphasizing unit assessments with instruments like JUnit and Paparazzi for screenshot testing. They’re reinvesting in end-to-end assessments, leveraging their very own Dropshots library for full instrumentation testing and are experimenting with Compose Preview Screenshot Testing. In addition they combine guide testing with web-based instruments and third-party providers for situations tough to automate. They’re increasing Dropshots to assist a number of machine configurations.

Key Highlights for Compose Builders:

Now we have a bunch of recent Compose APIs in alpha:

Compose Animation Model 1.9.0-alpha01

  • TabRow and ScrollableTabRow have been deprecated in favor of Main and Secondary variants of every that are extra performant and correct to spec.
  • We added LocalResources composition native to question Assets. Calling LocalResources.present will recompose when the configuration adjustments, so calls to APIs corresponding to stringResource() will return up to date values.

Compose Basis Model 1.9.0-alpha01

  • Breaking change: clickable, combinedClickable, selectable, toggleable, and triStateToggleable overloads with out an Indication parameter now solely assist IndicationNodeFactory cases offered utilizing LocalIndication. This alteration will apply whenever you recompile your usages of those modifiers utilizing this model of Compose and is required to allow improved efficiency, and permit Composable capabilities utilizing these modifiers to skip throughout recomposition.

Compose Materials Model 1.9.0-alpha01

  • Textual content discipline ornament field APIs are not experimental
  • runWithTimingDisabled is deprecated in favor of runWithMeasurementDisabled, which extra clearly describes the habits — all metrics are paused.

Compose Runtime Model 1.9.0-alpha01

  • currentCompositeKeyHash is deprecated. Use currentCompositeKeyHashCode as a substitute.
  • @Secure, @Immutable, and @StableMarker have been moved to runtime-annotation (in a appropriate method). Now you can depend upon runtime-annotation if you wish to use these annotations from libraries that don’t depend upon compose.
  • @RememberInComposition was added — that is an annotation that may mark constructors, capabilities, and property getters, to point that they need to not be referred to as immediately inside composition, with out being remembered.

Compose UI Model 1.9.0-alpha01

  • androidx.compose.ui.LocalSavedStateRegistryOwner is deprecated in favor of androidx.savedstate.compose.LocalSavedStateRegistryOwner.
  • Modifier.keepScreenOn was added to set the show to stay awake whereas current

CustomView Model 1.2.0, CustomView-Poolingcontainer Model 1.1.0, Leanback Leanback-Choice, Model 1.2.0, Leanback-Grid Model 1.0.0, Leanback-Paging Leanback-Tab Model 1.1.0, and Print Model 1.1.0 are all launched in steady.

That’s it for this version, with Google IO program lineup, Jetpack Compose 1.8, Play Console insights Android Vitals Metrics, Testing at Scale weblog sequence, and the newest in AndroidX!

Test again quickly to your subsequent replace from the Android developer universe!

Stratolaunch’s Hypersonic Airplane Breaks Mach 5 and Lands And not using a Pilot


Hypersonic automobiles have turn into the newest army status know-how, and the US appears to be lagging its rivals. That would change after the profitable flight of an autonomous and reusable hypersonic plane by US agency Stratolaunch.

In recent times, each China and Russia have unveiled missiles able to hypersonic speeds, which implies they will journey at greater than 5 instances the pace of sound. These weapons are each extremely quick and extremely maneuverable which makes them exhausting to trace and intercept.

Whereas the US is growing a number of hypersonic weapons, the nation is extensively seen as enjoying catch up towards its two fundamental adversaries. That’s why in 2022 the Pentagon launched the MACH-TB program to create low-cost choices for testing hypersonic know-how that might pace growth.

As a part of that program, Stratolaunch lately performed two check flights of its reusable Talon-A2 hypersonic plane. This week the corporate confirmed that the automobile had achieved speeds in extra of Mach 5 in each missions earlier than safely touchdown at Vandenberg Area Pressure Base in California.

“We’ve now demonstrated hypersonic pace, added the complexity of a full runway touchdown with immediate payload restoration, and confirmed reusability,” president and CEO of Stratolaunch Zachary Krevor mentioned in a press release. “Each flights had been nice achievements for our nation, our firm, and our companions.”

The Talon-A2’s design is paying homage to the Area Shuttle. It’s 28 ft lengthy and is powered by a 5,000-pound-thrust reusable rocket engine constructed by US startup Ursa Main. The automobile was air-launched over the Pacific Ocean by Stratolaunch’s Roc service airplane—the most important plane on the planet—in December 2024 and once more in March of this 12 months.

Whereas the corporate didn’t present many particulars on the flights, reminiscent of altitude or high pace, Krevor confirmed to Ars Technica that it had carried out a lot of “high-G” maneuvers on its method again to Earth.

That is the primary time the US has had a reusable hypersonic automobile for the reason that retirement of the rocket-powered X-15 crewed plane in 1968. However crucially, the Talon-A2 can fly autonomously, which ought to make it way more helpful for testing hypersonic weapon programs.

“Hypersonic programs at the moment are pushing the envelope by way of maneuvering functionality, maneuvering past what will be executed by the human physique,” Krevor informed Ars Technica. “Subsequently, having the ability to carry out flights with an autonomous, reusable, hypersonic testbed ensures that these flights are exploring the complete envelope of functionality that represents what’s occurring in hypersonic system growth right this moment.”

The objective of the MACH-TB program is to create a testbed for protection firms to check varied subsystems and supplies within the punishing circumstances generated by hypersonic speeds.

Whereas Stratolaunch didn’t present particulars concerning the payloads carried on these first two flights, Northrup Grumman mentioned that one of many missions examined out its Superior Hypersonic Know-how Inertial Measurement Unit. The gadget is designed to assist hypersonic automobiles navigate by retaining observe of their actions from a identified place to begin utilizing movement sensors.

Stratolaunch isn’t the one firm concerned in this system. US startup Rocket Lab has additionally created a suborbital model of its Electron rocket to be used as a hypersonic testing platform. However the reusability of the Talon-A2 is prone to be enticing for firms trying to quickly iterate on hypersonic designs.

That implies the US won’t be a laggard within the hypersonic race for much longer.

AI updates from the previous week: IBM watsonx Orchestrate updates, net search in Anthropic API, and extra — Could 9, 2025


Software program corporations are continually making an attempt so as to add increasingly more AI options to their platforms, and AI corporations are continually releasing new fashions and options. It may be arduous to maintain up with all of it, so we’ve written this roundup to share a number of notable updates round AI that software program builders ought to learn about. 

IBM introduces new instruments to assist with scaling AI brokers throughout the enterprise

At its IBM THINK convention earlier this week, IBM launched new updates that can assist alleviate a number of the challenges related to scaling AI brokers. 

New agent capabilities in watsonx Orchestrate embody:

  • New instruments for integrating, customizing, and deploying brokers 
  • Pre-build area brokers for HR, gross sales, and procurement
  • Integration with over 80 enterprise purposes, together with ones from Adobe, AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce Agentforce, SAP, ServiceNow, and Workday
  • Agent orchestration capabilities for complicated initiatives like workflow planning and activity routing that require coordination between a number of brokers and instruments
  • Agent observability throughout the whole agent life cycle

The corporate additionally introduced its Agent Catalog to supply simpler entry to brokers from IBM and its companions.

Anthropic provides net search capabilities to its API

This newest addition will allow builders to construct purposes and brokers that may entry and ship essentially the most up-to-date insights. 

“When Claude receives a request that might profit from up-to-date info or specialised information, it makes use of its reasoning capabilities to find out whether or not the online search instrument would assist present a extra correct response. If looking the online can be useful, Claude generates a focused search question, retrieves related outcomes, analyzes them for key info, and offers a complete reply with citations again to the supply materials,” Anthropic wrote in a weblog submit. 

Amazon Q Developer will get new agentic coding expertise in Visible Studio Code

Amazon has introduced a brand new agentic coding expertise for Amazon Q Developer in Visible Studio Code.

“This expertise brings interactive coding capabilities, constructing upon current prompt-based options. You now have a pure, real-time collaborative associate working alongside you whereas writing code, creating documentation, working exams, and reviewing modifications,” Amazon wrote in a weblog submit saying the information.

Google releases up to date model of Gemini 2.5 Professional Preview

The updates implement higher coding capabilities, particularly for duties like remodeling code and creating agentic workflows. 

In line with Google, this launch addresses developer suggestions corresponding to lowering errors in perform calling and bettering perform calling set off charges. 

OpenAI to purchase Windsurf

Bloomberg reported the deal earlier this week, saying that OpenAI would purchase the corporate for $3 billion. In line with Bloomberg, the deal has not but closed. 

Windsurf, beforehand known as Codeium, is an agentic IDE designed to allow seamless collaboration between builders and AI. 

HCL publicizes new AI agent orchestration platform

HCL Common Orchestrator (UnO) Agentic is an orchestration platform for coordinating workflows amongst AI brokers, robots, techniques, and people. 

It builds upon HCL’s Common Orchestrator, and provides agentic AI capabilities to supply clever orchestration and insert AI brokers into business-critical processes and workflows.

“By integrating deterministic and probabilistic execution, HCL UnO transforms how people and clever techniques collaborate to form the way forward for enterprise operations,” mentioned Kalyan Kumar (KK), chief product officer of HCLSoftware.

DigitalOcean publicizes new NVIDIA-powered GPU Droplets

NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Technology, NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Technology, and NVIDIA L40S GPUs are actually out there as GPU Droplets. 

In line with Bratin Saha, chief product and expertise officer at DigitalOcean, the brand new choices are supposed to present prospects with entry to extra reasonably priced GPUs for his or her AI workloads. 

“DigitalOcean’s easy and scalable cloud platform makes it simpler to deploy superior AI workloads on NVIDIA expertise, so organizations can rapidly and extra simply construct, scale, and deploy AI options,” mentioned Dave Salvator, director of accelerated computing merchandise at NVIDIA.

Yellowfin 9.15 now out there

The most recent model of the enterprise intelligence platform introduces AI-enabled Pure Question Language (AI NLQ), which permits customers to ask questions on their information. 

Different updates on this launch embody expanded REST API capabilities, enhanced bar and column chart customization, easier yearly information comparisons and report styling, stricter default controls for higher information safety, and assist for writable Clickhouse information sources. 

“Yellowfin 9.15 debuts the primary integration between the Yellowfin product and AI platforms,” mentioned Brad Scarff, CTO of Yellowfin. “These platforms have monumental potential to unlock productiveness and value advantages for all of our prospects, and upcoming variations of Yellowfin will construct on this preliminary launch to supply additional revolutionary AI-enabled options.”

Apiiro publicizes partnership with ServiceNow

Because of the collaboration, Apiiro’s AI-native deep code evaluation (DCA) and code-to-runtime matching might be utilized in ServiceNow’s Configuration Administration Database (CMDB), which offers an up-to-date view of IT and software program environments

“This integration is a significant milestone for Apiiro and the ASPM market at massive, as IT operations, safety operations, and software safety proceed to converge,” mentioned John Leon, VP  of partnerships and enterprise growth at Apiiro. “It’s a privilege to broaden our partnership with ServiceNow by introducing our Agentic Utility Safety platform because the definitive supply of reality for software program growth and turning into the software program growth lifecycle (SDLC) Techniques of Document throughout the ServiceNow CMDB, equipping enterprise customers with a exact stock of software program property to make sure operational effectivity in right this moment’s quickly evolving, AI-driven software program growth revolution.”

Dremio launches MCP Server

The server will enable AI brokers to discover datasets, generate queries, and retrieve ruled information.  

“Dremio’s implementation of MCP permits Claude to increase its reasoning capabilities on to a corporation’s information property, unlocking new potentialities for AI-powered insights whereas sustaining enterprise governance,” mentioned Mahesh Murag, product supervisor at Anthropic.


View AI updates from final month right here.