John Koetsier

OG Twitter.
🎙️NEXT with John Koetsier (AI, robotics, new tech)
✍🏼 @Forbes
📙No Other Gods (sci-fi, Amazon)
🕸️

[Tim Cook @tim_cook]

We brought Touch to the Mac!

From the all-new iPad mini to the 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac... and now MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and Touch, creators have new tools to do their best work yet.

[The Humanoid Hub @TheHumanoidHub]

I've heard that Tesla invites a group of big investors every Thanksgiving to check out the Fremont factory, and has for the past few years, but this year that's not happening.

The obvious conclusion is that Tesla are keeping the Optimus facility secret for longer.

@Scobleizer's sources told him that the human data collection "effort is immense" and spans homes and factories.

Not surprising, considering the first data-collection operator job at Tesla surfaced about 3 years ago, requiring the operator to carry a 30 lb rig. So that part is nothing new.

What's worth watching now is the "Optimus Academy" that Elon has been talking about since February this year: a fleet of tens of thousands of Optimus units doing self-play in the real world.

Ashok, on last week's earnings call, mentioned that human data will be needed to bootstrap the AI for Optimus, after which the robots get better through self-learning in simulation and reality.

Tesla has revealed the high-level playbook, but is keeping all the iterative development under wraps.

[Antonio Gambina @Lago72]

UK Startup Bets $40 Million That It Can Train Robots ‘Instantly’ Via Simulation

Can you train robots almost entirely in simulation? A new UK startup says yes, and has raised $40 million to prove themselves right.

https://t.co/OkexQ1EGVQ
v/ @Forbes by @johnkoetsier

[Divesh Naidoo @diveshnaidoo]

Introducing Reality-Aware Rendering in @Simulon, a completely new way to create with the real world.

Place neural assets with your phone and act out the scene. When you stop recording, Simulon renders the take, reading everything in it (what you do, what you say and the place around you), and your assets respond to all of it.

The final is regenerated from your recording: a new performance of the scene, not a copy of the footage.

Available now on iPhone. Coming to Android soon.

[John Koetsier @johnkoetsier]

New humanoid deployment ...

Company: Agile Robots
Customer: Audi

Job: picking parts from containers, sequencing them, and routing them to final assembly.

According to Audi, this happens about 1 million times a day at its plants.

More: https://t.co/gs1sdnwSwN

[John Koetsier @johnkoetsier]

@tsungxu they will be great for the terrorism industry too

[Lex Roller @lexroller12]

I don't think you can find a robot with a better price-to-performance.

Origin is designed to make great automation accessible for everyone and usher in an era of abundant production.

[John Koetsier @johnkoetsier]

@AskChefDennis French Onion forever!

[John Koetsier @johnkoetsier]

@BoomertarianN they must have serious dirt on him

[Mike Kalil @mikekalilmfg]

I'm pretty sure this Chinese company is the world's largest supplier of humanoid robot heads.

Ningbo-based Joyson Electronics, an automotive electronics and safety systems company established in 2004, developed its AI-powered humanoid robot head assembly with Shanghai's Agibot, which likely has shipped the most humanoids in 2026.

It's also a reported supplier to Beijing's Galbot, which says it shipped 1,100 robots in the first half of 2026. Joyson is also frequently mentioned as a supplier for Tesla's Optimus (if true, it's more likely for electronic components and sensors rather than a full head assembly).

There are likely a lot of other companies in China, the US, and Europe that are Joyson customers as well. Purely speculation: I suspect that includes NEURA Robotics and UK's Humanoid.

Joyson hasn't publicly revealed pricing but the head assembly is rumored to be in the $2,000 to $3,000 range.

[REK @REK]

REK is expanding to Japan! 🇯🇵

Following the success of our REK Tokyo event, we are opening a permanent arena in Tokyo, led by Hiroki Watanabe, a true samurai @robotsmasher1

Interested in helping out with the expansion? Reach out to @rekjapan!

[John Koetsier @johnkoetsier]

@CSOonX how on earth would this make anyone feel uncomfortable or unsafe? is he on drugs?

[Reward AI @RewardAI_]

We deploy OM-1 on more humanoid tasks in both indoor and outdoor environments. OM-1 can power humanoids to do useful things robustly that other models or form factors cannot.
- last-mile delivery from a Cybertruck
- manipulation on stairs

[John Koetsier @johnkoetsier]

@surfingshreddie lol

[John Koetsier @johnkoetsier]

Today I learned that ...

AI costs more in different languages ... up to 3X more. The problem is efficiency of tokenization
https://t.co/aKc1nMtNFC

[Robert Scoble @Scobleizer]

This is next level for hardware!

Robots don't always have room for a camera built for someone else's machine.

@luxonis just launched OAK 4 FFC, the first OAK Modular board on OAK 4.

You pick up to five cameras and put them wherever the robot needs to see.

One board, 70 by 53 mm, runs the sync, calibration, stereo depth, and AI at 52 TOPS.

You enter where the cameras sit in OAK Viewer.

Dynamic Calibration then refines it from the scene, no printed target. Every camera captures at the same instant, so panorama and bird's eye stitching run on the board.

It can be the robot's main computer or its dedicated vision system. Built for humanoids, drones, and other machines where a standard camera doesn't fit.

Developer Kit is $849.

Orders open today, shipping in November.

https://t.co/2ktwuwMhuF

[Agility @agilityrobotics]

GXO was the first company to put Digit to work. Now it’s expanding to two more U.S. warehouses, starting in early 2027.

@johnkoetsier @Forbes covers why repeat customers are the signal that matters in humanoid robotics:
https://t.co/wCO9VEwTLd

[The Humanoid Hub @TheHumanoidHub]

Watch out, Amazon. Tesla’s got its eye on the delivery space.

In a recent Munro Live interview, Tesla's Lars Moravy and Eric Earley shared some Optimus nuggets:

- Optimus's battery is a single ~2.5 kWh module, and unlike in a car (where the pack is a quarter to a third of the cost), it's not a major cost of the robot.

- Near-term, Optimus is expected to plug in and charge the robotaxi fleet

- Beyond charging, it "might service the car, might add in the delivery space"

- "You think of Cyber Cab, Optimus, and Robo Van, that trifecta will be incredible.", "And you add Tesla Semi to that for long distances."

- "Maybe we're a transportation company. It's redefining how everyone thinks of that."

[CyberRobo @CyberRobooo]

Pretty incredible.

AGIBOT has just set a Guinness World Record, with 110 A3 humanoid robots dancing in sync, moving almost like a swarm.

The performance reportedly used AGIBOT’s LinkBots swarm control platform and centimeter-level UWB positioning to synchronize movements and switch formations.

Work in swarms, dance in swarms, too.

[Techmeme @Techmeme]

Microsoft offers buyouts to ~60K workers at VP level and below across teams in the US, Canada, India, and the UK; its headcount at the end of June was 223K (Bloomberg)

(Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)