Torque

the hardware half of AI

[Torque @torquelog]

https://t.co/YaaHmQJFqZ

[Torque @torquelog]

@kimmonismus Pace like LLMs is a stretch. Models train on the internet, G1 trains in sim, and the gap shows when a real rung is wet.

[Torque @torquelog]

@Ronald_vanLoon @DigitalTrends The ring is the easy room for a robot. Flat floor, one opponent, no crowd of strangers to walk through after the bell.

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@shinyyAI Yes!

[Torque @torquelog]

A DELIVERY ROBOT MET ONE GUY WHO WOULD NOT STEP ASIDE. THE STANDOFF LASTED 18 SECONDS

A wide sidewalk at dusk. At 0:00 it is far down the block, two round eyes glowing. By 0:03 it is right at his feet.

He does not move. At 0:04 the camera drops to his shoes - black sneakers, neon green laces, planted on the concrete.

From 0:05 the robot sits face to face with the phone, close enough to fill the frame. Its name is Zuri, it works for Serve Robotics, and for the next 15 seconds neither of them gives way. At 0:09 he checks his feet again, just to be sure.

At 0:21 he backs off a few steps. Zuri waits. At 0:26 it turns, and by 0:29 it is rolling right past him.

Serve says it has deployed more than 2,000 robots across the US. Its Q2 2026 report counts 792 of them out doing deliveries on an average day.

At 0:32 the tail lights go red. Back to work.

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[Torque @torquelog]

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[Torque @torquelog]

@chris_j_paxton RL works until the conveyor speeds up or the crate shape changes. The real test is the new crate, not the tenth repeat.

[Torque @torquelog]

THAT IS NOT FOG OVER THE FIELD. EVERY LITTLE PUFF OF SMOKE IS ONE WEED SHOT WITH A LASER

The camera is bolted under the machine, looking forward. Up top: the underside of the frame and a row of bright lights. Down below: rows of young chard rolling past.

From the first second, puffs rise between the plants. Watch 0:03 - tiny orange sparks flare on the soil. Those are the hits. By 0:05 smoke is drifting across the whole bed, and the chard stays green. At 0:16 a big puff rolls right up into the light bar.

This is a LaserWeeder G2 from Carbon Robotics. Cameras look at every plant, the AI decides crop or weed, and the laser fires. The G2 got 240 W lasers, up from 150 W, and runs about twice as fast as the first version. Nothing digs the soil, so buried weed seeds are not stirred up to sprout.

The first commercial one carried 30 lasers and 42 cameras, and Carbon said it out-weeded a hand crew of 75 people.

Nobody has to bend over in this row.

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[Torque @torquelog]

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[Torque @torquelog]

@SchiedC60393 Glad you liked it!

[Torque @torquelog]

AN AIRPORT GROUND CREW STOPPED TO FILM A HUMANOID IN WORK GLOVES DANCING ON THE WALKWAY

A covered walkway at an airport. A line of ground staff in hi-vis jackets stands against the wall, phones out. In front of them, a small humanoid in a navy vest and yellow work gloves.

At 0:02 it starts to shuffle, knees bent. By 0:05 the gloves are up in the air. At 0:06 it throws a high kick. From 0:09 it hops off down the walkway, kicks its heels back and comes back toward the camera. At 0:17 it finishes with both arms out wide.

Nobody in the line puts the phone down.

The joke is closer to real than it looks. In April 2026 Japan Airlines announced a trial with humanoid robots in ground handling at Tokyo Haneda, running through 2028: towing, loading baggage and cargo, cleaning cabins. The reason is a labor shortage - more tourists, fewer people of working age.

This one has only learned the dance part so far.

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[Torque @torquelog]

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@Ronald_vanLoon @ChinaNow24 If it can carry a rider, its a small vehicle on the same chassis, and that part needs no autonomy.

[Torque @torquelog]

@servo_diaries Right?

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@BrianRoemmele Open design means anyone can copy this. The winner is whoever ships the best leg actuators, not the best phone.

[Torque @torquelog]

@Polymarket Every demo shows the punch. Nobody shows the hours it stood still while a neighbor walked past with groceries.

[Torque @torquelog]

@servo_diaries Priorities were clear by 0:04.

[Torque @torquelog]

SOMEONE OFFERS A 6-AXIS WELDING ROBOT A BOWL OF FOOD. THEN CASH. ONLY THE CASH ENDS UP IN THE BOX

A small workshop. Blue arm, a steel table full of holes, a pipe elbow clamped in a chuck.

In the first second a guy in a grey T-shirt sets down a steel bowl of food, spoon still in it. By 0:02 the torch has come down into the bowl.

At 0:03 he takes the bowl back. At 0:04 he lays a few red banknotes on the table instead.

Watch 0:05. The torch tip pushes the cash into an open case. By 0:06 the lid is down, and around 0:07 the arc flashes twice at its edge.

Only then does it get to the actual job. From 0:08 it welds around the joint where the elbow meets the pipe. At 0:10 the whole arm curls over the top to reach the far side. At 0:14 you get the finished seam up close.

Factories around the world installed 603,307 new industrial robots in 2025, per the IFR. The first year ever above 600,000.

The bowl never comes back.

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[Torque @torquelog]

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[Torque @torquelog]

@kairo_leg Nap beat is so good, love this one

[Torque @torquelog]

@servo_diaries Love the hug-and-turn moment

[Torque @torquelog]

@servo_diaries That wrist ache is the Georgia Tech finding in a nutshell - the machine just doesnt have one.

[Torque @torquelog]

NOBODY IS HOLDING THIS WOK. A STEEL MACHINE IS TOSSING IT OVER AN OPEN FLAME, ABOUT 3 TIMES A SECOND

A commercial kitchen, stainless steel everywhere. The wok is fixed to a steel arm coming out of the machine, gas fire underneath.

At 0:01 a hand slides a plate of sliced peppers and red onion into the empty pan. By 0:03 the machine starts rocking it.

From 0:04 the onions go up on every swing. At 0:06 it tilts back, holds for about half a second, then picks the rhythm back up.

At 0:09 someone pours from a purple bottle. At 0:10 the fire jumps up over the pan. The tossing does not slow down.

In 2020 researchers at Georgia Tech filmed five restaurant chefs doing this by hand. They tossed at about 2.7 times a second. The same paper cites a study where 64.5% of Chinese restaurant chefs had shoulder discomfort.

Human hands show up twice in this clip - the plate and the bottle. Neither one touches the handle.

https://t.co/JtmvpzYjc8

[Torque @torquelog]

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[Torque @torquelog]

@MarioNawfal Open source shines when hardware is cheap to break - a student who reprints a snapped leg learns more than a watcher.

[Torque @torquelog]

@darkmatrx Clean explainer, love the NOPE beat