Meet Sparkles. The cutest dang robot ever.

In a sea of overhyped car-salesmen technology pseudo-innovation, Boston Dynamics may be the most underhyped research firm doing the most interesting and useful automation research. They aren’t trying to sell to a populist market so you won’t hear about them unless you are looking. Check it out. Google sold them to SoftBank and Hyundai bought them. Hyundai has also been sponsoring some of the more interesting art exhibits in STEM collaborations. I have an article on their work that I will roll out to you at some point. I might be interested in developing a longer book on it. Hyundai is an interesting case study.

This brought some joy back into my robot love, a topic pervasive in my early grad school research agenda. Some people in tech have been killing it for me with their unintelligent commentary and sales pitches. Despite my mission to educate people on the deception rampant in tech marketing, I still think tech is cool and it brings me joy to see pure research. By definition it should involve something crucial. Not supply chain optimization and people sleeping in sleeping bags under their desks.

Play.