Mike Horton
1.6K posts
@mikeahorton
@GEODNET, @hyfixai, @anellophotonics, Crossbow Technology, @ucberkeley, TX
China is entering an era in which everyone is a data collector JD.com launched China’s first Embodied AI Data Collection Community in Suqian,Jiangsu(the hometown of JD.com founder Liu Qiangdong) They plan to mobilize over 100,000 local citizens(especially stay-at-home moms )to wear a lightweight JoyEgoCam while doing daily chores. From wiping tables and folding clothes at home, to fruit picking, factory work, logistics, and elderly care… covering more than 100 real-life scenarios. These devices precisely capture key biomechanical data--such as upper-limb trajectories, force distribution, and hand-eye coordination,and feed it back to JD's data centers to train robotic models. OFC,Participants earn money while helping collect real-world data. The goal?Over 10 million hours in two years to solve robotics’ biggest problem--the severe shortage of authentic physical world data. Really interesting way to get everyday people involved in advancing AI humanoid robots.
👀🦅🇺🇸 "Effectively infinite demand." $UMAC CEO Allan Evans joins @AlphaWolfTrding to discuss domestic drone manufacturing, NDAA-compliant supply chains, battery production, and the future of the U.S. drone industry. 🔋⚙️📈 Worth the watch 🎥youtube.com/watch?v=76HGf1…
Samsung Electronics: "Taylor Fab Ready for Operation... Mass Production Next Year" Samsung Electronics has reaffirmed that it will begin ramp production at its Taylor fab in Texas, USA, starting next year. Margaret Han, Vice President of Samsung Electronics' Foundry U.S. division, stated at the SAFE (Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem) Forum held at Samsung's U.S. headquarters on the 28th (local time), "Customers will begin production at the Taylor fab starting next year," adding, "We are ready." Previously, during the first-quarter earnings conference call this year, Samsung had described the Taylor fab as "under construction," with a goal of timely operation within the year. Construction of the Taylor fab began in 2022. The total expected investment is $17 billion (approximately ₩25.5 trillion), and it will produce Tesla's autonomous-driving chips AI5 and AI6, among others. The fab will also adopt the Advanced 2nm process. Han said, "We will strengthen our long-term production capacity at the Taylor fab," and "We will establish the most advanced 2nm production capacity at Taylor Fab 1 this year." Samsung is analyzed to be building out the SF2P+ (second-generation enhancement) process at the Taylor fab. Samsung had previously announced that SF2P+ would enter operation in 2026–2027. The 2nm process is divided into SF2 (first generation), SF2P (second generation), SF2P+, and SF2X (third generation for AI/HPC), among others. With each successive generation, power, performance, and area (PPA) improve. SF2P+ is a process that improves PPA while maintaining the same design IP as SF2P. It has been finely tuned for AI workloads. Performance is reportedly improved by up to 30%. Detailed information on the leading-edge processes is scheduled to be shared with partner companies this coming July. Samsung will hold the SAFE Forum again at its Seocho headquarters in July. The SAFE Forum is an occasion where Samsung and its foundry partners share technology trends across fields such as IP, design, and packaging, and strengthen collaboration. Later that same month, Samsung is reported to host the Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF). The Foundry Forum is an event where Samsung unveils its foundry technology roadmap to partner companies.
China’s autonomous tractor goes viral! 🚜 China’s aging rural population and labor shortages are forcing a rethink in agriculture, and the answer may already be working the fields. The Honghu T70 is a fully electric, autonomous tractor developed in China. It’s a production-ready machine already in use across Hebei Province, with nationwide rollout planned. The T70 can autonomously complete the entire farming cycle, ploughing, seeding, spraying, and harvesting, without a driver. It collects real-time data on soil composition, moisture, and crop health, navigating with centimeter-level precision using China’s satellite system. 📡 It’s fully electric, charging via grid or renewables, making it well-suited for rural regions. If deployed at scale, small farms could be managed by a single person with a fleet of robots, helping China reduce dependence on imported Western machinery and opening export markets in Southeast Asia and Africa. With over 20% of the national workforce still in agriculture, automating rural labor could free up millions for cities and industry. ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news → ziegler.substack.com
The U.S. government is literally telling you where money is going next: DRONES. IF you missed out on the other Trump picks like $INTC and $DELL this your chance. Trump is pursuing funding deals to boost domestic drone production. Pure-Play Drone / Autonomy Names $AVAV - military drones $KTOS - autonomous warfare systems $RCAT - Teal defense drones $ONDS - drone autonomy + networks $DPRO - FPV drone systems $UMAC - U.S. drone supply chain $SWMR - drone swarm technology $PDYN - AI drone software $AVEX - defense drone contractor Counter-Drone / Defense Tech $DRSHF - anti-drone defense $LHX - ISR + drone warfare systems Major Defense Exposure $NOC - military UAV programs $LMT - autonomous defense systems $TXT - unmanned aircraft systems $GD - defense systems exposure $BA - UAV + aerospace programs
China’s autonomous tractor goes viral! 🚜 China’s aging rural population and labor shortages are forcing a rethink in agriculture, and the answer may already be working the fields. The Honghu T70 is a fully electric, autonomous tractor developed in China. It’s a production-ready machine already in use across Hebei Province, with nationwide rollout planned. The T70 can autonomously complete the entire farming cycle, ploughing, seeding, spraying, and harvesting, without a driver. It collects real-time data on soil composition, moisture, and crop health, navigating with centimeter-level precision using China’s satellite system. 📡 It’s fully electric, charging via grid or renewables, making it well-suited for rural regions. If deployed at scale, small farms could be managed by a single person with a fleet of robots, helping China reduce dependence on imported Western machinery and opening export markets in Southeast Asia and Africa. With over 20% of the national workforce still in agriculture, automating rural labor could free up millions for cities and industry. ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news → ziegler.substack.com
🚨 THE AI COST CRISIS HAS STARTED. Microsoft reportedly told engineers to stop using Claude because AI bills were exploding, while Uber says its entire yearly AI budget was already destroyed by April.
What has DJI built that no Western drone company has? @soren_ma of @neros_tech: "What DJI has done is develop custom silicon for all the functionality in their drone. This is totally different than basically every U.S. drone company or even Western drone company — no one is building custom silicon. You're just using off the shelf microcontrollers and off the shelf components in general." DJI absorbed two budget mobile phone chip companies, where the cost/performance tradeoff fits drones. The result is denser transistors and tighter integration across the entire system.
NEW POD: Drones are the defining technology of modern warfare. Soren Monroe-Anderson, co-founder/CEO of Neros Technologies (@soren_ma @neros_tech), came on to share what’s happening on the ground and what it takes to build drone systems that work in real combat environments. Available now on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Thanks to our founding sponsor, Cushman & Wakefield @CushWake, for supporting this episode!
