🥊 Robot boxing is here

Welcome back, lets get to the latest news.

The Big Two

• 🥊 Robot boxing is here

• 🌝 Turning moon dust to future fuel

🥊 Robot boxing is here

The first humanoid boxing match took place on Sunday in China. And it was definitely.. umm.. interesting.

Let’s just say if this is how the robot uprising starts, I think we’ve got some time to prepare.

Jokes aside, it really is pretty cool. And if you put me in the ring with them I’m not sure I’d do much better.

These robots, developed by Unitree Robotics, stood about 1.32 meters tall and weighed 35 kilograms. Not quite adult human sized but still big enough to throw left hooks, right hooks and even side kicks.

These robots were controlled by human operators so you don’t need to worry about one pulling you into the ring (yet).

There are plans for future fights to be held with human size robots so be on the look out.

Oh, and the winner of the competition was the robot wearing black headgear. I mean.. couldn’t they have at least given them names?

🌝 Turning moon dust to future fuel

A startup called Interlune has developed a full scale prototype lunar excavator with hopes of mining our rocky neighbour by 2030.

But mining on the moon is a little different than back here on Earth and the excavator will have to deal with:

• Extreme temperatures (from -170°C to 120°C)

• 1/6th the gravity of Earth

• No repair crews or spare parts nearby

• A signal delay between Earth and the moon of 2.7 seconds meaning it must be fully autonomous

But the dirt they’re planning to dig is super valuable as it contains helium-3 which is a rare isotope here on Earth but thought to be abundant on the moon. It’s super valuable with potential applications in nuclear fusion and in quantum computing to cool the quantum chips to near absolute zero.

🏆 Quick Hits

• A new stretchy metal can 20x more efficiently absorb or release heat. When it’s stretched it absorbs heat then releases it when it returns to it’s original shape. Potentially a new way to move heat without needing harmful refrigerants.

• Turns out that dinosaurs are older than grass. Grass only appeared towards they end of their existence.

• Hungary introduces a robot dog to the public. The goal is to teach kids about the importance of caring for animals and improve animal welfare.

That’s it for this issue. Talk to you in the next one.

-Anthony