overview for Lugh

Several ports around the world are almost fully automated with minimal human intervention. Shanghai, Busan (South Korea), and Rotterdam in particular. Fully self-driving trucks that can do highway journeys are a thing too. Now robots have mastered unloading the trucks. Warehouse operations are moving closer to being human-free too.

What's left for humans? Self-driving is still at Level 4, and Level 5 is some way off. That means robo-vehicles can master predetermined routes they are trained on. But more and more they will get trained on highway exit-warehouse and highway exit-store routes. Even with just Level 4 driving this could be almost fully automated.

This all brings closer the day topics like Universal Basic Income go mainstream.

The Holy Grail of Automation: Now a Robot Can Unload a Truck

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In just one month (May 2025) China's installed new solar power equaled 8% of the total US electricity capacity. (self.futurology)

submitted 5 days ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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There are still some people who haven't realized just how fast and vast the global switch to renewables is. If you're one of them, this statistic should put it in perspective. China installed 93 GW of solar capacity in May 2025. Put another way, that's about 30 nuclear power stations worth of electricity capacity. All this cheap renewable energy will power China's industrial might in AI & robotics too. Meanwhile western countries look increasingly dazed, confused, and out of date.

China breaks more records with surge in solar and wind power

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US scientists have successfully created lab-grown liver tissue capable of forming its own blood vessels—a breakthrough in the field of tissue engineering. (bioengineer.org)

submitted 6 days ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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Google DeepMind has introduced a powerful on-device iteration of its Gemini Robotics AI model, enabling robots to operate independently of cloud connectivity for the first time. (www.theverge.com)

submitted 6 days ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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Researchers in Singapore say aging in the heart could be reversed thanks to new hybrid biomaterial (www.medicalnewstoday.com)

submitted 6 days ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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Is China REALLY winning the race to the Moon against NASA and SpaceX? (youtu.be)

submitted 6 days ago by Lugh to c/futurology_youtube

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In Britain, BYD will soon sell its Seagull EV tariff-free for $26,100 (£20,550) - and traveling per kilometer, fuel will cost just a third of gasoline prices. (self.futurology)

submitted 1 week ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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Is there finally about to be a Brexit dividend? The EU & US are placing tariffs on Chinese EVs, but Britain isn't. So British drivers will soon have a welcome choice. Cheap well-made Chinese EVs whose EV charging means they travel 100 kilometres for a third of the price an average combustion engine car does.

Yet another death knell for fossil fuels and combustion engine cars.

How China made electric vehicles mainstream

BYD Dolphin Surf Review

Amazon boss says AI will replace jobs at tech giant in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 1 points 2 weeks ago

At least they're being honest about it.

Finland warms up the world’s largest sand battery, and the economics look appealing. in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 2 points 2 weeks ago

A Swiss company is trying this, though using concrete instead of water. Wear and tear and moving parts are disadvantages though.

https://www.swiss.tech/news/giant-gravity-batteries-storage-renewable-energies

In England, 90% of keyhole surgeries in the public health system to be performed by robots by 2035, government says. in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 3 points 2 weeks ago

Oops, updated that now.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/11/millions-more-to-have-robotic-surgery-in-nhs-plan-to-cut-waiting-lists?

San Francisco based XRobotics pizza making robots, lease for $1,300 a month and can make 100 pizzas per hour. in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'd guess it's the quality of the ingredients that matter, not if its robot or human put together.

San Francisco based XRobotics pizza making robots, lease for $1,300 a month and can make 100 pizzas per hour. in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Here's it in action. The dough base is pre-made.

https://youtu.be/7eunAdUqGZA

It looks believable to me that this might be far faster than a human.

Snap will launch its AR glasses called Specs next year, and these will be commercially available in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 1 points 3 weeks ago

The Meta Quest 3 is the one I've found most appealing. Using it as a virtual desktop or entertainment screen looks genuinely useful, though shame it still looks so ungainly.

Snap will launch its AR glasses called Specs next year, and these will be commercially available in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Will these be the AR glasses that take off? This tech has been 'about to take off' for some years now.

Women 3x More Likely to Lose Job to AI Than Men, UN Study Finds in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 1 points 1 month ago

In fairness to them, if you are a government or economic body, trying to plan for these events, then you do need to get granular and look at things from specifics like demographics, age groups, gender and so on.

Women 3x More Likely to Lose Job to AI Than Men, UN Study Finds in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

To add to the confusion when you click on the link to the report, it talks about generative AI, so it is not talking about AI as a whole. One of the biggest categories of jobs that will disappear is driving jobs and delivery jobs, thanks to self-driving tech. I'm guessing that these jobs are overwhelmingly male dominated.

LLM AIs are more persuasive than incentivized human persuaders. in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 1 points 1 month ago

There's good news too. It says the AI can persuade people who hold false beliefs. Maybe it can school people who've been led into delusion bubbles by misinformation?

What comes after the smartphone? Smart glasses, AI companions, and brain chips—a tour of the possible future beyond smartphones. in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I thought voice might take off more, though Alexa and Siri are popular. Maybe it just isn't efficient enough for large amounts of information.

Almost 75% of Google's revenue comes from search, and it's likely about to be obliterated. in c/futurology

[–] Lugh 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Yes, unethical practices seem baked in now with Big Tech, and Big Tech aspirants. I'm gratified to see open source AI keep up with the Big Tech offerings. At least it means there will be widespread alternatives. I hope it hobbles any one company from being as big as Google.