Nintendo’s puffiest mascot, Kirby, has landed in a collaboration that’s as surprising as it is delightful. Forget power-ups or new game levels—this time, Kirby’s teamed up with Heinz for a limited-edition ketchup campaign that’s turning heads and emptying wallets. This partnership slaps Kirby and his pal Waddle Dee onto Heinz’s iconic upside-down ketchup bottles, transforming a pantry staple into a collector’s dream.
Bagged milk, Canada’s kitchen oddity, just got a gamerific glow-up with Xbox Canada’s Xbox Series X Milk Pitcher, a quirky nod to the console’s futuristic vibe. You drop a plastic milk pouch into this jug, snip the corner, and pour—same old ritual, but now with a 1.3-liter vessel that screams Microsoft’s flagship aesthetic. It’s practical, eco-conscious, and a bit weird to anyone unfamiliar with Canada’s milk-in-a-bag obsession.
On a sun-drenched Friday afternoon at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the air hummed with anticipation, not for the scream of IndyCar engines but for something far more peculiar: the rumble of six 27-foot-long hot dog-shaped vehicles. Oscar Mayer’s iconic Wienermobiles, those fiberglass frankfurters on wheels, rolled onto the hallowed 2.5-mile oval for the inaugural “Wienie 500,” a race that was equal parts spectacle, nostalgia, and pure Americana.
Photo credit: Mithy Evans
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Photographer | Mithy Evans
BurgerBots is a brand-new fast-food idea in Los Gatos, California, that uses robots to put together burgers quickly and accurately. More specifically, ABB Robotics’ IRB 360 FlexPicker and YuMi collaborative robots. It opened on April 29, 2025, at the Breaking Dawn/First Born restaurant, created by entrepreneur Elizabeth Truong and part of the Oishi Mirai Restaurant Group.
Engineers the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, along with collaborators, have created something called ‘RoboCake’ as part of the EU-funded RoboFood project. This isn’t just a cake you eat while watching a robot dance around it. RoboCake is a fully edible wedding cake that’s also a functional robot.
Engineers at UC San Diego unveil an innovative GRIP-tape (Grasping and Rolling In-Plane) robotic gripper designed for delicate tasks like picking fruits and vegetables. It has two “fingers,” each made from two rolls of steel measuring tape bound together with adhesive, forming a spool.
There’s the Realme 10 Pro Coca-Cola Edition smartphone, and then the DeltaH ‘Cool Can’. The London-based startup claims it has developed the world’s first self-cooling aluminum beverage can.
How would you use an AI-powered caffeine machine? This innovative robot by University of Edinburgh researchers consists of a robotic arm capable of preparing coffee in dynamic, real-world environments like a busy kitchen. Traditional robots basically follow rigid, pre-programmed instructions, while this one uses advanced AI to learn, adapt, and solve problems in real-time.
