Engineering physics students at the University of British Columbia finished a capstone project that produced something unusual in robotics. Their air hockey robot learned every move inside a computer simulation and then stepped onto real hardware ready to face human opponents with no further adjustments. The approach bypassed the usual slow and risky process of training directly on physical equipment.
Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, recently accompanied the NBC production crew and Spurs staff for an in-depth look at the tools and people who transform an NBA playoff basketball game into the polished feed that millions watch from home. His tour included camera placements across the arena, specialist rigs designed for dramatic views, audio capture stations strewn throughout the court, and trucks that connect everything together as the action develops.
Hyundai’s latest footage depicts Atlas, Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot, standing in front of a big screen. It features video from prior World Cup matches. Atlas pays close attention to the players in motion before heading to the practice area once each segment is completed. The robot replicates the gestures it has just watched. Atlas is depicted in a single sequence shifting its weight and swinging a leg forward. When the ball makes contact with the floor, it glides cleanly over it. Basic drills are performed in quick succession, eventually strengthening coordination.
LA Chargers fans who stayed up late on schedule night were in for a treat this year. The team effectively transformed the entire 2026 lineup into a Halo-inspired trip that would fit right in with the games themselves. Microsoft collaborated with the Chargers to make all of the details inside the Halo game engine look right at home, and let me tell you, the end result feels like stepping into a custom Halo campaign, where each opponent becomes its own battlefield map, full of sneaky references that will only be picked up by true NFL and Halo fans from the start.
Shane Wighton of StuffMadeHere spent months poring over his robotic golf club’s algorithms, fine-tuning the improvement to truly understand ball physics. It now allows the thing to completely comprehend the complexities of ball movement and plot paths to overcome notoriously difficult mini golf holes designed to confound even the best players. The cameras installed around the course monitor the club, ball, and cup with laser-like precision at all times, feeding into the raw data that the system utilizes to make choices.
Red Bull pilot Dario Costa lets go of the controls on his trusty Zivko Edge 540 and watches the cargo train thunder into the distance at an incredible 120 km/h (75 mph). On February 15th, 2026, near the Turkish town of Afyonkarahisar, Costa does the unthinkable by landing on the last container, riding out a tumultuous stretch of turbulent air, and powering back out in a single smooth move. No one had ever accomplished the feat of landing and taking off from a moving train in one go.
On April 12, crowds flocked to Toyota Arena in Tokyo to witness CUE7 come to life on the court. Standing 219 cm (7’2″) tall, it moved with an unsettlingly steady balance as it retrieved a basketball off the ground. When the robot began to move, it appeared to be playing basketball like any other player, with deft dribbles and precise motions. When the robot took a free shot in front of 8,400 yelling spectators, the ball left its hands in a perfect arc and fell over the net.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics torch, dubbed “Essential,” is a quiet game changer in an object that has been passing the flame around the world for decades. Carlo Ratti, the architect, approached the project with a question in mind: how does an object transmit emotion? His instruction was to pare down to the bare essentials and let the flame do the talking.
Samsung has recently unveiled a special Galaxy Z Flip7 Olympic Edition, just in time for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. This limited handset is being distributed to almost 3800 athletes and Paralympians from 90 countries and will not be available in regular stores. They’ll begin handing out the phones on January 30th at Olympic Villages in six host towns, with Samsung staff on hand to set them up, transfer data, and answer any questions.
