Connect with us
DAPA Banner

Tech

Watch McDonald’s test humanoid robots on the front line

Published

on

A McDonald’s in the Chinese megacity of Shanghai is testing humanoid robots in roles usually the preserve of human workers, with other types of robots also let loose inside the restaurant to greet and entertain diners.

Truth be told, the robots don’t look particularly advanced, but a video (below) showing them in action does hint at a future where bipedal bots and other machines handle routine tasks at fast food restaurants, from welcoming customers and taking orders to delivering food and cleaning the floor.

A McDonald’s in Shanghai has begun deploying humanoid robots (from KEENON Robotics) to serve customers.

> These humanoid robots provide information, greet guests, and help enliven the atmosphere.
> Food delivery robots serve meals to customers and collect used trays.

in the… pic.twitter.com/IEFzucz3IE

Advertisement

— CyberRobo (@CyberRobooo) March 18, 2026

The McDonald’s trial, using robots supplied by Chinese firm Keenon Robotics, comes at a time of economic contradiction in China, where businesses in some sectors are struggling to hire even as millions of young people face difficulty finding work.

It’s this tension that makes the McDonald’s trial stand out, with restaurant operators interested in deploying a reliable, potentially low-cost workforce in a strategy that raises fears of displacement among human workers in the service sector, which up to now has been a popular route into the workforce.

The reality, however, is more complicated. China’s workforce is shrinking as the population ages, while many younger job seekers are reluctant to take on low-paid, repetitive work. In that case, robot technology could be used to fill gaps rather than simply replace people. Still, the presence of robots in such a visible, everyday setting highlights how quickly that balance could shift.

Advertisement

While it could be a while before McDonald’s deploys humanoid robots in a more meaningful way, adding them to restaurants as greeters and entertainers could potentially draw curious diners, especially families with kids who might want to interact with the machines while waiting for their meal to arrive.

Even if the fast food giant eventually wants robots to run its restaurants, such a scenario is almost certainly many years away, simply because the technology isn’t yet up to it. What feels more likely, at least in the short term, is a hybrid setup where human workers handle the majority of tasks while the robots take on more basic, customer-facing roles out front.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Tech

This New Health-Tracking Pet Collar Is Like a Smartwatch for Dogs and Cats

Published

on

Our pets can’t speak up and tell us how they’re feeling, or why and where they are hiding. Tractive, an Austria- and Seattle-based tech company that creates GPS tracking devices for pets, announced on Wednesday two new smart collars that, according to the press release, “will redefine pet care for millions of families.”

Is your pet stressed, breathing unusually or scratching too much? Much like the basic health-tracking features you can find on a smartwatch, the collars — the Cat 6 Mini ($79) and Dog 6 XL ($89) — are designed to track this behavior and communicate the issues to help maintain your dog or cat’s quality of life.

“Pets can’t tell us when something is wrong, but their bodies can,” Michael Hurnaus, CEO and founder of Tractive, said in a statement. “With cutting-edge sensors on every tracker, learnings from millions of pets and AI-powered insights, we’re turning one of the world’s largest pet data platforms into clear, simple information so pet parents can act sooner and care even better.”

Advertisement
AI Atlas

When it comes to tracking collars, dogs have usually been the target pet audience for such devices. Tractive’s new Cat 6 Mini collar aims to provide the same service for your feline friend. You can use it to monitor your cat’s respiratory rate and resting heart rate and identify any health concerns early. It’s expected to ship on May 31.

The Dog 6 XL collar, an upgrade from the company’s previous dog wearable, is designed for dogs weighing over 55 pounds. It’s more durable for outdoor use and offers up to four weeks of battery life between charges. It comes equipped with a scratch-monitoring system that flags unusual scratching behavior caused by allergies, skin irritants and other stressors. 

You can also use the app to access your pet’s travels and mark safe zones regarding walks, entries and exits. An AI-powered health hub displays your pet’s overall health stats and also acts as a GPS tracker in case your dog or cat goes missing. 

How would a veterinarian interact with the data collected on the device? 

Advertisement

A Tractive representative told CNET, “In our experience, veterinarians are most interested in baseline resting heart and respiratory rate, so it’s less about monitoring these vitals in real time during recovery from anesthesia/acute care and more about understanding if the baseline is changing day to day to identify the onset of new conditions or manage existing ones.” 

Even though the collars use a SIM card and require a strong cellular connection to work properly, they can capture activity, sleep and health data while offline. However, without connectivity, the devices “ultimately will not provide any utility,” the representative confirmed.

You’ll need to download the accompanying app and select a separate subscription plan at an added cost. The one-year plan costs $120, the two-year plan costs $168, and the five-year plan costs $300. 

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

‘Survivor’ Style Corporate Retreat Descends Into Hellish Nightmare

Published

on

A $500,000 “Survivor”-style corporate retreat for 120 Plex employees in Honduras “turned into a week-long disaster involving illness, wild animals, armed guards, and employees stranded on a remote island,” reports the Daily Beast. The CEO was bedridden by E. coli, staff were collapsing in brutal heat during Navy SEAL-led drills, there were fire ant attacks, uncooked food, and failing utilities. At one point, a porcupine even crashed through the ceiling of a guest’s room. Here’s an excerpt from the report: Tech media company Plex flew its 120 employees to a Honduran resort in 2017 for what was billed as a Survivor-style getaway. They called it “Plexcon.” The first harbinger of trouble was an email that arrived before the group departed, informing them that the hotel manager and chef had both quit within days of each other. Things went sharply downhill from there.

CEO Keith Valory, 54, had flown out a day early, intending to channel his inner Jeff Probst and welcome his staff off the buses like a game show host. Instead, he spent the arrival morning flat on his back. “I got E. coli, which is maybe the worst thing you could get, possibly, ever,” Valory told the Wall Street Journal this week. “Just as people were arriving on the buses, I was like, ‘Uh oh.’ I lost 8 or 10 pounds. They had a doctor come to me, which apparently is pretty standard. They nailed an IV bag to the bedpost.”

With the CEO incapacitated, chief product officer and co-founder Scott Olechowski, 52, stepped in to run proceedings — beginning with a forced eating challenge in which one employee had to consume a dead tarantula. […] Sean Hoff, 42, founder of Moniker Partners, the independent retreat agency that planned the trip, was running himself ragged attempting damage control — the showers, water, and electricity kept cutting out. […] Meanwhile, senior software engineer Rick Phillips, 53, was trying to sleep when he heard a crash in his room. He ignored it until morning. “I got up and went over to get in the shower, and there was a porcupine,” he said. “It must have climbed a tree and fallen through the ceiling.”

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tech

Chinese researchers develop sodium-ion battery design that forms internal heat barrier to stop thermal runaway reactions linked to battery fires

Published

on


  • Internal battery firewall stops overheating before fires begin during failure conditions
  • Ampere-hour sodium-ion cells demonstrate complete suppression of thermal runaway reactions
  • Three-part safety system improves stability without reducing energy output performance

One of the biggest risks in modern batteries is overheating which can lead to fires, but scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) claim to have developed a sodium-ion battery material that forms a solid internal barrier when temperatures rise, stopping fires before they begin.

The dangerous chain reaction it addresses is known as thermal runaway, and it happens when heat inside a battery builds faster than it can escape. Once it starts, temperatures rise quickly and can lead to gas release, fire, or explosions.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tech

Artemis II moon mission: NASA’s new space toilets, explained

Published

on

The Artemis II space mission is making history.

Farthest humans have ever traveled in space? Check.

First Black, woman, and Canadian astronauts to make it around the moon? Also check.

First time a toilet has made this journey? Big, important check.

Advertisement

Because while there are many significant questions about space — Is life out there? Could we settle Mars? How far does the universe stretch, really? — one question holds plenty of gravity: What happens when nature calls in space?

This mission hopes to return with answers.

After years of research, the Orion spacecraft used in the Artemis II mission has departed Earth with an actual toilet, door and all.

In the initial hours after the Orion capsule launched, some of the first reports from the astronauts were about their toilet malfunctioning. They quickly fixed it. But, as they approached the moon, potty problems reigned again.

Advertisement

“If you’re going to do longer missions and eventually potentially even have a base on the moon or go even further onto Mars, you first need to figure out: what are you going to be doing for food, for water, and also for peeing and pooping on the spacecraft and on the surface?” K.R. Callaway, a writer with Scientific American, told Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram.

So the simple presence of a toilet on this mission?

“Definitely history-making,” she said.

To understand the significance, Sean sat down with Callaway to discuss the history and future of space toiletry. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

Advertisement

Tell us about the history of using the facilities in space.

So back in the ’60s and ’70s, [the] Apollo [program] used these bags. They had different ones for peeing, different ones for pooping, but it was still essentially a bag that you would tape onto your body and just go. It obviously didn’t provide a lot of privacy. We aren’t talking like going into a room with a door and doing this; this was just done in the cabin, and it was not super user-friendly either.

They had a lot of issues with leaks. You know, it’s just an adhesive. It can become unstuck and in low gravity, that can be a big problem for particles escaping.

I had a lot of fun going through the Apollo mission transcripts and just looking at all of the ways that astronauts were describing this after use. They were pretty upset about it. During the Apollo 10 mission, they said, There’s a turd floating through the air.

Advertisement

So they had to wrangle that themselves. And even before that, they were having issues. During Apollo 8, there was another pretty notable mission where a crew member was ill. And so the other crew members were chasing down these blobs of both vomit and feces that were just floating wildly through the cabin.

And one of the astronauts you quote in your piece was Ken Mattingly, whose name people might be familiar with from the Apollo 13 mission and of course the Apollo 13 movie.

This was actually one of my favorite quotes that I came across while I was going through the mission transcripts. This is something that Ken Mattingly said on Apollo 16, which is that, “I used to want to be the first man to Mars. This has convinced me that if we got to go on Apollo, I ain’t interested.”

As in, this whole toilet situation is so insufferable, I maybe don’t really want to spend too much time in space anymore.

Advertisement

So NASA, I imagine, after all the Apollo missions, realizes it needs to advance this technology. How does it do so?

I spoke to Melissa McKinley over at NASA. She is the head of the Toilet Project — the Universal Waste Management System is their technical name, though I’ve been assured that just “toilet” is okay to say. And she mentioned that everything that’s happened from the ’60s and ’70s to now has really been a feat of engineering and design.

They’ve been able to implement a vacuum system that uses airflow to pull particles down instead of just having them float through space and relying on you to seal the bag yourself and keep everything in.

Help me picture what it looks like, because I’m guessing it does not look like any toilet in one of our homes.

Advertisement

More like an airplane toilet is how I would describe it.

The toilet has a seat and it has a funnel on the side for collecting urine and everyone gets their own separate piece to attach for the part that actually would touch your skin, luckily.

For the toilet itself, it’s pretty loud in there.

Astronauts have to wear hearing protection and they also have handles to hold on to because you’re working in no gravity or low gravity and you need a little bit of help to stay in the right position.

Advertisement

So these aren’t plastic bags anymore. Where’s this stuff going? Are we just shooting it out into space?

We are partially shooting it out into space. For urine, it is collected and then it’s going to be vented a couple of times. It’s going to be a controlled process, so it will be just a lot of liquid at once, but yeah, that is where the urine is going.

For poop, they are storing that on board and then it will be kept in an area of the spacecraft that will actually burn up upon reentry. It’s not coming back to Earth with them, but it is going to stay with them for a while.

And yet, all this testing, all this hype about this new toilet, and one of the first stories we get once the astronauts are up in Earth’s orbit is that something has gone wrong with the toilet! What happened?

Advertisement

Already the toilet has had a few issues. It’s kind of the equivalent of a plumbing issue, but for space.

When they were trying to use it on one of the early days of the mission, they found that there was an error. The issue ended up being with the fan that helps to get the airflow to help with the urine collection — kind of a big problem. And luckily with ground control support, [astronaut] Christina Koch was actually able to fix this almost immediately after it had happened.

The latest I heard over the weekend is that they had toilet trouble again, so maybe not the best plan to have your astronauts also be your plumbers. What’s the latest on this very expensive, very important toilet?

It did seem to break again over the weekend. From what the NASA people were saying, it seems like it’s the same problem again with the urine collection system. The engineers have looked into it a little bit more deeply and they think that it might be ice blocking the tube that would help fully collect the urine.

Advertisement

Astronauts have reported issues with that system collection and then also a smell coming from the toilet area. Definitely a problem that they say they’re going to just keep working on.

This whole toilet thing can feel inconsequential considering what we’re really doing up there in space: exploration, making history, trying to get to Mars one day, all the rest. Why is the toilet important?

One of NASA’s goals with this particular toilet is that it’s a modular design, which means that they can put it not just in the Artemis II capsule, but they can also put it in a lot of different space vehicles.

They could potentially even adapt it to be on a Mars mission and longer-term missions. They can adapt it so that they can do what the ISS does in terms of liquid recycling and make longer-term, more sustainable missions possible.

Advertisement

Even though it seems very mundane to us as something that you use every day, for being in space, it’s actually one of the key things that stands in the way of making space more homelike and more able to be a place where we can do longer-term science.

If you can’t figure out the facilities, you’re never gonna figure out Mars.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tech

Aiper Scuba V3 Review: Finally, a pool robot with an actual brain

Published

on

Aiper Scuba V3

MSRP $949.99

Released February 2026

Advertisement

“The Scuba V3 punches above its weight-class with both outstanding performance and value”

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Cleans well
  • Intuitive app

Cons

  • Will not clean the water surface
  • Mediocre battery life

Instant Insight 

I have always maintained that owning a pool is like owning a boat – you will spend 90% of your time maintaining and cleaning it and 10% of your time enjoying it, especially if you live in Oregon as I do. Over the years, we have seen robot cleaners evolve from erratic, cord-tangled wall-bumpers to reliable vacuums, and technology keeps getting better, especially in the age of AI. Priced at $1,199 MSRP (with a street price currently around $970 USD), the Aiper Scuba V3 is not trying to be the cheapest impulse buy at the pool store, but instead, positions itself as a premium AI-driven assistant that brings sophisticated navigation of high-end robot vacuums to the bottom of your backyard oasis.  

New for 2026, the Aiper Scuba V3 robotic pool cleaner has new AI features and more value, although it sacrifices some tech to offer such a good value. The Scuba V3 is currently priced between the top-of-the-line Scuba X1 Pro Max ($1699) and the Scuba X1 ($899.99), offering newer AI-focused features for just $70 more. The Scuba V3 is equipped with AI Vision and dToF(Direct Time of Flight) sensors, which give this pool cleaner more of an organized purpose than recklessly bouncing around the pool.  

During my tests, the Scuba V3 proved to be a reliable, hardy worker with long battery life. If you already have a pool cleaner that is a few years old and working great, it’s not worth spending money on the Scuba V3, but if you are in the market, then I would recommend jumping into the pool cleaner ecosystem. Paired with the Aiper EcoSurfer S2 skimmer, both of these devices should do the job in keeping your pool spotlessly clean.  

Aiper V3 Specifications:  

Here is how the Aiper Scuba V3 measures up : 

Advertisement
Specification  Details 
Dimensions (L x W x H)  17.48 x 14.96 x 8.58 inches 
Weight (Dry)  18.1 pounds 
Suction Power  4,800 Gallons Per Hour (GPH) 
Filtration Level  3-micron MicroMesh™ Multi-layer Filtration 
Debris Basket Capacity  3.5 Liters 
Battery Energy Content  149.76 Watt Hours (Lithium-ion) 
Run Time  Up to 150 minutes per charge 
Charging Time  5 Hours via Wireless Charging Dock 
Navigation Technology  AI Patrol, dToF, VisionPath™ Adaptive Planning 
Drive System  Tank treads with dual scrubbing brushes 
Cleaning Zones  Floor, Walls, Waterline (JetAssist™) 

Design and Weight: Like a paper tank 

Like most pool cleaners on the market, the Scuba V3 uses a tank tread design to move the unit around. And like the rest of the products in the Aiper robot pool cleaner line-up, the casing is made up of a piano black finish that looks high-quality. Rather than the gold or carbon fiber surround found on the more expensive Aiper units, the V3 has some light blue trim, which would indicate more of a value virtue signal. Dimension-wise, the Scuba V3 is considerably smaller than the Scuba X1 or Scuba X1 Pro Max, which are not only taller, longer, and wider, but also considerably heavier.

I put some charts below that show the weight of the Scuba V3 compared to others in its price range – it comes in on the lighter side in the comparison (when not wet), which is nice for those who really have trouble pulling these cleaners out of their pool. Aiper sells a caddie to help you transport their pool cleaners to and from the pool, but would surmise that most people can skip the caddie, as the V3 is pretty light.  

I found that the tank treads did a great job moving the V3 around my pool, and they stuck to the side of the pool without issue, despite a suction lower than that of higher-end models. Underneath, you have four scrubbing brushes – two in the front and two in the back – that do a good job agitating algae, mineral deposits, and debris before the suction kicks in. The debris is funneled into a newly designed 3.5-liter collection basket wrapped in a Micromesh filter.

The overall build quality feels premium; the plastics are thick, the moving parts feel solid, and there are no flimsy latches that feel destined to snap off after a single summer in the sun. I noted in my Beatbot Aquasense 2 Ultra review that they put extra screws and parts in the box, which is a clear sign to me that something is going to wear out. 

The Aiper Scuba V3 is a thoughtful and rugged piece of engineering.  

When you are dealing with robotic pool cleaners, dry weight directly correlates to user experience, specifically, how miserable it is to pull the machine out of the water once it has finished its cleaning cycle. Here is how the competitive landscape breaks down: 

  • The Featherweights (Under 20 lbs): The Aiper Scuba V3 (18.1 lbs) and the Dolphin Liberty 400 (17.9 lbs) are the clear winners here. Aiper managed to pack the V3 with a complex AI vision system and heavy-duty tank treads without inflating its mass. It is incredibly easy to retrieve one-handed using the included hook. We also included the corded Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus (20.8 lbs) as a baseline to show that premium cordless tech doesn’t necessarily mean a heavier machine. 
  • The Middleweights (23 to 25 lbs): The highly anticipated Beatbot Sora 70 (23.0 lbs) sits right in the middle of the pack. While it is about five pounds heavier than the Scuba V3, that extra weight is justified by its internal buoyancy chambers, which allow it to float up and clean the surface of the water (a feature the V3 lacks). The older Aiper Scuba S1 Pro (25.0 lbs) and Beatbot Aquasense Pro (24.3 lbs) also live in this tier, representing the maximum weight most users can comfortably lift without straining their backs. 
  • The Heavyweight (30+ lbs): Aiper’s flagship model, the Scuba X1 Pro Max (33.1 lbs), is an absolute behemoth. While it offers a staggering 5-hour battery life and 8,500 GPH of suction, pulling 33 pounds of dead weight (plus trapped water) out of the deep end is a genuine physical workout. 

Ultimately, the Scuba V3 strikes a near-perfect balance, offering premium AI navigation in a chassis light enough that anyone in the family can confidently deploy and retrieve it. 

Navigation: The most important part of any robot cleaner 

I get asked a lot about what makes these pool cleaners so much better than the other, and the answer is simple: Does it clean the pool to your satisfaction, and is it low maintenance? Sounds simple, but as you know, it’s not that easy. Pools come in a lot of shapes and depths, so to get a pool clean, you need a good brain to tell the cleaner how to navigate (and you need long battery life, too).  

Advertisement

Powered by what Aiper calls its “Cognitive AI Navium Mode” and “VisionPath Adaptive Path Planning,” this robot uses an integrated underwater camera combined with dToF (Direct Time of Flight) optical sensors. Think of dToF as a form of laser radar; it sends out light pulses and measures how long they take to bounce back, creating a highly accurate 3D map of your pool’s interior. When you drop the Scuba V3 into the water, it doesn’t just wander. It assesses the shape of the pool, detects obstacles with its optical sensors, and plans a precise, overlapping, lawnmower-style route. 

But the really cool trick is the “AI Patrol” mode. I actively tested this by tossing a handful of fine potting soil and a few sunken leaves into the deep end. The Scuba V3’s camera has a 2-meter detection range and is trained to recognize over 20 different types of debris. As it cruised nearby, I literally watched the robot alter its path, turn directly toward the dirt pile, and suck it up before resuming its standard grid.

It was like watching a predator spot its prey. 

There is a very visible difference in how the Scuba V3 seems to navigate compared to the Scuba X1, for example. The V3 looks very “aware” almost like a living being; it’s creepy at first. Furthermore, Aiper equipped the front of the unit with dual LED headlights. This allows the AI vision system to function perfectly during night cleanings, illuminating the murky depths so it never loses its way. And for the privacy-conscious, Aiper guarantees zero image storage and zero image upload – what happens in your pool, stays in your pool.  

Performance: Suck it up, kid 

In all my robot pool cleaner testing, I am still wondering what the point of diminishing returns is when it comes to gallons per hour (GPH) of suction. Spend more on a pool cleaner and get a higher suction rate, but what is the minimum you need for good performance in the category? I have yet to find that out. The Scuba V3 measures in at 4800 GPH, which isn’t nearly at the top of its class, but not weak either. The higher-end and slightly more expensive Scuba X1 comes in at 6600 GPH, which feels like A LOT more compared to the V3, but in my tests, the Scuba V3 did just fine.

During my two-week testing period, my pool was subjected to a barrage of spring pollen, wind-blown sand, and the inevitable barrage of leaves. The V3 offers multiple cleaning modes, but “Auto” (which hits the floor, walls, and waterline) and “AI Patrol” were my easy-option choices. Let’s talk about the filtration first. The basket utilizes a 3-micron MicroMesh filter. For context, a single strand of human hair is about 70 microns thick.

This mesh is so fine that it doesn’t just trap leaves and twigs; it captures that incredibly annoying, cloudy silt and fine sand that usually blows right through the exhaust of cheaper robotic vacuums. You can pull the micro-mesh filter out and use the standard filter if you want. I’m located here in Western Oregon, where I do not need to deal with sand or fine debris, as you might get in Arizona or Nevada, so I typically stick with the standard filter.  

Advertisement

Wall climbing is where the Scuba V3 truly shows off. It scales the vertical walls of my pool effortlessly. But the standout feature is the JetAssist™ horizontal waterline cleaning. Many robots will climb a wall, poke their nose out of the water, and fall back down. The V3 climbs up to the waterline and then uses a directed jet of water to push itself horizontally along the pool tile, vigorously scrubbing the scum line with its dual brushes.

It looks like it is defying gravity. 

It did a solid job of cleaning the waterline, cleaning about 1 inch higher up on the side; it literally hit the brick surround that hangs over the pool. One area that the V3 needs help with (and most pool cleaners do) would be the stairs. The Scuba V3 would make it up the first step no problem, then struggle with the second on occasion. I still had to manually clean the stairs every couple of weeks to finish the job thoroughly, though.   

It is important to understand where the Scuba V3 sits in terms of raw power. Here is a quick visual breakdown of how it compares to its direct competitors: 

  • Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max: 8,500 GPH  
  • Aiper Scuba S1 Pro: 6,000 GPH 
  • Beatbot Aquasense Pro: 5,500 GPH 
  • Aiper Scuba V3: 4,800 GPH 
  • Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus: 4,500 GPH 

The Aiper App and connectivity: Now with a weather forecast 

I’ve always liked the Aiper app and find it to be easy to operate their products. It’s also easy to set up a new Aiper device with the app. Like their previous products, you need to install the app, turn the Scuba V3 into Bluetooth mode, connect the device to the app, and then set up Wi-Fi. 9/10 on the ease of use scale.  

I find the interface to be clean and functional. It’s easy to find instructions and support for your product through the app in the event that you throw out the setup guide. Aiper calls their app AI Navium because it’s an “advanced, cognitive AI mode designed for intelligent pool and yard management”. The key selling points by Aiper include:  

  • Cognitive Cleaning plans: It will generate weekly cleaning plans based on AI analysis 
  • Weather/History Sync: Analyzes local weather and past cleaning logs to determine optimal cleaning times 
  • Vision Path Integration: Combines AI vision and dToF (direct time of flight) sensors for precise navigation 
  • Smart Yard management: You can store different yards and products so that the system can schedule devices based on yards.  

AI Navium is an attempt by Aiper to get you to buy into their entire ecosystem of products so they can fully automate your yard. From sprinkler systems to pool cleaners and pool skimmers. I can’t really give you a detailed review of the AI Navium ecosystem based on a couple of products.

I love the idea of scheduling based on the weather, but it feels more gimmicky than anything. For me, it’s as simple as dumping the cleaner into the pool and coming back a few hours later and expecting the pool to be clean. How the cleaner does that isn’t really important to me.  

I want to point out, like I do for all of my pool cleaner reviews, that once the cleaner is submerged, you will lose a Wi-Fi connection to it. WiFi signals will not travel through water unless you have a special Wi-Fi communication device like the Aiper HydroComm, which will set you back $300-$400.

The Aiper HydroComm product not only extends Wi-Fi to your submerged cleaner, but also gives you pool chemical readings so you know if you need to add more chemicals to your pool. You decide if you need something like that. For me, personally, I am not changing the cleaning settings mid-cycle, so I am perfectly fine without a Wi-Fi connection while it’s underwater.  

Advertisement

Skimming off the top 

The Aiper Scuba V3 does have one feature missing that might be important to a lot of people – the ability to skim the top of the water to get floating debris. Here is why I don’t think this is that important: I would prefer to have a dedicated skimmer like the Aiper EcoSurfer S2 than to have it built into the pool cleaner itself. Once my pool bottom and walls are clean, I will pull the cleaner out, but I like to keep the EcoSurfer S2 running all day and sometimes all night.

Since it’s powered by solar, the battery literally never runs out, so you have a product that will likely suck up the debris before it hits the bottom of the pool. It’s like preventative maintenance, and I think the Aiper Ecosurfer S2 is the best skimmer on the market. Aiper sells both the Scuba V3 and the Ecosurfer S2 together in a package that saves you around a hundred bucks; that’s what I would personally recommend. 

If you want a pool cleaner that also skims on the top, there are plenty to choose from, but I highly recommend you get one with long battery life so it has plenty of time to clean the surface. Larger pools might give your pool cleaner an impossible challenge in this department if you do not size up the cleaner’s battery with your pool.  You can read my Aiper Surfer S2 review if you want to know more about it.

Battery life 

Battery life is what will really matter to you, especially if you have a larger pool. In my real-world testing, a full charge reliably delivered around 140 to 150 minutes of continuous cleaning. For my standard 15,000-gallon pool, this was more than enough time for the V3 to meticulously scrub the entire floor, climb every wall, and trace the entire waterline. Once the V3 was finished with the floor and walls, I had about 30 minutes of batter life leftover, not enough for another cleaning before it needed a recharge, but enough time leftover for me to run some errands and know that it’s still floating at the surface waiting for retrieval (the Scuba V3 will find an edge of the pool and float there thanks to its fans, waiting for you to pick it up out of the pool).  

Aiper packs a wireless charging dock with the Scuba V3, which lets you just set the robot on the dock without plugging anything into it. Typically, only more expensive robot cleaners come with a dock like this. The Beatbot Sora 70, for example, doesn’t come with a wireless dock and has a price tag of over $300 more. Using the charging dock, fully charging the Aiper Scuba V3 took a few hours to get to a full charge – pretty standard.  

Advertisement

The chart at the top of this response illustrates how the Aiper Scuba V3’s battery life stacks up against leading cordless robotic pool cleaners in the $900 to $1,900 price bracket. 

As the data shows, the Aiper Scuba V3 ($949) sits squarely in the middle of the pack with its 150-minute run time. Here is a breakdown of what that means for your purchasing decision: 

  • The Direct Competitors: The Scuba V3 goes toe-to-toe with the Polaris Freedom, which typically retails for around $1,300 and offers an identical 150-minute battery life. However, the V3 heavily outperforms the similarly priced Dolphin Liberty 400 (~$1,200), which taps out after just 90 minutes of cleaning. 
  • The Budget Alternative: Interestingly, Aiper’s own older model, the Scuba S1 Pro ($549), actually delivers 30 more minutes of runtime (180 minutes total) for less money. While you sacrifice the V3’s advanced AI Vision navigation and wireless charging dock by dropping down to the S1 Pro, it remains a fantastic option if sheer battery longevity on a budget is your top priority. 
  • The Premium Upgrades: If you have an exceptionally large pool that demands marathon cleaning sessions, you will have to pay for it. The Beatbot Aquasense Pro ($1,861 and one of my favorites) pushes past the 3-hour mark with 205 minutes of bottom-cleaning endurance, while Aiper’s flagship Scuba X1 Pro Max ($1,830 and another favorite of mine) dwarfs the competition with an astonishing 300 minutes (5 hours) of battery life on a single charge. 

Ultimately, while the Scuba V3 doesn’t claim the crown for the longest-lasting battery on the market, 150 minutes is more than sufficient for the average 15,000-to-20,000-gallon residential pool. 

Durability and Warranty 

When you drop $1,199 on a piece of technology that lives underwater, you want absolute confidence that it isn’t going to short out or fall apart after a few months. The Aiper Scuba V3 feels incredibly robust. The outer shell is made of a high-impact, UV-resistant plastic that showed absolutely no signs of fading or chalking despite sitting out in the sun for hours on end. The tank treads are thick rubber, showing minimal wear even after aggressively scrubbing abrasive pool plaster for two weeks. 

Internally, the brushless motors are sealed tightly, and the elimination of the physical charging port via the new wireless dock removes the most common point of failure for underwater electronics (water leaking into the battery compartment). 

Aiper backs the Scuba V3 with a comprehensive 2-year warranty. In the world of pool robotics, 2 years is the standard benchmark, though some higher-priced competitors (like Beatbot) stretch to 3 years. Aiper’s customer service has built a solid reputation over the last few years, offering 24/7 support and a 30-day free return window if the robot simply doesn’t gel with your pool’s specific layout. Furthermore, Aiper regularly pushes over-the-air firmware updates via the AI Navium app, ensuring the robot’s navigation algorithms continue to improve over time. 

Full disclosure on my part: I only had the Aiper Scuba V3 for about a month, and while I had no issues with reliability, one month isn’t nearly long enough to test a pool cleaner in my opinion. So I’ll come back to the review and update it after I have the Scuba V3 for a while longer. I would recommend checking out the customer reviews on their website and any user reviews that might show up on Amazon, Google, and Reddit.  

Should you buy the Aiper Scuba V3? 

If you are in the market for a new pool cleaner, I would highly recommend the Scuba V3 and the Ecosurfer S2. With both products, you will have a spotless pool in no time. I think the Scuba V3 is a great value for the price; you get an effective cleaner built by a supportive company, a wireless charging doc and a very intuitive app to use.  

Advertisement

How I Tested The Aiper Scuba V3 

To evaluate the Aiper Scuba V3, I used it as my exclusive pool cleaning solution for 14 consecutive days in a 15,000-gallon, rectangle-shaped, in-ground plaster pool located in a high-wind environment prone to heavy debris. Testing involved subjecting the robot to both high-load days (deliberately dumping measured amounts of fine potting soil, sand, and larger cherry tree leaves into the deep end) and low-load days featuring standard ambient dust and bugs. 

I tested the robot in all available app modes, closely monitoring the AI Patrol’s ability to recognize and divert toward specific debris clusters. Battery runtimes were measured from the moment the robot submerged to the exact moment it engaged its Smart Waterline Parking feature. Navigational efficiency was visually tracked to ensure overlapping floor coverage without repeated blind spots, and the wireless charging dock was evaluated for ease of use and consistent charging times in an uncovered outdoor environment. 

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tech

Variable-Pitch Propellers For More Efficient Quadcopter

Published

on

Quadcopters tend to have very poor efficency because of their high disk loading. High disk loading– that is, how much weight each square meter of area swept by the propellers must carry–is almost unavoidable with conventinal quadcopters, which are controlled by throttling the four props. Make the propellers too big, and their inertia slows down that control loop, leading to stability problems. [rctestflight] had an idea to solve this, by borrowing a technology from the world of fixed-wing aviation: variable-pitch propellers.

In aircraft use, they are not new, dating back to the end of the first world war. They’re made for everything from the largest turboprops to the  75 kW(100 HP) Rotax 912. By varying the propeller pitch, you can keep the engine turning in its ideal RPM range but still vary thrust by taking a larger or shallower ‘bite’ out of the air with each sweep of the prop. You can probably see how this applies to the quadcopter: a well-designed pitch-change mechanism is going to be much quicker than throttling a big prop with lots of rotational inertia. That’s the theory.

To test it, [rctestflight] builds some large 3D-printed variable pitch props, hooks them up to regular drone motors via a belt drive, before going on–you guessed it–an RC test flight. To make that work, he’s got the pitch servo being driven from what should be the flight controller’s thrust output to each motor. Aside from the vibrations from imperfect balance on the 3D-printed props, it flies quite well– and much better with pitch control than trying to vary the RPMs of those heavy props. He’s even able to reverse the propeller pitch, making this perhaps the first quadcopter capable of autorotation. Well, almost, given that it lost control and came apart when he cut the throttle.

As for efficiency, it is exactly what you’d expect from this disk loading– so, higher than a conventional quad–even with losses from the belt drive and the high-friction surface of a 3D print. Speaking of 3D-prints, the props did hold up to the maximum RPMs he could throw at them, so no ‘kaboom’ in this video. There is a fun rotary subwoofer bonus at the end, though.

Advertisement

Overall, [rctestflight] thinks his variable-pitch quadcopter proves the concept, but that if you’re going to all this effort you may as well build a helicopter and have fewer points of failure. We kind of have to agree. That is how it worked out historically, after all.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen hackers trying to improve drone efficiency– there was the hybrid ‘giant propeller’ drone a while back, and the ‘slap a wing on it’ technique featured more recently.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

Microsoft Moves: Longtime exec Julia Liuson to retire; new accessibility chief; and other changes

Published

on

Julia Liuson presenting at a conference in 2019. (Microsoft Photo)

Big tech moves today from Microsoft: Longtime executive Julia Liuson is leaving, Neil Barnett is the company’s new chief accessibility officer, and Nanda Ramachandran has been named chief marketing officer for Windows & Devices.

They’re part of a broader wave of executive departures and changes at Microsoft as CEO Satya Nadella looks to flatten the company’s reporting structure and adjust to the new realities of AI in its product development and marketing.

Liuson is departing after more than 34 years with the Redmond, Wash. tech giant, effective in June, multiple news outlets report.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Liuson has been president since 2021 of Microsoft’s Developer Division, which includes Microsoft Azure services for developers, Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. The division has evolved to integrate with GitHub, which the company acquired in 2018.

Liuson joined Microsoft in 1992 as a software design engineer after graduating from the University of Washington. A company biography states she was the first woman promoted to corporate vice president of development at Microsoft.

Advertisement

A company spokesperson called Liuson’s departure “a thoughtful, planned decision to retire from her full-time role and step into her next chapter,” adding that she will work full-time through June and then transition into an advisory role.

“We’re grateful for the impact Julia and the broader team have delivered for developers and customers, and we’re focused on maintaining momentum as we head into the next fiscal year and beyond. Our developer and AI strategy — and our commitment to customers — remain unchanged,” the spokesperson said.

Liuson will continue reporting to Microsoft CoreAI chief Jay Parikh in her advisory role, The Verge reported, citing an internal memo. A replacement for Liuson has not been publicly named.

Microsoft in recent years has been aggressively recruiting AI leaders from Google DeepMind, Allen Institute for AI, Meta and elsewhere to bolster its AI technologies. That includes Parikh, who joined in 2024 from Lacework and was previously at Meta.

Advertisement
Neil Barnett. (LinkedIn Photo)

In his new role, Barnett will lead Microsoft’s accessibility efforts within its Corporate, External & Legal Affairs organization.

Barnett has been with the company since 2001 and 12 years ago became the leader of a team focused on online safety, privacy and accessibility support.

He succeeds Jenny Lay-Flurrie in the role.

“Neil brings a rare combination of unwavering advocacy, strong operational and people leadership combined with clarity, conviction, and purpose,” Lay-Flurrie said on LinkedIn. Over the past decade, he built and scaled the company’s neurodiversity program and Disability Answer Desk, which has supported more than two million customers.

Lay-Flurrie, who has been with Microsoft for more than 21 years, moved into her new role in February as head of the Trusted Technology Group. This division addresses accessibility, digital safety, privacy, responsible AI, enterprise resilience, and responsible business practices. (See additional GeekWire coverage of Lay-Flurrie’s new role.)

Advertisement
Nanda Ramachandran. (LinkedIn Photo)

Ramachandran joins Microsoft from Google, where for the past 12 years he was vice president of Pixel Business, which includes phones, tablets, laptops and other devices. Ramachandran is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and previously held leadership roles at Samsung Mobile and Motorola.

As the new CMO of Windows & Devices, he shared his excitement to build hardware including Microsoft’s Surface computers and growing Windows.

“We are transitioning into the next phase of computing, and helping steer Windows and our devices into the era of the agentic OS is an incredible opportunity,” he said on LinkedIn.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tech

Logitech PRO X2 SUPERSTRIKE Mouse Debuts With Haptic Click System, 44K DPI

Published

on

The gaming mouse world has pretty much been the same for the last few years, with the only real improvement being weight savings. Now, Logitech has just introduced a new high-end gaming mouse in India, the Pro X2 Superstrike, and it’s bringing something genuinely new to the table. With it, the company is trying to rethink how mouse clicks work entirely, replacing traditional mechanical switches with a new system designed for faster response and better control. Here’s what you need to know about it.

A New Way to Click

The biggest highlight of the PRO X2 SUPERSTRIKE is its Haptic Inductive Trigger System (HITS), which ditches conventional microswitches in favor of inductive analog sensing paired with real-time haptic feedback.

In simpler terms, clicks aren’t just registered—they’re felt instantly. The system allows players to adjust the sensitivity of each click, with multiple actuation levels and reset points to suit their playstyle. Whether you prefer quick taps in FPS games or more deliberate clicks in strategy titles, the mouse can be tuned accordingly. Logitech claims this setup can reduce click latency by up to 30 milliseconds, and if this is true, it’ll reshape the landscape altogether. We have the Pro X2 for testing purposes, so keep an eye out for the full review dropping soon.

Beyond the click tech, the PRO X2 SUPERSTRIKE packs serious hardware. It features Logitech’s HERO 2 sensor with up to 44K DPI and supports an 8K polling rate, meaning it sends data to your PC every 0.125 milliseconds. The mouse is also capable of tracking extremely fast movements, with support for high acceleration and precise tracking even during rapid flicks. Despite all that, Logitech has kept the weight down to around 65 grams, making it suitable for long gaming sessions without fatigue. It also includes PTFE feet for smoother gliding and a battery life of up to 90 hours, which should easily last through extended sessions.

Advertisement

The Logitech G PRO X2 SUPERSTRIKE will be available in India in a Lunar Eclipse color option, priced at ₹23,995.

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

New UNC6783 hackers steal corporate Zendesk support tickets

Published

on

Google: New UNC6783 hackers steal corporate Zendesk support tickets

A threat actor tracked as UNC6783 is compromising business process outsourcing (BPO) providers to gain access to high-value companies across multiple sectors.

According to the Google Threat Intelligence Group, dozens of corporate entities have been targeted through this method to exfiltrate sensitive data for extortion.

Austin Larsen, GTIG principal threat analyst, says that UNC6783 typically relies on social engineering and phishing campaigns to compromise BPOs working with targeted companies.

Wiz

However, there have been instances where the hackers have also contacted support and helpdesk staff within targeted organizations, in an attempt to obtain direct access.

The researchers say that UNC6783 may be linked to Raccoon, a persona known to have targeted multiple BPOs that provide services to large companies.

Advertisement

In social engineering attacks over live chat, the threat actor directs support employees to spoofed Okta login pages hosted on domains that impersonate those of the target company and follow the pattern [.]zendesk-support<##>[.]com.

Larsen says that the phishing kit deployed in these attacks can steal clipboard contents to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA) protection, enabling the attacker to register their device with the organization.

Google has also observed attacks where UNC6783 distributed fake security updates to deliver remote access malware.

After stealing sensitive data, the threat actor proceeds to extort victims, contacting them via ProtonMail addresses with payment demands.

Advertisement

While GTIG did not offer more information about Raccoon, threat intelligence account International Cyber Digest recently disclosed that someone using the alias “Mr. Raccoon” claimed a breach at Adobe, which the company has yet to confirm.

The attacker claimed to have gained access to Adobe data after compromising an India-based BPO working for the company. They deployed a remote access trojan (RAT) on an employee’s computer and subsequently targeted the employee’s manager in a phishing attack.

Mr. Raccoon said that they stole 13 million support tickets containing personal data, employee records, HackerOne submissions, and internal documents.

In conversations with BleepingComputer, the threat actor behind the CrunchyRoll breach confirmed that they were also behind the Adobe attack, but did not provide any evidence.

Advertisement

Google’s Mandiant listed several defense recommendations against UNC6783 attacks, including deploying FIDO2 security keys for MFA, monitoring live chat for abuse, blocking spoofed domains that match Zendesk patterns, and regularly auditing MFA device enrollments.

Automated pentesting proves the path exists. BAS proves whether your controls stop it. Most teams run one without the other.

This whitepaper maps six validation surfaces, shows where coverage ends, and provides practitioners with three diagnostic questions for any tool evaluation.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tech

Dodging A 60-Year-Old Design Flaw In Your RAM

Published

on

Modern computers use dynamic RAM, a technology that allows very compact bits in return for having to refresh for about 400 nanoseconds every 3-4 microseconds. But what if you couldn’t afford even such a tiny holdup? [LaurieWired] goes into excruciating detail about how to avoid this delay.

But first, why do we care? It once again comes down to high-frequency trading; a couple nanoseconds of latency can be the difference between winning or losing a buy order. You likely miss all the caches and need to fetch data from the remote land of main memory. And if you get unlucky, you’ll be waiting on that price for a precious 400+ nanoseconds! [Laurie] explains all the problems faced in trying to avoid this penalty; you try to get a copy of the data on two independent refresh timers. That’s easier said than done; not only does the operating system hide the physical addresses from you, but the memory controllers themselves also scramble the addresses to the underlying RAM!

For the real computer architecture nerds, there’s a lot more to it, and [Laurie] goes over it in meticulous detail in the video after the break.

Advertisement

Thanks to [Keith Olson] for the tip!

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025