🤖 China's Unitree drops humanoid robot under $6K 🤖
R1 model ships now while US competitors talk future pricing

Unitree Robotics has unveiled its R1 humanoid robot for just $5,900, dramatically undercutting American competitors in the race to bring multipurpose humanoids to the masses. While rivals like Tesla's Optimus ($20K) and Figure's 02 ($50K) talk about future affordability, the Chinese startup is shipping now.

The 25kg machine features 26 joints and multimodal AI with voice and image recognition, positioning itself as one of the world's first sub-$6,000 humanoid robots. The timing is strategic as Unitree recently filed paperwork for what could be the first humanoid robotics IPO on a Chinese exchange, signaling China's aggressive push to dominate the emerging robotics market.

🧠 Meta names ChatGPT co-creator as chief scientist 🧠 
Superintelligence Lab gets OpenAI talent in reverse brain drain

Meta has appointed Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of ChatGPT, as chief scientist of its newly launched Superintelligence Lab. Zhao, a former OpenAI research scientist who helped develop ChatGPT, GPT-4, and o3 models, will set the research agenda working directly with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang.

The hire is part of Meta's aggressive talent acquisition strategy, offering Silicon Valley's most lucrative pay packages to close the gap in advanced AI following the underwhelming performance of its Llama 4 model. The Superintelligence Lab operates separately from FAIR, Meta's established AI research division, as Zuckerberg pushes toward building "full general intelligence" with open-source releases.

🎨 Figma Make available for everyone 🎨 
AI app builder exits beta with natural language prototyping

Figma's AI-powered app builder, Figma Make, has officially launched for all users, moving beyond its beta limited to Full Seat subscribers. The tool lets designers prototype apps with natural language prompts, similar to GitHub Copilot, but uniquely accepts design references, images or Figma files to shape the final output.

Users can tweak text, fonts, and animations via AI or manual edits, while publishing remains restricted to Full Seat users and others can test in drafts. Alongside the launch, Figma rolled out AI-driven image editing and upscaling tools and introduced an AI credit system where lower tiers get limited credits while Full Seats enjoy unlimited use for now.

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🚗 Waymo crosses 100M autonomous miles milestone 🚗 

Waymo has reached a major milestone by crossing the 100M fully autonomous miles mark, cementing its leadership in the robotaxi market. The Alphabet subsidiary now provides over a quarter million rides weekly across four cities, having doubled its mileage in just 6 months while planning aggressive expansion to Miami, D.C., and Tokyo. The company has also tripled its Austin service area in a strategic move to fend off emerging competition from Tesla's upcoming robotaxi service.

🍔 Tesla Diner opens in Hollywood with Optimus robots 🍔 

Tesla has opened a signature diner on the Hollywood strip, featuring the company's humanoid Optimus robots greeting customers and distributing popcorn while diners charge their vehicles at 80 V4 Supercharger stalls. The all-night drive-in offers two giant entertainment screens and serves food in Cybertruck-themed boxes. If successful, Elon Musk plans to expand the concept to major cities worldwide, marking Tesla's first foray into the restaurant business with a "retro-futuristic" experience.