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Big Tech's latest batch of mixed-reality headsets are ready for you, but are they just stopgaps on the way to something else?
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Amazon has deployed over 750,000 robots to its fulfillment centers over the last decade or so, but now there's a new, shall we say, more sensitive addition. The company has announced Vulcan, its first robot with a sense of touch. It's one in a series of new robots introduced today at Amazon's Delivering the Future event in Germany.
Vulcan uses force feedback sensors to monitor how much it's pushing or holding on to an object and, ideally, not damage it. "In the past, when industrial robots have unexpected contact, they either emergency stop or smash through that contact. They often don't even know they have hit something because they cannot sense it." Aaron Parness, Amazon director, applied science, stated in the release. "Vulcan represents a fundamental leap forward in robotics. It's not just seeing the world, it's feeling it, enabling capabilities that were impossible for Amazon robots until now."
Of course, there's an AI component, with Amazon training Vulcan's AI on physical data around touch and force. Vulcan also uses algorithms to determine what it can handle, identify different products and find space in the fulfillment center. The machine has "tackled thousands" of objects and tasks, like moving electronics and picking up socks. The system can also learn from its mistakes, with Amazon stating the robot will become more capable as time goes on.
Amazon, which has faced continual
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Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are technically open, but you may have trouble grabbing the console before its June 5 release date if you haven't secured an order already. As of our latest sweep, the device is still completely out of stock at Walmart, GameStop, Best Buy, Target and other retailers. This has (mostly) been the case in the US since the Switch 2 first went up for sale on April 24, and it remains unclear when it'll change.
Your best hope right now might be ordering through Nintendo itself, as the console maker will start accepting pre-orders at its My Nintendo Store tomorrow, May 8. However, the company is only offering the Switch 2 through an invite system. It's been accepting registrations for that since April 2, and it's prioritizing invites for past Switch players and Switch Online subscribers before anyone else. So if you're just registering now, don't be surprised if your invite doesn't arrive for some time after the initial batch. Nintendo even updated the language on its pre-order page last month to note that some invite emails may not arrive until after the console has been released.
Nevertheless, we're keeping an eye out for any surprise restocks that may pop up. If you're still hoping to get your hands on the device early, we've rounded up all the Switch 2 pre-order listings we could
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