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Netflix has released the first trailer for The Electric State, a post-apocalyptic road movie from Marvel (and Community) mainstays The Russo Brothers. The adaptation of Simon Stlenhag's 2018 graphic novel is set in a retro-futuristic version of the '90s after a robot uprising. It tells the story of Michelle, an orphaned teenager (Millie Bobby Brown) who ventures across the west of the US to look for her younger brother with a smuggler (a mustachioed Chris Pratt) and a pair of robots. The movie's look draws heavily from Stlenhag's gorgeous artwork, right down to the oversized VR helmets. The robots, in particular the one accompanying Michelle, have a cartoon-inspired aesthetic that wouldn't look out of place in Fallout. A large teddy bear robot can be seen as part of a parade of machines, while our heroes appear to face off against a massive one that looks a little like Sonic the Hedgehog. Meanwhile, the whole "slowed down iteration of a popular song in a movie trailer" thing might have jumped the shark with the version of Oasis' "Champagne Supernova" that plays over the top of this. It fits the '90s setting, of course, but I couldn't help but laugh as soon as I recognized it. The movie has a hell of a cast. Alongside Brown and Pratt, it stars Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci. The Electric State hits Netflix on March 14.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/netflixs-the-electric-state-trailer-shows-off-cartoony-robots-and-oversized-vr-headsets-143628514.html?src=rss
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Londons W1 is somewhere to go if youve got too much money to spend on something. Within minutes of each other, you can visit the citys priciest private doctor, buy a Steinway and a pair of designer glasses that cost more than my mortgage. Wigmore Street is also where the ultra rich go to buy a kitchen that Thorstein Veblen would weep at the sight of. Its also the new home of Moley Robotics, a company selling luxury kitchens and the robot arm thatll kinda/sorta do all of the cooking for you, too. Moley is the brainchild of Dr. Mark Oleynik and is one part kitchen showroom and one part robot lab. Its a spartan space with three demo kitchens, a wide dining table and some display units showing you the different types of artisan marble you can have for your countertop. The point of interest is the working X-AiR robot just behind the front window that acts as a lure for would-be consumers. Its got its own cooktop, shelves, oils and utensils and, with the proper help, can even whip up a meal. Moley Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget Oleynik explained he wanted to create something to help people eat better food with less reliance on preservatives. His dislike of reheated and processed food sent him looking for alternatives, which led him to finding a way to automate fresh cooking. If youre coming back late from work, the obvious temptations are microwave meals or delivery food. He believes people would much rather healthy recipes where you just prep the raw ingredients and let the robot do the rest. The focus on health extends to the database of potential meals, many of which have been created by the SHA Wellness Clinic. Moley has its own in-house chef, James Taylor, who adapts each recipe so it can be made by a one-armed robot. The company says it hopes to add two or three new recipes each month, and that if you have a family dish youd love to see automated, you can send it in. Oleynik said the movements are mapped onto the robot after watching a human chef prepare the same meal. And that, once it had learned what to do, the robot would be far less error-prone than its human counterpart. The initial demonstration of Moleys vision (above) used a two-armed chef that ran on overhead tracks that earned the company so many plaudits initially. Unfortunately, Oleynik admitted the cost for such a robot would have likely reached north of 250,000 (Around $330,000). Which is probably too rich even for the sort of people who frequent Wigmore Street for their kitchen appliances. To reduce the price, the company stripped down the project from a mobile, two-armed version to a single arm. The robot that Moley is actually selling is bought off-the-shelf from Universal Robots, an industrial robotics company. The robot Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget The one-armed version thats currently up for pre-order is known as the X-AiR, which is what sits in the front of Moleys showroom. If you want one for yourself, youll need to buy a new countertop, two custom shelving units, a cooktop, control tablet and the robot itself. The prices are in the if you have to ask, you cant afford it range but the price to get in the door is 80,000 (around $105,000). So far, Moley hasnt installed a single robot, but expects the process to begin in the next three to six months. But there are people who have already laid down cash to get one of these in their homes, and the kitchen that goes around it. X-AiR has no built-in vision or sensing technology enabling it to perceive or engage with its environment. The system does come with a camera, embedded in one of the shelves, that I understand is more for technical support than to aid cooking. Instead, the robot arm moves around its space from memory, knowing where all of the ingredients, oils and tools should be. The saucepans are held in place over the jobs on the cooktop to keep the environment as controlled as possible. I was present to witness Moleys now standard demonstration using an SHA Clinic recipe for Asian Tofu Saute. Staff members had pre-prepared the ingredients and placed them in the pots necessary for the robot to grab. In order to start the process, the user needs to tell the system which ingredients are in which sections. Theres even a little diagram of the shelf layout, so you can tap Bean Sprouts and tap that the pot with them is seated in position A1, for instance. Once youve done that, you can set the machine going and theoretically leave it be until its time to eat. The system is set up to call out every instruction from the recipe so its easy to follow along with it. In the video, you should be able to see why its an interesting thing to watch as the arm starts its ballet to start cooking your food. It almost theatrically turns on the cooktop before pouring a liberal quantity of oil into the pan to begin warming. After that, it begins adding the ingredients as and when commanded to, and stirring the mixture in between. The stirring is more of a back and forth pushing of the mix, which is obviously less thorough than a human would be. After each stir, the robot scrapes its spatula on the side of the pan before returning it to its hook. There are similar touches when the robot adds the next ingredient from its dedicated bin, double tapping the pot on the side to ensure everything falls out. I noticed, however, that there were a few ingredients still attached to the spatula and the pots when they were returned to the shelf. This is the big issue with a robot that lacks any sort of vision to perceive its local environment. During my demonstration, a few strips of leek clung to the spatula and fell off, onto the cooktop itself, while in motion. It was quickly wiped away, but I couldnt help but wonder what would have happened if itd landed a millimeter closer to the burner and pan and started burning. What it cant do Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget Im much happier tending to a pan and actually cooking than I am peeling carrots and trying to dice onions. The obvious question, then, is why Moley sought to automate the ostensibly fun part of cooking rather than the bit people dislike? Oleynik said it might be possible in a far-flung future but there are just too many variables to make a carrot-peeling robot work. Not to mention, he added, the safety risks inherent in giving a robot a bladed instrument to wield. Moleys first-generation robots are also limited by the volume of food they can cook in a single session. Depending on the meal, they can make between eight and ten portions, enough for a dinner party but nothing more extravagant. Not to mention the robots cant make much of any adjustment if you dont have exactly the right ingredients ready for use. You can remove any you dont have, naturally, but theres no ability to improvise beyond that, or to variate its program to take into account seasonal differences in ingredient quality. The food Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget When I was told the robot was making me tofu, I had to work hard to keep myself standing upright. If they could have seen my soul, theyd have watched my shoulders droop so hard they fell through the floor, through the basement, and into the subway line below. Friends, I cannot stand tofu and grimace my way through it whenever my vegan chums insist we go to a meat-free restaurant. Even when they insist Im eating really good tofu, it just tastes like stringy matter, devoid of any inherent flavor as I try to mash it in my mouth. So bear that in mind when I say that the tofu the robot cooked me was actually delicious. It had a nice texture and tasted pretty delicious, meshing beautifully with the vegetables. The future Oleynik believes his robots will find a variety of niches to fill, first with money-rich, time-poor folks in London and beyond. The internet tells me that a private chef would set you back around 300 a day, so youd burn through that 80,000 in less than a year. Naturally, its likely anyone who can drop 80,000 on a cooking robot can probably afford to buy their ingredients pre-prepared, so they could just dump them in the bins and set things going. After that, Oleynik believes the technology could be used to prepare fresh meals for business and first-class airline passengers. Or in small kitchens where one employee supervises a production line of robots all making fresh dishes. His vision stretches to any situation where there may be a desire for fresh-cooked food, but the economics of a trained chef wont allow it. He cited the example of a hotel with 24/7 room service, where people are paid to wait around on the off-chance someone wants food. Or service stations in remote areas where theres potential demand for meals but no need to hire a professional chef. Similarly, Oleynik cited care homes where theres a similar conflict between a desire to produce good food but limited budgets. Of course, its not clear, given there would need to be a human preparing the raw ingredients and dishing up, how much labor is being saved. And anyone who is involved with food would likely need to be trained and paid accordingly, which may eliminate any potential savings. But Oleynik is certain that a business can expect to see a return on its investment within its first year of service. As for the price, Oleynik believes the technology will refine to the point that the cost will fall quite far. He gestured to one of the demo kitchens in the showroom, which had a Miele-branded oven and fridge, saying each model cost 5,000 (around $6,500) each. He hopes hell be able to sell a cooking robot for 10,000 to the sort of people who dont blink when spending 5,000 on an oven and another 5,000 on a fridge. But, if nothing else, its entirely in keeping with everything else you can buy on Wigmore Street.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/a-105000-robot-arm-nobody-needs-cooked-me-a-delicious-lunch-140050065.html?src=rss
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Update 10/17/24 11:05am ET: Amazon has raised the price of the 55-inch model by $100, which brings the final price down to $1,297. While not quite as low as it was just a few hours ago, that's still about $500 off the original price and a good deal. I don't know about you but I will be spending most of the upcoming cold months sitting on my couch and watching television (with some books thrown in). The only thing I'm missing is a really good television set and, while I'll be opting for a more budget-friendly pick, I'm tempted by the sale on LG's C3 Series OLED TV. Right now, the 55-inch model is down to $1,197 from $1,800 a 34 percent discount. The all-time low price isn't the only version on sale, with the 42-inch option dropping to $997 from $1,197. LG released the C3 series last year as a mid-range OLED option. It offers an a9 AI Processor Gen6, HDR tone mapping, AI upscaling and object-based picture sharpening. The TVs also come with Brightness Booster, which though not to the level of some of its competitors makes it easier to watch even in a relatively sunny room. If you want the newest model then check out LG's C4 OLED series. The 2024 release is also on sale, with the 55-inch version down to $1,297 from $2,000 the same 35 percent discount we recently saw on Prime Day. The C4 TVs offer nearly 1,000 nits of brightness and a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. This model will also wirelessly connect with LG soundbars, foregoing the need for messy cables. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/lgs-c3-oled-tvs-are-more-than-600-off-before-black-friday-135916937.html?src=rss
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