Most Read: Toyota Humanoid Robot Claims Guinness World Record; Air Taxi Company Sells 50 Flying Vehicles to Helicopter Company

Here are the most-read stories on IoT World Today this week.

Toyota Humanoid Robot Claims Guinness World Record

A humanoid robot developed by automaker Toyota has claimed a Guinness World Record – for the longest ever basketball shot scored by a bot.

CUE6 sealed its place in the history books when it sank a shot of 80 feet, six inches (24.55 meters) at Nagakute in Japan in September.

It marks the second time that CUE has claimed a world best on the basketball court – back in 2019, the third-generation (known as CUE3) – was recognized by Guinness World Records for scoring the most consecutive throws by a robot, eventually stopping at 2,020 (although the Toyota support team believed it would literally have been able to go on forever).

As the video below shows, CUE6’s new record wasn’t instantaneous – on its first, unsuccessful attempt the ball hit the rim of the basket and bounced away. Undeterred, CUE6 tried again and made no mistake the second time around.

Watch the robot shoot hoops

Air Taxi Company Selling 50 Flying Vehicles to Helicopter Company

Air taxi company Eve Air Mobility is selling 50 of its eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicles to Helicopters, Inc. which operates in metropolitan areas throughout the U.S.

The purchase letter of intent was signed at the Revolution.aero advanced air mobility (AAM) conference, where Eve was participating.

Related:FAA Bans Drones in Parts of New Jersey; Threatens Deadly Force

Eve started working with Helicopters Inc. at a demonstration in Chicago in 2022. 

“We appreciate Helicopters Inc.’s confidence in Eve by purchasing up to 50 of our eVTOL aircraft,” said Megha Bhatia, chief commercial officer, Eve Air Mobility.  

“Helicopters Inc. is a recognized leader, safely operating aircraft in more than 30 metropolitan areas throughout the U.S., and we are excited to add such a credible vertical lift operator to our list of customers. We look forward to working with them on deploying our all-electric eVTOL aircraft as part of their extensive U.S. operation.” 

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Tesla Humanoid Robot Gains New Skills; Watch

The Tesla Optimus humanoid robot has gained a new skill: it can now walk on uneven surfaces, highly variable ground using neural nets to control its electric limbs.

“I forgot to mention that Optimus was doing this while blindfolded,” Elon Musk said on X. “We haven’t yet made vision part of the control loop for uneven terrain.” 

“Optimus robots are regularly cruising around our workplace in Palo Alto where vision is used for static and dynamic object avoidance.”

The news comes just weeks after Optimus showed off its “handy” work – catching a tennis ball.

Related:Robotic Deliveries Start in Dallas; Orders by Uber Eats

Watch Optimus in action

Humanoid Robot Available for Preorder; Walks, Talks Naturally

If a humanoid robot is on your holiday shopping list, you’re in luck! Clone is manufacturing a limited number of its new, limited edition Clone Alpha humanoid robots to be available for preorder next year. 

The Clone Alpha is different from many other humanoid robots as these androids are musculoskeletal in that they are designed with synthetic skeletal and muscular systems that enable them to replicate human-like movement and dexterity.

The humanoid robot has a Telekinesis training platform designed to help teach it new skills allowing it to do everything from memorizing the layout of a home for cleaning and kitchen inventory. It can shake hands, pour drinks, wash, dry and fold clothes, vacuum, set the table and more. It can even chat. It can also charge itself. 

With natural language interfaces, Clone said a person can speak to the humanoid in plain English, naturally as if talking to anyone. 

Watch Clone Alpha flex its muscles

Drone Sightings: The Rundown on What Is Being Seen and Heard

Outside of speculation of any government being behind or aware of the many drones being seen over New Jersey and other areas, there are some potential characteristics of the sightings that may be explained. 

Based on the extensive research conducted for my book “Flying Vehicles: The Emergence of Personal Air Travel, Flying Cars, and Air Taxis,” here are comments based on some of the thousands of reported sightings

“They are very loud, like a Harley.” The rotors of electric aerial vehicles (EAV) are very loud, most notably at closer range. A person flying in an EAV requires ear protection from the noise, it is so loud. Additionally, if a helicopter is in the same area as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), that sound could potentially be mistaken for the sounds coming from a UAV. The larger the drone, the louder the noise.

“They are very quiet.” At a distance, the rotors or propellers of EAVs and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) generally cannot be heard. For example, at one demonstration of EAVs in New York City, media on the ground commented that they could see but not hear the EAV they were watching being demonstrated. A smaller drone can be relatively quiet.

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