Samwise Tech/AI/Robotics Newsletter
Friday, August 7, 2026
HII awards $900M robotics contract to Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics for autonomous shipbuilding
Huntington Ingalls Industries has awarded contracts worth up to $900 million to robotics companies Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics under its new High-Yield Production Robotics (HYPER) program. The seven-year agreements target two of the most labor-intensive tasks in naval shipbuilding: Path Robotics will handle autonomous welding using its Obsidian AI model integrated with a quadruped robot called Rove, while GrayMatter Robotics focuses on robotic sanding. HII plans to outsource 2.5 million hours of shipbuilding work in 2026 — a 30 percent increase over 2025 — to accelerate production of aircraft carriers, submarines, and destroyers for the U.S. Navy.
Sources: The Robot Report
Mirendil signs $100M+ Google Cloud deal to advance self-improving AI for scientific research
Mirendil, a startup building self-improving AI systems for scientific research, has signed a multi-year agreement with Google Cloud valued at over $100 million. The deal gives Mirendil access to Google TPU clusters and Nvidia GPUs to power what the company calls recursive self-improvement — systems designed to autonomously enhance their own capabilities over time. Mirendil was founded by Benham Neyshabur, formerly of Anthropic, alongside co-founder Harsh Mehta, and raised approximately $200 million in seed funding at a $1 billion valuation in late June. The company targets applications in medicine, biology, and materials science.
Sources: TechCrunch
Google Maps upgrades Ask Maps with agentic features including food ordering, hotel booking, and personal AI memory
Google has expanded its Ask Maps feature inside Google Maps with a suite of agentic capabilities that transform the app from a navigation tool into a task-completion assistant. U.S. users can now order food through Square, Toast, or Uber Eats; find and book hotels with price comparisons and availability checks; and purchase event tickets — all within Maps. The update also introduces Personal Intelligence, an opt-in feature that draws on a user’s Gmail and Google Calendar data to personalize responses. Conversation memory enables users to continue prior planning sessions, and a live transit widget tracks delays in real time globally.
Sources: TechCrunch
Liquid AI’s LFM2.5-2.6B runs AI agents on a Raspberry Pi, outpacing DeepSeek-V4-Flash by 3.7x
Liquid AI has released LFM2.5-2.6B, an open-weight 2.6-billion-parameter model built for agentic workloads on consumer and edge hardware — including Raspberry Pi, smartphones, and laptops — requiring no cloud connection or external GPU. Benchmarks show the model running 3.7 times faster than DeepSeek-V4-Flash on comparable hardware. Following its release, LFM2.5-2.6B topped the OpenRouter usage charts. The launch targets developers building AI agents in offline or bandwidth-constrained environments and represents Liquid AI’s push to challenge cloud-dependent agentic platforms with locally deployable, open-weight models capable of running on devices as modest as a single-board computer.
Sources: VentureBeat
OpenAI’s AI smart speaker reported to be donut-shaped and priced between $300 and $400
OpenAI’s upcoming AI hardware device is taking shape as an unconventional smart speaker. Bloomberg reports it will be donut-shaped, built from high-quality metal, and priced between $300 and $400 — substantially more than most competing smart home speakers. Unlike stationary devices, it is designed to be carried from room to room and includes moving parts, according to sources. The device is being developed in partnership with LoveFrom, the design studio founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, and is expected to launch in 2027. OpenAI is simultaneously contending with a trade secrets lawsuit from Apple related to its hardware push.
Sources: TechCrunch
Omilia raises $67M Series B after growing ARR 10x to $60M with voice AI for Capital One, Taco Bell, and others
Athens-based Omilia has raised $67 million in a Series B led by Expedition Growth Capital — its first fundraise since a $20 million round in 2020, during which time it grew annual recurring revenue tenfold to $60 million. Founded in 2002, Omilia builds self-learning agents for customer support across voice calls, chat, and messaging, with clients including Capital One, Discover, RBC, and Taco Bell across more than 1,000 outlets. CEO Dimitris Vassos argues against relying solely on large language models, favoring a multi-tool approach calibrated to query complexity. The company plans to open a U.S. office and expand its go-to-market team.
Sources: TechCrunch
Robin, Expper’s social robot, calms patients across 30 healthcare facilities using AI and remote human support
Expper Technologies has deployed Robin, its kid-sized socially assistive robot, across 30 hospitals, dental clinics, and adult care facilities, where it helps keep patients calm during visits. Robin interacts through speech, has no arms, and sits on a wheeled base designed to be non-threatening. The Glendale, California company, founded in 2019, uses a hybrid model: Robin’s AI handles most patient interactions autonomously, while Expper operators remotely step in for edge cases the robot cannot manage. Co-founder and head of engineering Davit Martirosyan leads the effort, and the company plans to expand to 10 additional facilities.
Sources: The Robot Report
Tech Pulse
Top Frontier Models: Claude Mythos 5/Anthropic (83.0%) | Claude Fable 5/Anthropic (82.8%) | GPT-5.6 Sol/OpenAI (81.5%)
Top Open Source Models: MiniMax M3 (68.8%) | Hy3/Tencent (67.9%) | GLM-5.1/Z.AI (66.9%)
Top Small Models (15–50B): Inkling/TMI (66.5%) | Qwen3.8 Max/Alibaba (60.96%) | Nemotron Nano 30B/NVIDIA
Top Edge Models (0–15B): Phi-4 Reasoning 14B/Microsoft | LFM2.5-2.6B/Liquid AI | Qwen3.5-Mini/Alibaba
AI Leaders: NVIDIA $5.09T | Alphabet $4.55T | Microsoft $3.69T
Robotics Leaders: Intuitive Surgical $175.2B | Figure AI $39B (pvt. est.) | 1X $10B (pvt. est.)
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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