There was a time not too long ago when buying a power bank was as easy as choosing the cheapest portable battery that could charge your phone and quickly slip into your pocket, purse, or backpack. The hardest part was deciding whether it was time to ditch USB-A ports.
Technology
Robots learn 1,000 tasks in one day from a single demo
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Most robot headlines follow a familiar script: a machine masters one narrow trick in a controlled lab, then comes the bold promise that everything is about to change. I usually tune those stories out. We have heard about robots taking over since science fiction began, yet real-life robots still struggle with basic flexibility. This time felt different.
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ELON MUSK TEASES A FUTURE RUN BY ROBOTS
Researchers highlight the milestone that shows how a robot learned 1,000 real-world tasks in just one day. (Science Robotics)
How robots learned 1,000 physical tasks in one day
A new report published in Science Robotics caught our attention because the results feel genuinely meaningful, impressive and a little unsettling in the best way. The research comes from a team of academic scientists working in robotics and artificial intelligence, and it tackles one of the field’s biggest limitations.
The researchers taught a robot to learn 1,000 different physical tasks in a single day using just one demonstration per task. These were not small variations of the same movement. The tasks included placing, folding, inserting, gripping and manipulating everyday objects in the real world. For robotics, that is a big deal.
Why robots have always been slow learners
Until now, teaching robots physical tasks has been painfully inefficient. Even simple actions often require hundreds or thousands of demonstrations. Engineers must collect massive datasets and fine-tune systems behind the scenes. That is why most factory robots repeat one motion endlessly and fail as soon as conditions change. Humans learn differently. If someone shows you how to do something once or twice, you can usually figure it out. That gap between human learning and robot learning has held robotics back for decades. This research aims to close that gap.
THE NEW ROBOT THAT COULD MAKE CHORES A THING OF THE PAST
The research team behind the study focuses on teaching robots to learn physical tasks faster and with less data. (Science Robotics)
How the robot learned 1,000 tasks so fast
The breakthrough comes from a smarter way of teaching robots to learn from demonstrations. Instead of memorizing entire movements, the system breaks tasks into simpler phases. One phase focuses on aligning with the object, and the other handles the interaction itself. This method relies on artificial intelligence, specifically an AI technique called imitation learning that allows robots to learn physical tasks from human demonstrations.
The robot then reuses knowledge from previous tasks and applies it to new ones. This retrieval-based approach allows the system to generalize rather than start from scratch each time. Using this method, called Multi-Task Trajectory Transfer, the researchers trained a real robot arm on 1,000 distinct everyday tasks in under 24 hours of human demonstration time.
Importantly, this was not done in a simulation. It happened in the real world, with real objects, real mistakes and real constraints. That detail matters.
Why this research feels different
Many robotics papers look impressive on paper but fall apart outside perfect lab conditions. This one stands out because it tested the system through thousands of real-world rollouts. The robot also showed it could handle new object instances it had never seen before. That ability to generalize is what robots have been missing. It is the difference between a machine that repeats and one that adapts.
AI VIDEO TECH FAST-TRACKS HUMANOID ROBOT TRAINING
The robot arm practices everyday movements like gripping, folding and placing objects using a single human demonstration. (Science Robotics)
A long-standing robotics problem may finally be cracking
This research addresses one of the biggest bottlenecks in robotics: inefficient learning from demonstrations. By decomposing tasks and reusing knowledge, the system achieved an order of magnitude improvement in data efficiency compared to traditional approaches. That kind of leap rarely happens overnight. It suggests that the robot-filled future we have talked about for years may be nearer than it looked even a few years ago.
What this means for you
Faster learning changes everything. If robots need less data and less programming, they become cheaper and more flexible. That opens the door to robots working outside tightly controlled environments.
In the long run, this could enable home robots to learn new tasks from simple demonstrations instead of specialist code. It also has major implications for healthcare, logistics and manufacturing.
More broadly, it signals a shift in artificial intelligence. We are moving away from flashy tricks and toward systems that learn in more human-like ways. Not smarter than people. Just closer to how we actually operate day to day.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Robots learning 1,000 tasks in a day does not mean your house will have a humanoid helper tomorrow. Still, it represents real progress on a problem that has limited robotics for decades. When machines start learning more like humans, the conversation changes. The question shifts from what robots can repeat to what they can adapt to next. That shift is worth paying attention to.
If robots can now learn like us, what tasks would you actually trust one to handle in your own life? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Intel announced yesterday that it’s developing an entire “handheld gaming platform” powered by its new Panther Lake chips, and joining an increasingly competitive field. Qualcomm is hinting about potential Windows gaming handhelds showing up at the Game Developers Conference in March, and AMD’s new Strix Halo chips could lead to more powerful handhelds.
According to IGN and TechCrunch, sources say Intel is going to compete by developing a custom Intel Core G3 “variant or variants” just for handhelds that could outperform the Arc B390 GPU on the chips it just announced. IGN reports that by using the new 18A process, Intel can cut different die slices, and “spec the chips to offer better performance on the GPU where you want it.”
As for concrete details about the gaming platform, we’re going to have to wait. According to Intel’s Dan Rogers yesterday, the company will have “more news to share on that from our hardware and software partners later this year.” The Intel-based MSI Claw saw a marked improvement when it jumped to Lunar Lake, and hopefully the new platform keeps up that positive trend.
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This is not a happy topic. But it’s essential advice whether you’re 30 or 90.
If something happened to you tomorrow, could your family get into your digital life? I’m talking about your bank accounts, emails, crypto and a lifetime of memories stored on your phone or computer.
Big Tech and other companies won’t hand over your data or passwords, even to a spouse, without a hassle, if at all.
1. The 10-minute setup
Start with a Legacy Contact. Think of someone you trust who gets access only after you’re gone. Who is that? Good.
SECRET PHRASES TO GET YOU PAST AI BOT CUSTOMER SERVICE
One day, you won’t be here anymore, but your tech will bel. Here’s how to plan for that. (iStock)
· iPhone: Open Settings > tap [Your Name]. Tap Sign-In & Security > Legacy Contact. Go to Add Legacy Contact and follow the prompts.
· Google: Search for Inactive Account Manager in your Google Account settings. Choose how long Google should wait before acting (e.g., three months). Add up to 10 people to be notified and choose which data (Photos, Drive, Gmail) they can download.
Google has an “Inactive Account Manager” feature. (Chesnot/Getty Images)
2. The master key problem
Apple and Google don’t help with banking, insurance, investment or other sites or apps. You need a solid password manager like NordPass that offers emergency access features.
1. Open your Password Manager and look for Emergency Access.
2. Add a Digital Heir: Enter the email of a spouse or trusted child.
3. Set the Safety Delay: Choose a wait period. Usually 7 days is the sweet spot.
4. How it works: If your contact ever requests access, the app sends you an alert. If you’re fine, you hit Deny. But if you’re incapacitated and can’t respond within those seven days, the vault automatically unlocks for them.
Pro tip: Your Emergency Contact only gets viewing privileges. They can’t delete or change anything in your vault.
YOU’LL NEVER TRUST VIDEO AGAIN ONCE YOU SEE WHAT SORA 2 CAN DO
Facebook and Instagram have after-death options for accounts. (Karly Domb Sadof, File/AP )
3. Crypto and social media
· Crypto: Without your seed phrases, that money is gone. Store them physically along with any instructions and receipts of you buying crypto with your estate paperwork. If you use a crypto hardware wallet, keep that in a fireproof safe.
· Social media: On Facebook or Instagram, go to Settings > Memorialization. Choose to either have your account deleted or managed by a contact who can post a final tribute.
Be sure someone knows the passcode to your phone. That’s important for 2FA codes, among other things.
One more thing. If you found this guide helpful, be sure to get my free newsletter at GetKim.com to stay tech-savvy and secure every day!
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Recently, however, brands have been slathering on features, many of which are superfluous, in an attempt to both stand out from the commodified pack and justify higher price points. It’s especially prevalent amongst the bigger power banks that can also charge laptops, those that butt right up to the “airline friendly” 99Wh (around 27,650mAh) size limit.
At CES 2026, we’re seeing a trend towards power banks with integrated cables, which is very convenient. But a similar trend to slap large, energy-sapping displays onto these portable batteries is just silly. And that’s just the start of the atrocities witnessed in recent months.
The power bank that pushed things over the edge for me is the $270 EcoFlow Rapid Pro X Power Bank 27k that I received for review. Here’s my review: it’s bad. Do. Not. Buy. As a power bank, it tries too hard to do too much, making it too expensive, too big, too slow, and too heavy.
The snap-on decorative faceplates are ridiculous and the proprietary magnetic modules for its Apple Watch charger and retractable USB-C cable are too easy to misplace.
The giant display EcoFlow uses scratches easily and is too dim to easily read outdoors. The confusing UX on the Rapid Pro X model is especially offensive in its touch-sensitive clumsiness. Nobody needs a display that takes 30 seconds to wake up from sleep and plays swirly graphics and blinking eyeballs when awake, slowly sapping the power bank’s energy reserves. The fact that it has a screensaver tells me that the product team completely lost the plot.
Anker’s also guilty of putting large displays onto its power banks. Most people don’t need anything more than four dots to show the remaining capacity, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to buy a power bank without a colorful LCD display. In the 20,000mAh range, Anker doesn’t even list a display-less model anymore. I, like many Verge readers, love to see the actually wattage pumping in and out of those ports — but the vast majority of people have no need for that.
Anker, like EcoFlow, also offers power banks with proprietary pogo-pin connectors, Both companies use those connectors to lure owners into buying expensive desk chargers that don’t work with anything else. Those extra-fast charging speeds are unlikely to justify the premium expense for most people.
Most people, even tech savvy Verge readers, don’t even need a power bank that can output 140W of power delivery over USB-C. The majority of non-gaming laptops require 65W or less. And the primary computing device for most people — the phone — only requires about 20W.
We certainly don’t need power banks with built-in hotspots when that’s already built into our Android and iOS phones. Baseus made one anyway.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity are becoming a common feature in some flagship power banks. I’m all for remotely monitoring massive power stations used to power off-grid homes and campers, but not a portable power bank that’s charging the phone in your hand or is plugged into a nearby wall jack.
We also don’t need integrated flashlights. Why random Amazon brand, why?
All these extra “features” just add weight, size, and cost to power banks. They also increase the risk that something will go wrong on a device that’s meant to always be with you and just work when you need it. And power banks don’t need any extra help justifying a recall.
One power bank trend I can get behind is integrated cables like the retractable version found on EcoFlow’s Rapid Pro Power Bank 27k (note the lack of “X” in the name). Always having a properly specced cable that matches the device’s max input and output is super convenient. I like that Kuxiu’s S3 MagSafe power bank, for example, neatly wraps the cable around the chassis to plug into a hidden USB-C jack. That way the cable can be replaced if it frays or breaks.
I’m also a fan of adding kickstands to MagSafe power banks that prop phones up at your preferred angle for extended viewing or recording. More importantly, a few companies are now adopting semi-solid state chemistry that makes their power banks less susceptible to thermal runaway, which was an industry plague in 2025. They cost more to buy, but they’re cheaper to own over their extended lifetimes.
I can’t help but enjoy the look of Sharge’s Retractable 3-in-1 Power Bank, even though its integrated wall outlet and underwhelming specs for a battery pack of this size and price completely undercuts my entire argument. I’m a sucker for Braun design, forgive me!
There are still basic power banks available that charge phones and even laptops without too much feature creep and attempted upsell. If all you want is to charge your phone then there’s Anker’s trusty $26 PowerCore 10k or, if you’re feeling fancy, Nitecore’s $65 NB10000 Gen 3 Ultra-Slim USB-C Power Bank. If you also want to charge laptops then you might consider INIU’s delightfully named Cougar P64-E1 Power Bank Fastest 140W 25000mAh for $90, or even Belkin’s more capable $150 UltraCharge Pro Laptop Power Bank 27K coming in March.
The fastest and most powerful power banks with lots of gee-whiz features will often generate headlines for pushing the envelope of what’s possible. But the “best” power bank might not be best for you, when basic affordability is all you really need.
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