Technology
Halo’s Black History Month armor shaders are unintentionally hilarious
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25261912/GFRmiIcXcAAl6ZJ.jpeg?ssl=1 "Halo’s Black History Month armor shaders are unintentionally hilarious")
Black History Month is that special time when video game companies try to show consumers how inclusive they are with special Black / African themed in-game cosmetics and messages of appreciation for the three or four Black employees they keep on staff at any one time.
In Halo’s case, it’s offering players a special set of armor shaders in colors and patterns typically associated with African art and culture. As a concept, these shaders are totally fine. Individual cosmetics players can use to zhuzh up their armor; cool, I dig it. But the way 343 slapped all these individual pieces together, like a ridiculous Voltron of Blackness, is darkly hilarious in a way I don’t think the company intended.
Most of the time, video game companies’ attempts to appeal to their Black consumers range from useless to benign. Other times, like what 343 has done here, I’m left… let’s say bewildered.
Graph: Game Developer’s Conference
Even worse, of the majority of those surveyed with 20 or more years of experience in the industry — the kind of people with the seniority to approve marketing materials like this — only 6 percent were Black men and none were Black women.
But looking at this pains me. It reminds me of that episode in The Boys season 3 when A-Train, the only Black member of The Seven — the show’s take on The Avengers — got a new African-themed super suit in order to court the approval of Black people thereby increasing his own popularity and his handlers’ bottom line.
Unlike in The Boys, there’s no malice in what 343 has done here. I wonder if, taken separately, the shaders were deemed appropriate, and someone in the art department slapped them all together to show them all off at once, resulting in what we see here. Or maybe the Black people who possibly did approve of this look all thought it was fine. That happens occasionally: Black people will make art for other Black people that misses the mark — just look at the reviews for The American Society of Magical Negroes. Hell, this could all be an elaborate joke — a Halo-ified version of a popular meme format on Black Twitter where we put a kufi on everyone from The Vision to Ed from Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Regardless of the hows or the whys, I certainly laughed.
RAMageddon has come for computers. The price of memory chips, hard drives, and solid state storage has skyrocketed. That’s led to price increases on desktop and laptop RAM, SSDs, spinning hard drives, and pretty much everything that uses any of those things. Consoles are more expensive. Desktops are more expensive. Laptops are more expensive. Tablets and phones are more expensive. Even MacBooks, which started out expensive but then started looking like a pretty good deal, just got more expensive.
All that sucks. But if (if) there’s a silver lining, it’s that most of the stuff you plug into a computer — keyboards, mice, webcams, monitors, and so forth — isn’t getting bananas expensive. Actually, there are some good deals out there.
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Monitors to watch (get it?)
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Robots have gotten very good at moving fast, repeating steps and doing jobs that would wear you and me out. But ask a robot to pick up something delicate, oddly shaped or slightly different from the last item it handled, and things can get a little complicated quickly.
That is where a new collaboration between ABB Robotics and PSYONIC comes in. ABB Robotics is working with PSYONIC, a California bionics company, to explore whether real-world touch and motion data from human prosthetic use can help train robotic arms.
In other words, the same kind of bionic hand that helps a person grip a tool, pick up a fragile object or adjust pressure in real time could help teach robots how to do those tasks better.
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SOFT ROBOTIC ARMBAND GIVES PROSTHETIC HAND USERS NATURAL CONTROL
The PSYONIC Ability Hand can capture touch, motion and grip-force data from real human prosthetic use. (ABB Robotics)
How a bionic hand could teach a robot
The collaboration centers on PSYONIC’s Ability Hand and ABB’s GoFa cobot. The Ability Hand was originally developed for prosthetic use. It has multi-articulating fingers, pressure sensors, vibration feedback and flexible mechanics that help it conform to irregular objects. That combination is important because human grip isn’tt one fixed action. You hold a coffee cup differently than a screwdriver. You handle an egg differently than a phone. Most of us do that without thinking about it.
For robots, that instinctive adjustment is hard. ABB and PSYONIC want to explore how movement, contact and grip-force data from the Ability Hand can help train robots to handle objects that are fragile, uneven or unpredictable. ABB’s GoFa cobot brings the industrial side of the equation, offering the accuracy and repeatability needed to test those movements in a controlled way. The result could be a robot arm that learns from real human handling data, then applies that information to factory and warehouse tasks.
Why robot grip is such a hard problem
Industrial robots can already lift, move, weld, sort and assemble with impressive speed. However, many still struggle when a task involves subtle touch. Think about a robot picking up a soft package, a medical component or a part that shifts slightly on a conveyor belt. Too much pressure can damage the item. Too little pressure can make the robot drop it. A tiny change in angle can throw off the whole process.
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That is why gripping and dexterity remain major challenges in automation. ABB calls this a key part of Autonomous Versatile Robotics, or AVR, its vision for robots that can sense, reason, move and handle objects with precision in changing environments.
Marc Segura, president of ABB Robotics, put it this way: Human dexterity remains “one of the most difficult things to replicate in industrial-grade robotics.” He said the collaboration with PSYONIC could help “close the long-standing gap” between human and robot dexterity. That gap is where this technology could make a real difference.
What makes the PSYONIC Ability Hand different
The PSYONIC Ability Hand was built to help people. It uses myoelectric control, touch sensing and compliant mechanics in a lightweight design. Its sensors can detect pressure during a grip, while vibration feedback can help communicate touch back to the person using it. That same sensing ability could be valuable for robots.
AI ENABLES PARALYZED MAN TO CONTROL ROBOTIC ARM WITH BRAIN SIGNALS
PSYONIC says the Ability Hand can capture detailed data about movement, contact and grip force. When that hand is used by people in real-world situations, it can generate a more natural dataset than a lab-only robot demonstration.
ABB’s GoFa cobot is being used to test how bionic hand data could help robots handle delicate and irregular objects. (ABB Robotics)
Dr. Aadeel Akhtar, founder and CEO of PSYONIC, called dexterous manipulation “a data challenge as much as a hardware challenge.” That line really gets to the heart of this. Better robot hands are important. Yet the training data behind those hands may be what decides how useful they become in real workplaces.
Where bionic hand data could show up first
ABB and PSYONIC say this work could apply across automotive, aerospace, packaging, logistics and life sciences. That makes sense. These are industries where robots already play a major role, but where delicate or variable handling can still slow things down. A robot that can better adjust its grip could help with fragile components, oddly shaped products, soft packaging or repetitive tasks that are tough on the body.
HUMANOID ROBOTS HANDLE QUALITY CHECKS AND ASSEMBLY AT AUTO PLANT
The International Federation of Robotics has also pointed to advanced gripping and digital integration as a way to reduce engineering time by up to 30%. That’s important for companies because automation often gets delayed by setup, tuning and custom engineering. If touch-enabled robotic hands can reduce some of that work, companies could deploy robots faster and use them in more flexible ways.
How touch-trained robots could change factory work
There is a hopeful side to this. Robots that handle repetitive or ergonomically challenging work could reduce strain on people. That could mean fewer workers stuck doing the same painful motion all day. However, there is also a bigger labor question here. More capable robots could take on tasks that once seemed too variable to automate. That may affect how companies hire, train and assign work in the future.
The most useful version of this technology would support people instead of simply replacing them. For example, robots could handle the repetitive gripping while workers focus on oversight, quality checks, machine setup and higher-skill work.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
ABB Robotics and PSYONIC are taking a different approach to one of robotics’ hardest problems: touch. Instead of training robots only in a lab, they want to use real movement and grip data from a bionic hand that people already use. That could help robots become better at delicate, variable tasks that have traditionally been hard to automate. It could also push industrial robots closer to working safely and effectively around humans in more settings. But the human side should not get lost in the excitement. If robots are going to learn from human touch, companies need to be clear about data use, workplace impact and safety testing.
The collaboration could help robots become more useful in factories, warehouses and other workplaces where precise grip matters. (ABB Robotics)
Would you feel comfortable knowing a robot at work was trained using real human touch data? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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Amazon’s Prime Day is now in its second day, and whether you’re looking for a new pair of wireless earbuds or a smartwatch, there’s a good chance you’ll find a discount. The Apple Watch Series 11 has already dropped to a new low price, while the AirPods Pro 3 are discounted to $179. With Tim Cook warning that price hikes are coming, now may be the moment if you’ve been eyeing one of the company’s devices.
Below are the best Apple deals currently available. Some are exclusive to Prime Day, while others are simply great discounts we think are worth highlighting. We’ll continue updating this guide throughout Prime Day, highlighting more deals as they become available.
Earbud and headphone deals
Update, June 24th: Adjusted prices and availability, and added deals for Apple’s MagSafe Charger as well as the Apple Magic Keyboard.
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