MAROKO133 Update ai: US firm’s record-breaking drill taps granite 387 feet deep to unlock

📌 MAROKO133 Breaking ai: US firm’s record-breaking drill taps granite 387 feet dee

A US company has just hosted the first of several live demonstrations showcasing its record-breaking drill that is capable of boring into granite using pure energy.

Massachusetts-based startup Quaise Energy has taken a massive step towards limitless, clean geothermal power with the first live public demonstration of its millimeter wave drilling system.

The demo, held at a granite quarry in Marble Falls, Texas, showed the company’s ability to vaporize rock using high-frequency electromagnetic waves, drilling 387 feet (118 meters) into solid granite without any physical contact.

Dubbed “the first drilling innovation in 100 years,” the technology could unlock access to superhot and superdeep renewable geothermal energy, tapping into the heat stored beneath the Earth’s surface on a scale comparable to fossil fuels.

“Quaise is not a drilling company, it’s an energy company,” Carlos Araque, Quaise Energy’s CEO and co-founder, stated. “We aim to make geothermal the workhorse of the energy transition, and we won’t stop until we succeed.”

First live quarry test

A total of 56 observers witnessed the firm’s system in action at the September 4 event. The demonstration site featured live footage of the drilling hole, real-time data displays, and guided tours of the core components.

This included the gyrotron that generates the millimeter waves, the drilling rig, as well as the operator’s cabin. “At Quaise, we’re rapidly moving from microwaves in the ground to megawatts on the grid,” Matt Houde, Quaise Energy chief of staff and co-founder, elaborated.

According to the company, the attendees even viewed the borehole itself through a camera lowered down the shaft, revealing a smooth transition from surface soil to uniform granite walls.

At approximately 387 feet (118 meters), the hole is the deepest ever drilled with millimeter-waves, which are similar to the microwaves used in an oven. The waves were powerful enough to ablate the pink granite into grey ash at the demo site, where samples were made available during the tour.

This enables a radically different form of drilling, which is potentially capable of reaching the superhot, superdeep geothermal layers miles beneath Earth’s surface.

Breaking drilling records

The Marble Falls demo follows a series of progressively difficult tests. “Last fall we started by drilling four feet into a granite core inside our Houston lab,” Justin Lamb, Marble Falls head of field operations, said.

“Then we moved right outside the lab to drill 10 feet into another core,” he said. In May, the company drilled 40 feet into a granite core using a full-scale oil rig near Houston. The drill was operated by Nabors, one of the world’s leading oil and gas drilling companies.

“We were able to drill that 118 meter hole on our first try,” Lamb explained. “It’s been highly successful, beyond all of our best hopes.”

Although the team wasn’t focused on speed, they still reached drilling rates of up to 16 feet (five meters) per hour through some of the world’s hardest rock. “That’s extremely fast,” Lamb revealed.

Henry Phan, Quaise’s vice president of engineering, noted that typical commercial drilling averages just a tenth of a meter per hour through granite. “Our production goal is eight and a half inches.”

The company’s next goal involves using the millimeter wave technology to drill 10 times deeper and reach a full kilometer within the next months.

“We’ll experiment with various parameters to, for example, control how straight the hole is and see if we can go even faster,” Emilie Williams, Quaise test group manager, said in a press release.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Update ai: Video: UK firm unveils ‘fastest-developed’ humanoid robot t

UK’s first AI and robotics company has made headlines with the debut of what it calls the fastest-built humanoid robot in history, in a massive breakthrough that could establish the country as a powerhouse in humanoid robotics.

London-based robotics and AI company Humanoid unveiled the HMND 01 Alpha prototype on September 18. The model, which is the UK’s first humanoid robot for industrial use, is designed to perform complex tasks in logistics, retail and manufacturing.

Founded just a year ago, the company has already completed two real-world Proofs of Concept (POCs) and assembled a strong team consisting of about 170 world-class engineers, roboticists and AI experts. It built HMND 01 Alpha in just seven months.

“With one of the world’s strongest talent pools in AI, engineering, and advanced manufacturing, the UK offers a rare level of expertise needed to build world-class robotic systems,” Artem Sokolov, Humanoid founder, stated.

Redefining the future of robotics

The wheeled robot is powered by NVIDIA’s newly released Jetson Thor platform, which equips it with a powerful “robotic brain” that helps it think and act on its own.

This particular feature allows it to adapt in real time to people and surroundings and enables it to run multiple AI workflows and large-scale generative AI models simultaneously.

HMND 01 Alpha also incorporates NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim and Cosmos synthetic data generation tools. These enhance its ability to simulate, learn, and execute in high-stakes, dynamic environments.

Humanoid’s robot stands at nearly 87 inches (220 centimeters) tall and is capable of reaching speeds of up to 4.4 miles (7.2 kilometers) per hour. It can also carry payloads of 33 lbs (15 kilograms) or more.

Apart from the wheeled version built for logistics, the team also tested a bipedal HMND 01 model aimed at future consumer use. Both systems are engineered to function in tight spaces like factory floors and store aisles, where precision, agility and autonomous decision-making are essential.

“London and the broader UK ecosystem combine deep academic research, startup culture, and access to global capital – a unique combination that allows to lead the next wave of humanoid robotics,” Sokolov continued.

A robotics revolution

The robot’s reach extends from floor level to two meters high, with shelf depths of up to 23.6 inches (60 centimeters). This allows it to retrieve items from both low and elevated storage.

In addition, the Alpha prototype features 29 active degrees of freedom, excluding its end-effectors. It is powered by AI-driven, end-to-end reasoning. Meanwhile, its end-effectors can be fitted with either a 12-DOF five-fingered hand or a 1-DOF parallel gripper.

This allows the robot to adapt to tasks requiring either dexterity or simple or heavy handling. For perception, the head is fitted with 360-degree RGB cameras and dual depth sensors for comprehensive perception.

“Сollaborations with global leaders like NVIDIA position us to transform the potential of humanoid robotics into real-world impact,” Sokolov highlighted.

Made for testing in industrial environments, Alpha is expected to help determine which features are ready for market, which need improvement and what new capabilities should be developed.

The feedback will be used to create the Beta robot, which is set to launch in Q3 2026. “We’re proud to contribute to the growth and innovation of the region,” Sokolov concluded in a press release.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com