Raphael Memmesheimer has been successfully competing in the RoboCup@Home league winning the RoboCup@Home competition five times. He and his colleagues won the best paper award at RoboCup 2026 for their work "Efficient Image Annotation via Semi-Supervised Object Segmentation with Label Propagation" . We caught up with Raphael to find out more about this research, his history with RoboCup, and the challenges of the @Home competition. Could you start by telling us how you got involved with RoboCup@Home? I've actually been involved in the @Home league since I was a student, and my first time going to a World Cup for @Home was in 2013.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Creator Playbook Trending Now Mashable Selects Look Up Getting Technical with Mashable Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus In My Bag Mashable @Home All Series How to watch Patriots vs. Bears in the NFL online for free Don't miss this clash of quarterback buddies. Matt Ford is a freelance contributor to Mashable. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Today's game sees the New England Patriots visit the Chicago Bears.

U.K. politicians are testing their messages on AI-generated focus groups U.K. Artificial Intelligence Minister Kanishka Narayan leaves No. 10 Downing Street in London in July. U.K. politicians looking to gauge how British voters will react to their policies have a new cohort on which to test their ideas: AI-generated focus groups. Startups Electric Twin and Artificial Societies, and more established research firms GWI and Toluna are using data from real focus groups and surveys to build AI personas able to react to political messages within minutes. Another firm, London-based Synthetic Respondents, charges $16 (£12) a project, which it says is a thousandth of the cost of a traditional piece of focus group research. Critics warn that reliance on AI-generated focus groups could detach politicians from reality. But the technology also has the potential to transform their ability to sense-test their ideas, making it quicker and more affordable to gauge how real-life voters may react to policies, and giving backbenchers access to analysis that might previously have been outside their budget.

Meta's Ad Sales Are Suffering Now That Europeans Can Pick Less Personalization An earnings briefing on Wednesday revealed ad revenue has slowed since the European Union introduced the Less Personalized Ads models at the beginning of this year. Meta's advertising growth in Europe is slowing now that residents have the option for less of their personal data to influence what advertisements they see. Advertising revenue in Europe continued to decelerate in the three months through September, the company said on Wednesday, underperforming its global figures. In the region, advertising revenue grew 18 percent year-on-year, slowing from the previous two quarters and lagging the 33 percent growth seen in the US and Canada. Though Meta did not explicitly blame the introduction of the Less Personalized Ads model on Wednesday, chief financial officer Susan Li had previously warned "we're seeing the impact of less personalized ads offering in Europe now that it's fully rolled out, and that may be an additional headwind," in July's second quarter results follow-up call.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Creator Playbook Trending Now Mashable Selects Look Up Getting Technical with Mashable Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus In My Bag Mashable @Home All Series Brewers vs. Rays: How to watch the 2026 World Series for free History is about to be made. Christina Buff is a Nashville-based freelance writer for who covers shopping with a splash of entertainment. If you're ever wondering what streaming service you need to watch something (and the cheapest way to sign up for it), she's your girl. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Creator Playbook Trending Now Mashable Selects Look Up Getting Technical with Mashable Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus In My Bag Mashable @Home All Series One prompt, multiple AI responses. The following content is brought to you by Mashable partners. If you buy a product featured here, we may earn an affiliate commission or other compensation. Compare them all for life for just $59.97. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

You're viewing the US edition You can switch to the UK, AU or IE homepage at any time using this menu. Elon Musk threatens Hillary Clinton's podcast partner Kara Swisher with prison after she claimed to know'what's coming for him' if Democrats take power Oregon teacher describes harrowing moment she played dead after being injured in school shooting: 'Only thing I could do' Harry's whining new interview sent my royal WhatsApp group wild. William and Kate's perfect retort will be tough for the petulant prince to swallow: ROBERT JOBSON AOC's spending spree: How Democrat'Champagne socialist' has been splurging thousands from campaign funds on luxury hotels and chauffeur services Inside the rise of the viral 50-cent'panic pill': It promises to'take the edge off' midlife anxieties - from job interviews to awkward family events. But as propranolol becomes an underground sensation - just how safe IS it? ANNABEL FENWICK ELLIOTT: Why I let my four-year-old son use the F-word.

I once worked opposite a site where a shopping centre was being built. We were warned there might be unexploded bombs from World War Two unearthed during the construction. In the end, there were none, but procedures were put in place as a precaution and we all had to practice filing into designated safe zones inside our building. The PHP story feels like the cyber equivalent of an unexploded bomb - I have never seen such a dramatic, public and global response to a cyber event that hasn't happened yet. There has been no painful attack like the ransomware we saw knock out M&S and JLR in 2025.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Creator Playbook Trending Now Mashable Selects Look Up Getting Technical with Mashable Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus In My Bag Mashable @Home All Series A 5-year subscription to this popular VPN has dropped from $359.40 to just $35 The following content is brought to you by Mashable partners. If you buy a product featured here, we may earn an affiliate commission or other compensation. Get 5 years of AdGuard VPN for $34.97 Credit: Pexels Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Get five years of AdGuard VPN on up to 10 devices for $34.97 (reg. Most VPN's require a monthly fee that only seems affordable if you don't do the math.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Creator Playbook Trending Now Mashable Selects Look Up Getting Technical with Mashable Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus In My Bag Mashable @Home All Series Sam Haysom is the General Assignment Editor, UK, for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time. Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.