The world's busiest railway station, located at the heart of Tokyo in Japan, is testing whether mobile robotic rubbish bins can ease the workload of sanitation workers, a rail operator representative said on Friday. Shinjuku Station is a sprawling transport complex with multiple rail firms that serve more than 2.7 million passengers every day, and holds the Guinness World Record for the world's busiest rail station. In a part of the station operated by East Japan Railway, the bins are emptied manually more than 10 times a day -- though the number of wastebaskets has been reduced in recent years for cleanliness and security reasons. JR East is testing three automated bins, each standing just over one metre (three feet) tall and moving at a cautious 20 centimeters per second. "We wanted to test how well something like this can operate automatically and safely in an environment like Shinjuku Station," Shinya Kawamichi, a JR East research official, said.

Imagine a robot designed to install solar panels with much greater speed and precision than a human. The robot is made from expensive materials and powered by a heavy battery that must be recharged every few hours. If the costs of building and operating the robot outweigh the benefits of the clean energy it helps produce, can it really be considered sustainable? In a 2025 article published in, Aude Billard, head of the Learning Algorithms and Systems Lab in EPFL's School of Engineering and Academic director of the Robotics Center, gives precisely this example to illustrate the tension between robotic performance and sustainability. Roboticists, she argues, can no longer ignore the fact that robots use energy-intensive power systems and electronic components made from finite resources.

Waymo has announced that it's coming to Singapore, thereby expanding its presence in Asia and in regions outside of the US as a whole. Over the coming months, its first Jaguar I-PACE vehicles will be arriving on the island nation as the company prepares for future operations. Throughout 2027, Waymo's specialists will manually drive its vehicles on Singapore's streets to map them, and the company will make changes to its system to account for the country's road geometry and weather patterns. Waymo expects to start offering rides to the Singaporean public in 2028 through its own app. The company started testing its driverless cars in Tokyo in 2025, making the sprawling Japanese metropolis its first international location.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (left) and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attend an event in Tokyo in February 2025. Apollo Global Management is in talks with SoftBank Group about boosting the size of a loan to $9 billion from $5.4 billion to help the Japanese firm finance its investment in AI giant OpenAI. The size of the financing, which is backed by assets in SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, hasn't been finalized, the people said, requesting not to be identified because the discussions are private. Representatives for Apollo and SoftBank declined to comment. Apollo made the so-called net-asset-value (NAV) loan to SoftBank's venture capital fund in 2021 and boosted it by $900 million last year to $5.4 billion.

If you see what looks like an ambulance with a set of flashing lights weaving through Tokyo traffic, it might not be rushing to save a human. GMO Internet Group is unleashing what it calls Japan's first "humanoid ambulance" on the streets of Tokyo this month. A maintenance van designed to make house calls when humanoid robots break down, the ambulance carries diagnostic equipment, spare parts, repair tools and engineers to wherever a robot has stopped working. If a robot can't be fixed at the roadside, there's a spare humanoid on board ready to be subbed in and take over on the spot. Meanwhile, the broken unit is ferried back to GMO's repair base at its Humanoid Lab in Shibuya, Tokyo.

A hint of Fisher-Price about it The new GameCube is displayed at a press preview in Tokyo in August 2001. A hint of Fisher-Price about it The new GameCube is displayed at a press preview in Tokyo in August 2001. The first console I ever bought, it was hyped as a threat to the PlayStation, then mocked as a flop. But now, as it marks its 25th anniversary, it's looked back on with misty-eyed reverence T his week marks the 25th anniversary of the Nintendo GameCube, the first console I ever bought with my own money. I vividly remember getting on the bus after school with a year's worth of savings safely zipped into the pocket of my bag and going to a branch of Currys, where I dumped a bunch of notes, coins and vouchers on the counter to collect my pre-order.

Lawson, one of Japan's biggest convenience store operators, has said it will roll out three new AI-inspired food items, which were created around the theme What on earth is this? Fears that advanced artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity have dominated global headlines, but in Japan the technology is being used for a sweeter purpose -- developing never-before-seen convenience store desserts. For customers tired of the usual egg sandwiches and rice balls, major chains are turning to AI to develop products, including some unexpected flavors. Lawson, one of the country's biggest convenience store operators, said on Tuesday it will roll out three new food items, including a pickle-flavored lemon tart and a bread roll filled with red bean paste, margarine and yogurt cream. These products, to be launched this month in Tokyo and neighboring regions, were created using AI around the theme "What on earth is this?

Kioxia said to consider raising $10 billion in U.S. listing Kioxia is seeking to gain more liquidity in the U.S. by listing American depositary receipts. Kioxia is considering raising at least $10 billion by listing American depositary receipts, people familiar with the matter said, potentially joining other artificial intelligence-related companies seeking to tap strong investor demand. Kioxia has been speaking with lenders including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase on an offering that may take place next year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The Tokyo-based memory-storage maker is seeking to gain more liquidity in the U.S. with the listing after it repurchased billions of dollars' worth of shares in Japan, the people said. Selling ADRs may also allow Kioxia to join a semiconductor-focused stock index, they said. Considerations are preliminary, and details such as the size of the share sale and the bank lineup may change, the people said.

The company will partner with Japanese taxi firms Go and Nihon Kotsu to start a fully autonomous service in Tokyo in 2027. Alphabet's Waymo plans to bring its robotaxis to Japan next year as the U.S. market leader continues its global expansion. Waymo will partner with Japanese taxi firms Go and Nihon Kotsu to start a fully autonomous service in Tokyo in 2027, it said Tuesday. The companies expect to start with a small fleet and then expand gradually to 100 vehicles. Shares of Go, which manages Japan's top taxi-booking app, rose as much as 9.7% on Tuesday. The stock is up more than 40% since its initial public offering in June.

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, attends an event in Tokyo, Japan, on 3 February 2025. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, attends an event in Tokyo, Japan, on 3 February 2025. OpenAI's decision comes after dire warnings about rapidly progressing technology and lawmakers' calls for new rules OpenAI will not go public in 2026, Sam Altman said in a Fortune interview published on Saturday, citing safety concerns over artificial intelligence . "I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don't feel pressure on that," Altman, OpenAI's CEO, told Fortune . Growing numbers of US lawmakers are calling for new rules to govern AI systems after dire warnings from two researchers from OpenAI rival Anthropic that rapidly progressing artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of the human race in the not-too-distant future.