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.

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.

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.

Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed clashed in their Michigan Senate debate over the war with Iran, AI regulation, and the Second Amendment ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. SpaceX and Tesla, both led by Elon Musk, may combine in a historic merger. See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Elon Musk says SpaceX and Tesla are considering a tie-up that could become the largest corporate merger ever, bringing rockets, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence under one roof. The goal would be to combine SpaceX's computing, as well as Starlink and AI capabilities with Tesla's robotaxis, autonomous-driving plans and robots.

Barclays' strong performance included a 6% rise in net interest income at its UK retail banking operations, to £2bn. Barclays' strong performance included a 6% rise in net interest income at its UK retail banking operations, to £2bn. Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs as bank's bosses hail AI productivity advances Barclays is cutting 5,000 jobs as part of wider cost-cutting plans that its bosses say are being driven by advances in AI. The job cuts will mean losing about 5% of the bank's 93,000 global staff, with executives confirming they had already cut 1,000 workers since the start of the year. The bank's chief financial officer, Anna Cross, told reporters on Thursday that the job cuts were part of plans to save more than £1.1bn in 2027.

Josh Jacobs'remorseful' in first comments since domestic abuse arrest led to commissioner's exempt list stay Boston Celtics' Paul George hit with flopping fine after 38-point debut ends in collapse Police called on two Maryland student reporters covering Mike Locksley's firing outside football complex Is there a secret to success the best Major League Baseball teams have already found? Former Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes says he'took a paycut' going from Florida to NFL WNBA anthem controversy sparks calls to bar players who don't stand from Team USA's Olympic roster'Seen and Unseen': 'The View' ladies stay triggered RUSSIA'S NEXT MOVE: Trump pushes Ukraine peace deal as experts warn Putin could strike again FBI is taking an'offensive and defensive approach' to cybercrime: Director Kash Patel'Not to my knowledge': Ilhan Omar rejects allegations she married her brother Steve Witkoff calls Vladimir Putin a'humanitarian' in surprising remarks Asra Nomani explains how far-left groups are trying to'tear the system down' Laura: The punishment Slotkin alludes to will be'severe' if Democrats take control of the House Trump's showing up could make a difference: Marc Thiessen'The Five': Would you read your partner's ChatGPT messages? Glenn Youngkin: This was a'game-changer' in Virginia'The Five': WNBA finally figured out what a woman is -- we think Are the 49ers the best team in College Football? The LeBron James era in Los Angeles is officially in the rearview mirror, and Luka Doncic wasted no time introducing himself as the new face of the city. Ahead of Wednesday night's season opener against the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers' superstar made an instant impression on everyday fans before even stepping onto the court.

Boston Celtics' Paul George hit with flopping fine after 38-point debut ends in collapse Police called on two Maryland student reporters covering Mike Locksley's firing outside football complex Is there a secret to success the best Major League Baseball teams have already found? Former Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes says he'took a paycut' going from Florida to NFL WNBA anthem controversy sparks calls to bar players who don't stand from Team USA's Olympic roster'Seen and Unseen': 'The View' ladies stay triggered RUSSIA'S NEXT MOVE: Trump pushes Ukraine peace deal as experts warn Putin could strike again FBI is taking an'offensive and defensive approach' to cybercrime: Director Kash Patel'Not to my knowledge': Ilhan Omar rejects allegations she married her brother Steve Witkoff calls Vladimir Putin a'humanitarian' in surprising remarks Asra Nomani explains how far-left groups are trying to'tear the system down' Laura: The punishment Slotkin alludes to will be'severe' if Democrats take control of the House Trump's showing up could make a difference: Marc Thiessen'The Five': Would you read your partner's ChatGPT messages? Glenn Youngkin: This was a'game-changer' in Virginia'The Five': WNBA finally figured out what a woman is -- we think OutKick Josh Jacobs'remorseful' in first comments since domestic abuse arrest led to commissioner's exempt list stay The Green Bay Packers running back apologized to teammates, while coach Matt LaFleur said he believes in'second chances' When New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart introduced President Donald Trump at a rally, media figures like Jemele Hill, Bomani Jones, and Dan Le Batard rushed to blast him on air. Yet, as Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs faced domestic abuse allegations and subsequent charges, those same critics offered deafening silence. Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs apologized to his teammates, while also speaking with reporters for the first time since returning to the team after being removed from the commissioner†s exempt list last week.

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Wall Street has projected Tesla to report $27.9bn in revenues. Wall Street has projected Tesla to report $27.9bn in revenues. Musk says'there's a lot of merit' to potential merger that would require approval of 50% of all Tesla shareholders, but he declined to elaborate Investors were paying close attention to Tesla's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday afternoon, after chief executive Elon Musk floated the idea of merging the car company with his rocket and AI company, SpaceX. But they didn't glean further information after the company announced there would be no questions on the matter. "With regard to a potential merger with SpaceX, I think I said everything that should be said yesterday," Musk, the CEO of both companies, said on Tesla's earnings call.