Mirror Me's Black Panther ran about 100 meters in under 10 seconds. A Chinese team has unveiled a groundbreaking quadruped robot that is pushing the boundaries of robotics and speed. The Black Panther 2.0, developed by Zhejiang University's humanoid innovation institute in collaboration with the Hangzhou-based startup Mirror Me, has achieved a remarkable feat by running approximately 100 meters in under 10 seconds. The design of the Black Panther 2.0 draws inspiration from various animals, resulting in a highly efficient biomechanical structure. Its carbon-fiber shins are modeled after jerboa desert rodents, increasing stiffness by an impressive 135% while only adding 16% to its weight.

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While it's possible that someone out there enjoys folding clothes, it's probably not a beloved pastime. Accordingly, researchers at UC Berkeley's AUTOLAB have developed a new robotic method of folding garments at record speed (for a robot) called SpeedFolding. Using machine vision, a neural network called BiManual Manipulation Network (BiMaMa-Net), and a pair of industrial robot arms, SpeedFolding can fold 30–40 randomly positioned garments per hour, usually finishing each within two minutes. While that rate does not sound impressive compared to a human, previous robotic garment-folding methods reached only "3-6 FPH" (that's "folds per hour") according to the researchers in a paper submitted for presentation at IROS2022 next week in Kyoto. Speed achievement aside, the paper is worth a read to enjoy how the researchers describe the garment-folding problem in technical terms.