🦾 Vacuum-mounted robot dog to battle cigarette butts, FBI cracks Trump shooter's phone with unreleased tech, Ukraine's Sea Baby drones get new upgrade

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Researchers from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa have revealed a novel autonomous robot to take on litter, specifically cigarette butts.

Named VERO (Vaccum-cleaner-equipped RObot), the robot aims to clean parks, beaches, and other hard-to-clean areas that conventional wheeled robots struggle with.

Cleanup efforts are often limited by the necessity for manual labor. The IIT team’s quadruped robot, built on the AlienGo platform, addresses this issue by offering an autonomous and sustainable solution. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Network Engineer
> Kubernetes Engineer

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MUST READ

🦾 New vacuum-mounted robot dog battles cigarette butt litter on the beaches

VERO features four legs, each equipped with 3D-printed vacuum nozzles connected to an onboard vacuum cleaner via hoses. This approach allows the robot to gather litter while navigating challenging terrains efficiently.

A key feature of VERO is the use of a convolutional neural network to identify litter. The system then employs a planner to determine the most efficient way to gather the detected objects. A visual-servoing system guides the vacuum nozzle over the identified cigarette butts.

In the team’s tests across various outdoor scenarios, VERO demonstrated its prowess, collecting nearly 90 percent of cigarette butts.

📱Unreleased Israeli tech helps FBI crack Trump shooter’s phone in 40 mins

Following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the FBI employed unreleased technology to unlock the phone of the shooter, Thomas Crooks.

The agency sought assistance from Cellebrite, an Israeli digital intelligence company known for its sophisticated phone unlocking technologies after initial attempts to access his Samsung phone failed.

Within 40 minutes of receiving a new software update from Cellebrite, the FBI successfully unlocked Crooks’ phone.

☠️ Ukraine’s Sea Baby drones get deadlier with 1-ton payload, 620-mile reach

Amid conflict with Russia, Ukraine has upgraded its Sea Baby unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to enhance its maritime capabilities in the Black Sea.

The Sea Baby, manufactured by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), now has the ability to carry over a ton of explosives across a distance of over 620 miles and will focus on defending against Russian ships.

A spokesperson for the SBU revealed that the upgraded USVs have already been used in successful strikes against 11 Russian ships, including missile carriers and reconnaissance ships.

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