This robot system by TikTok parent ByteDance can fold clothes and clear your table thanks to AI
The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) that allows robots to follow language commands and carry out tasks.
China, where ByteDance is based, has been developing the technology at lightning speed with the development of its DeepSeek and Manus.
According to chip designer Nvidia, robotics is the next phase of AI.
That's because while tech companies have been trying to build a general-purpose robot for years, programming robots is difficult. However, with AI, it becomes much easier.
Related
Cannibal robot? Scientists develop a robot that can grow and heal by eating others
What did ByteDance do?
ByteDance built a large-scale vision-language-action (VLA) model called GR-3, which allows robots to follow natural language commands and do general tasks.
GR-3 can be thought of as the brain of the robot.
ByteDance used a robot called ByteMini for the experiment. After GR-3 was inserted into it, the robot could put a shirt on a hanger and place it on a clothing rack.
Video by the company also shows the robot picking up household items and placing them in a designated spot. It could differentiate between sizes, successfully following commands to pick up the 'larger plate'.
It also completed tasks such as cleaning up the dining table.
ByteDance's Seed department, which heads the company's AI research and large language model (LLM) development, said it trained the model with image and text data and then fine-tuned it with data from humans interacting in virtual reality. It was also taught to copy the movements of real robots.
Related
Humanoids will be the next phase of AI. This is how to train a robot, according to Nvidia
ByteDance appears to be increasingly focusing on AI, launching the Seed department in 2023.
The new development comes as TikTok is facing another threat of being banned in the US unless the company sells its American assets.
US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick reiterated this on Thursday, saying, 'China can have a little piece or ByteDance, the current owner, can keep a little piece'.
'But basically, Americans will have control. Americans will own the technology, and Americans will control the algorithm,' Lutnick told CNBC, adding that if this doesn't happen, 'TikTok is going to go dark, and those decisions are coming very soon'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
5 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
US-China Relationship Probably at Its Peak, Eurasia Group Says
Eurasia Group's Dan Wang says recent talks between Beijing and Washington mean we're "probably looking at the peak US-China relationship." She says "sentiment is warming up" but notes that the "relationship can deteriorate very quickly next year." Wang also tells Bloomberg Television that China might "get more concessions from the US" when it comes to tariff negotiations. (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Cosmos Point: Hardcore Tactical Squad Combat Set in a Deadly Space Graveyard
Cosmos Point: Hardcore Tactical Squad Combat Set in a Deadly Space Graveyard originally appeared on GameDaily. Anatoliy Sidorov, an independent developer, is preparing to launch Cosmos Point, a striking fusion of turn‑based tactics and extraction-shooter looting mechanics, expected to arrive on Steam in 2025. The core gameplay loop puts you in command of a well‑armed squad dropped onto abandoned space stations littered with wrecked ships, looters, and hostile AI drones. Missions demand precision and luck: you'll need to manage scarce ammunition, grenades, backpacks, and tools while sticking to tight inventory limits. Every round out of your limited backpack space matters—if a fighter dies, their gear stays behind. This isn't your typical grid‑based turn‑tactic: you can switch equipment mid‑mission, scavenge on the fly, and customize weapons to suit your strategy. Each successful extraction brings resources back to your space station base, enabling upgrades like expanded storage, crafting stations, and unlockable mission lanes. The game promises maturity—not only in its mechanics but in its tone. Combat is lethal and bloody, backpack inventories are tight, and every decision feels consequential. Yet even within these gritty loops, the visuals retain a stylized edge—clean character portraits, stark modular UI, and detailed weapon handling that earned early players' praise for mechanical polish. Cosmos Point blends the calculated strategy of XCOM with the high-risk scavenging of Escape from Tarkov, all within a sci-fi space-station setting. Its emphasis on extraction, loot‑driven progression, and persistent base upgrades gives each mission meaningful weight. The game's attention to gear, tactical nuance, and tentatively promised full Linux/macOS support makes it an early standout in the indie tactics space—especially for players hungry for realism-meets-turn-based grit. This story was originally reported by GameDaily on Jul 29, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mystery of country's most expensive airport that has no planes or passengers
With no passengers and no planes, Pakistan's newest and most expensive airport is a bit of a mystery. Entirely financed by China to the tune of $240 million, it's anyone's guess when New Gwadar International Airport will open for business. Located in the coastal city of Gwadar and completed in October 2024, the airport is a stark contrast to the impoverished, restive southwestern Balochistan province around it. For the past decade, China has poured money into Balochistan and Gwadar as part of a multibillion dollar project that connects its western Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea, called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. Authorities have hailed it as transformational but there's scant evidence of change in Gwadar. The city isn't connected to the national grid — electricity comes from neighboring Iran or solar panels — and there isn't enough clean water. An airport with a 400,000 passenger capacity isn't a priority for the city's 90,000 people. 'This airport is not for Pakistan or Gwadar,' said Azeem Khalid, an international relations expert who specializes in Pakistan-China ties. 'It is for China, so they can have secure access for their citizens to Gwadar and Balochistan.' CPEC has catalyzed a decadeslong insurgency in resource-rich and strategically located Balochistan. Separatists, aggrieved by what they say is state exploitation at the expense of locals, are fighting for independence — targeting both Pakistani troops and Chinese workers in the province and elsewhere. Members of Pakistan's ethnic Baloch minority say they face discrimination by the government and are denied opportunities available elsewhere in the country, charges the government denies. Pakistan, keen to protect China's investments, has stepped up its military footprint in Gwadar to combat dissent. The city is a jumble of checkpoints, barbed wire, troops, barricades, and watchtowers. Roads close at any given time, several days a week, to permit the safe passage of Chinese workers and Pakistani VIPs. Intelligence officers monitor journalists visiting Gwadar. The city's fish market is deemed too sensitive for coverage. Many local residents are frazzled. 'Nobody used to ask where we are going, what we are doing, and what is your name,' said 76-year-old Gwadar native Khuda Bakhsh Hashim. 'We used to enjoy all-night picnics in the mountains or rural areas." 'We are asked to prove our identity, who we are, where we have come from,' he added. "We are residents. Those who ask should identify themselves as to who they are.' Hashim recalled memories, warm like the winter sunshine, of when Gwadar was part of Oman, not Pakistan, and was a stop for passenger ships heading to Mumbai. People didn't go to bed hungry and men found work easily, he said. There was always something to eat and no shortage of drinking water. But Gwadar's water has dried up because of drought and unchecked exploitation. So has the work. The government says CPEC has created some 2,000 local jobs but it's not clear whom they mean by 'local' — Baloch residents or Pakistanis from elsewhere in the country. Authorities did not elaborate. Gwadar is humble but charming, the food excellent and the locals chatty and welcoming with strangers. It gets busy during public holidays, especially the beaches. Still, there is a perception that it's dangerous or difficult to visit — only one commercial route operates out of Gwadar's domestic airport, three times a week to Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, located at the other end of Pakistan's Arabian Sea coastline. There are no direct flights to Balochistan's provincial capital of Quetta, hundreds of miles inland, or the national capital of Islamabad, even further north. A scenic coastal highway has few facilities. Since the Baloch insurgency first erupted five decades ago, thousands have gone missing in the province — anyone who speaks up against exploitation or oppression can be detained, suspected of connections with armed groups, the locals say. People are on edge; activists claim there are forced disappearances and torture, which the government denies. Hashim wants CPEC to succeed so that locals, especially young people, find jobs, hope and purpose. But that hasn't happened. 'When someone has something to eat, then why would he choose to go on the wrong path," he said. 'It is not a good thing to upset people.' Militant violence declined in Balochistan after a 2014 government counterinsurgency and plateaued toward the end of that decade, according to Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies. Attacks picked up after 2021 and have climbed steadily since. Militant groups, especially the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, were emboldened by the Pakistani Taliban ending a ceasefire with the government in November 2022. Security concerns delayed the inauguration of the international airport. There were fears the area's mountains — and their proximity to the airport — could be the ideal launchpad for an attack. Instead, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang hosted a virtual ceremony. The inaugural flight was off limits to the media and public. Abdul Ghafoor Hoth, district president of the Balochistan Awami Party, said not a single resident of Gwadar was hired to work at the airport, "not even as a watchman.' 'Forget the other jobs, how many Baloch people are at this port that was built for CPEC,' he asked. In December, Hoth organized daily protests over living conditions in Gwadar. The protests stopped 47 days later, once authorities pledged to meet the locals' demands, including better access to electricity and water. No progress has been made on implementing those demands since then. Without local labor, goods or services, there can be no trickle-down benefit from CPEC, said international relations expert Khalid. As Chinese money came to Gwadar, so did a heavy-handed security apparatus that created barriers and deepened mistrust. 'The Pakistani government is not willing to give anything to the Baloch people, and the Baloch are not willing to take anything from the government,' said Khalid. Solve the daily Crossword
