Latest news with #BoulogneBillancourt
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Renault Group finalises a strategic partnership with Wandercraft, a leader in next generation robotics
PRESS RELEASEJune 6, 2025 Renault Group finalises a strategic partnership with Wandercraft, a leader innext generation robotics Renault Group announces the closing of the acquisition of a minority investment in Wandercraft, a French company with an undisputed leadership in AI-enabled robotic exoskeletons for people with reduced mobility, currently deploying its technology towards mobile robots for industrial uses. This investment comes together with a partnership agreement to develop a family of next generation robots, based on Wandercraft's technology, firstly for Renault Group's own manufacturing operations. The partnership brings Renault Group's industrial expertise to scale up production of Wandercraft's exoskeletons and robots. It will also help Wandercraft open new business opportunities in robotics. Boulogne-Billancourt, June 6, 2025 – Renault Group and Wandercraft announce the closing of a minority investment by Renault Group in Wandercraft, the first company to develop, manufacture and market medical self-balancing exoskeletons. Building on its strong expertise in powerful and reliable exoskeletons, Wandercraft has developed an advanced platform for uses such as manufacturing. Renault Group invests together with Wandercraft's existing shareholders and new investors. Through a commercial partnership agreement, Renault Group and Wandercraft aim to ensure the development of Calvin, a family of next generation robots, firstly for industrial uses. Calvin will allow Renault Group to relieve its workers from painful and non-ergonomics tasks, while reducing production time and thus gaining on productivity. At a later stage, this partnership will also include the industrialization of robots and exoskeletons by Renault Group in order to reduce costs through design-to-cost and scaling — two disciplines in which the automotive industry is well recognized. This will help Wandercraft to bring its new exoskeleton Eve on the market and open new business opportunities in robotics. "This partnership with Wandercraft is a forward-looking move. It will allow us to accelerate on automation and to develop robots for our specific auto industrial use, giving us the opportunity to concentrate our people on more value-adding tasks and alleviate operators from painful and non-ergonomics duties. It will drive productivity through the acceleration of production time and costs' reduction. In the end, it makes a lot of sense to combine Wandercraft's unique expertise and technology in exoskeletons and robots, with Renault Group's strong industrial capacity and design-to-cost know-how to bring the production of robots at scale" said Thierry Charvet, Chief Industry and Quality Officer of Renault Group. 'Renault Group's investment marks a defining moment for Wandercraft. This partnership will boost our ability to build and scale high-impact, low-cost robotics that improve the everyday lives of real people—whether it's helping individuals with disabilities walk or supporting industrial workers through automation — on the factory floor, in clinics and at home. We're proud to combine our technology with Renault Group's industrial excellence to deliver the next generation of mobile robotics' said Matthieu Masselin, CEO and co-founder of Wandercraft. RENAULT GROUPINVESTOR RELATIONS Philippine de 6 13 45 68 39 RENAULT GROUP PRESS CONTACT Rie Yamane +33 6 03 16 35 François Rouget+33 6 23 68 07 WANDERCRAFT PRESS CONTACT Lilly Kofler +1 Jean-Louis Constanza+33 607 529 About Renault Group Renault Group is at the forefront of a mobility that is reinventing itself. The Group relies on the complementarity of its 4 brands - Renault - Dacia - Alpine and Mobilize - and offers sustainable and innovative mobility solutions to its customers. Established in 114 countries, Renault Group sold 2.265 million vehicles in 2024. It employs more than 98,000 people who embody its Purpose every day, so that mobility brings people closer. Ready to pursue challenges both on the road and in competition, the Group is committed to an ambitious and value generating transformation focused on the development of new technologies and services, and a new range of even more competitive, balanced, and electrified vehicles. In line with environmental challenges, the Group's ambition is to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2040. More information: About WandercraftWandercraft deploys the most advanced robotics to help humans. Founded in 2012, Wandercraft is globally recognized for its next-generation exoskeleton technology that safely and reliably helps walking-impaired persons to walk again. Wandercraft has more than 30 patents and 100 Atalante exoskeletons operating in hospitals across four continents. The new personal exoskeleton, Eve, will be marketed in a few months to assist quadriparetic persons in their daily lives. Wandercraft's humanoid exoskeletons collectively take over a million steps each month, fueling a proprietary neural network trained on real-world movement data. This dataset, one of the most advanced in human motion, powers Wandercraft's next generation of exoskeletons and robots, starting with Calvin 40, developed in 40 days as the first of the Calvin family of humanoid robots. Wandercraft believes that robotics should serve the people who need it most. More information: Attachment 20250606_ EN_Renault Group_Press Release Closing WandercraftSign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Renault Group finalises a strategic partnership with Wandercraft, a leader in next generation robotics
PRESS RELEASEJune 6, 2025 Renault Group finalises a strategic partnership with Wandercraft, a leader innext generation robotics Renault Group announces the closing of the acquisition of a minority investment in Wandercraft, a French company with an undisputed leadership in AI-enabled robotic exoskeletons for people with reduced mobility, currently deploying its technology towards mobile robots for industrial uses. This investment comes together with a partnership agreement to develop a family of next generation robots, based on Wandercraft's technology, firstly for Renault Group's own manufacturing operations. The partnership brings Renault Group's industrial expertise to scale up production of Wandercraft's exoskeletons and robots. It will also help Wandercraft open new business opportunities in robotics. Boulogne-Billancourt, June 6, 2025 – Renault Group and Wandercraft announce the closing of a minority investment by Renault Group in Wandercraft, the first company to develop, manufacture and market medical self-balancing exoskeletons. Building on its strong expertise in powerful and reliable exoskeletons, Wandercraft has developed an advanced platform for uses such as manufacturing. Renault Group invests together with Wandercraft's existing shareholders and new investors. Through a commercial partnership agreement, Renault Group and Wandercraft aim to ensure the development of Calvin, a family of next generation robots, firstly for industrial uses. Calvin will allow Renault Group to relieve its workers from painful and non-ergonomics tasks, while reducing production time and thus gaining on productivity. At a later stage, this partnership will also include the industrialization of robots and exoskeletons by Renault Group in order to reduce costs through design-to-cost and scaling — two disciplines in which the automotive industry is well recognized. This will help Wandercraft to bring its new exoskeleton Eve on the market and open new business opportunities in robotics. "This partnership with Wandercraft is a forward-looking move. It will allow us to accelerate on automation and to develop robots for our specific auto industrial use, giving us the opportunity to concentrate our people on more value-adding tasks and alleviate operators from painful and non-ergonomics duties. It will drive productivity through the acceleration of production time and costs' reduction. In the end, it makes a lot of sense to combine Wandercraft's unique expertise and technology in exoskeletons and robots, with Renault Group's strong industrial capacity and design-to-cost know-how to bring the production of robots at scale" said Thierry Charvet, Chief Industry and Quality Officer of Renault Group. 'Renault Group's investment marks a defining moment for Wandercraft. This partnership will boost our ability to build and scale high-impact, low-cost robotics that improve the everyday lives of real people—whether it's helping individuals with disabilities walk or supporting industrial workers through automation — on the factory floor, in clinics and at home. We're proud to combine our technology with Renault Group's industrial excellence to deliver the next generation of mobile robotics' said Matthieu Masselin, CEO and co-founder of Wandercraft. RENAULT GROUPINVESTOR RELATIONS Philippine de 6 13 45 68 39 RENAULT GROUP PRESS CONTACT Rie Yamane +33 6 03 16 35 François Rouget+33 6 23 68 07 WANDERCRAFT PRESS CONTACT Lilly Kofler +1 Jean-Louis Constanza+33 607 529 About Renault Group Renault Group is at the forefront of a mobility that is reinventing itself. The Group relies on the complementarity of its 4 brands - Renault - Dacia - Alpine and Mobilize - and offers sustainable and innovative mobility solutions to its customers. Established in 114 countries, Renault Group sold 2.265 million vehicles in 2024. It employs more than 98,000 people who embody its Purpose every day, so that mobility brings people closer. Ready to pursue challenges both on the road and in competition, the Group is committed to an ambitious and value generating transformation focused on the development of new technologies and services, and a new range of even more competitive, balanced, and electrified vehicles. In line with environmental challenges, the Group's ambition is to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2040. More information: About WandercraftWandercraft deploys the most advanced robotics to help humans. Founded in 2012, Wandercraft is globally recognized for its next-generation exoskeleton technology that safely and reliably helps walking-impaired persons to walk again. Wandercraft has more than 30 patents and 100 Atalante exoskeletons operating in hospitals across four continents. The new personal exoskeleton, Eve, will be marketed in a few months to assist quadriparetic persons in their daily lives. Wandercraft's humanoid exoskeletons collectively take over a million steps each month, fueling a proprietary neural network trained on real-world movement data. This dataset, one of the most advanced in human motion, powers Wandercraft's next generation of exoskeletons and robots, starting with Calvin 40, developed in 40 days as the first of the Calvin family of humanoid robots. Wandercraft believes that robotics should serve the people who need it most. More information: Attachment 20250606_ EN_Renault Group_Press Release Closing WandercraftError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Watching PSG's Champions League win in Paris: Fireworks, tears, flares and Djokovic confusion
A sporting day that starts with a walk through a sedate garden to the idyllic greenhouse-lined Court Simonne-Mathieu at Roland Garros eventually builds to a crescendo half a kilometre away, with the sweaty outpouring of joy at a dream fulfilled. Saturday is a day that will always go down in Paris folklore — the day when their football team Paris Saint-Germain finally ended their wait to win the Champions League. A mission that dominated all areas of the city over the weekend, and on Saturday permeates into Roland Garros, the venue for the French Open, one of tennis's four Grand Slam tournaments. Advertisement Leading players like Novak Djokovic even asked publicly not to be scheduled on Saturday evening so they don't have to miss the final. It turns out even winning 24 Grand Slams doesn't get you a pass to watch the biggest match in club football and the most significant in the history of the city's biggest club. He must take on Austria's Filip Misolic, with many of the spectators glued to their phones to see what was happening in Munich. Fireworks can be heard at Roland Garros, in the Boulogne-Billancourt area of Paris, throughout the day, as the city gears up for the final against Italian giants Inter. Tennis can get lively, especially in France, where rowdy fans at Roland Garros over the last couple of years have been compared to their footballing counterparts. Maybe there's something in that but on Saturday evening around 7.30pm local time, leaving Roland Garros and walking towards the Parc des Princes five minutes away feels like another dimension. This is one of the most passionate fanbases in European football, and while a lucky few managed to get tickets for the final, there are nearly 50,000, who have chosen the next best option — watching on big screens at the club's Parc des Princes home… Walking along the Auteuil Boulevard from Roland Garros, before turning right down the Rue Nungesser et Coli, traffic is at a standstill with cars honking their horns, as armed police patrol the streets trying to keep the peace. On arrival at the queue to get into the stadium, a topless fan with a megaphone announces the team news — Bradley Barcola doesn't start. 'Barcola est sur le banc,' the fan screams. Getting into the stadium is a bit of a mess, with massive queues and people penned in so groups can be let in gradually. It's a hot, extremely humid night and fans are growing increasingly agitated. There's still about an hour until kick-off but no-one wants to miss a moment of this, and there are inevitable tensions with the police and security staff who are holding their ground. Memories go back to the 2022 Champions League final in Paris, which became so dangerous for the Liverpool and Real Madrid fans in attendance. Advertisement Eventually, we get in around 8.30pm, half an hour before kick-off. The four big screens on the pitch show the pre-match entertainment, there are fireworks going off just next to them. A big roar goes up when centre-back Marquinhos appears on screen, and the noise is deafening when we get a first glimpse of Luis Enrique, the PSG manager. Throughout the night there are huge cheers whenever he appears — the messiah for this particular faithful. The whole place crackles with excited anticipation — there's a real feeling that this is finally their time, a first Champions League 55 years after their founding. It's also 14 years since the club were taken over by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), and though they reached the final in 2020 that was behind closed doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally in that time PSG has been a byword for excess and embarrassing capitulations. Not this team though, which after the failed galacticos era of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, is loved by the locals. The feeling of everyone supporting the same team in a single stadium is special. And to add to the unusual atmosphere are replays of contentious incidents, and the fans scream in unison in the first few minutes when it looks in slow-motion like an Inter defender has gone down after barely any contact. The early goals from Achraf Hakimi and Desire Doue start the party. There are flares everywhere, the Paris air covered in smoke, the smell is that of a kid's birthday where too many party poppers have been let off. In the distance, fireworks light the sky behind the stadium, and before Doue takes a shot that will be deflected in for 2-0 there's a collective intake of breath where, for a moment, everything is silent and perfectly still. Then the assault on the eardrums of 50,000 fans roaring with joy and collectively conveying a message that is becoming increasingly undeniable: this is their year. In the second half, it gets better. A third, fourth, even a fifth goal go in. People are crying, hugging each other, one man video calls his father who couldn't be at the game. Amongst the joy, one of the biggest cheers of the night is reserved for the big screen showing a middle-aged Inter fan in tears. What's the French for schadenfreude? Advertisement And then the final whistle. More fireworks, more tears. At the trophy lift, there's the call and response from the stadium announcer and the fans. 'Ici c'est…' 'Paris!' And again, a few more times. PSG anthems blare out, everyone sings, and the stadium rocks to its foundations. We're kindly asked to leave — show's over folks. Except it's kind of only just beginning. Fans bang the walls, and on the balconies of the apartments just next to the stadium the residents sing and dance with the thousands making their way into the city. Flooding onto the streets, a motorbike revs its engine in unison with the chanting fans, and there are fireworks everywhere — the air thick with smoke. It's so loud it's hard to keep your eyes open. About four kilometres away, across the Seine, the Eiffel Tower is lit up in the blue and red of the new champions of Europe. The roads are packed with fans; the cars are going nowhere. Over at Roland Garros, Djokovic has just finished answering questions from a scrum of journalists after his straight-sets win against Misolic to reach the French Open fourth round. The first question is about the Champions League final, as Djokovic admits he was confused during the match by the frequent celebrations from fans in the stands: 'I could hear when they scored and it was way too many times they were celebrating — I was like this is a lot of goals from Paris, what's going on?' Amid the joy on the streets, there's a slight air of menace as fans start sprinting away from police. It's not really clear what's going on what with the incessant honking of car horns and general feeling of mayhem. Everyone's slightly in a daze — that feeling of leaving a bar late at night and stepping back into the real world, or a version of it at least. Ultimately, this is not an especially romantic story. It's essentially one of a nation state in the Gulf pumping billions of pounds into a European football club, partly as a way of buying influence and legitimacy. And if there's a sporting lesson, it's that vast wealth will lead you to achieving your dreams if you start operating sensibly, as PSG have belatedly done. But a night like Saturday is also about the feelings that football engenders in people, no matter the origins of a team's success. Even with no skin in the game, it's hard not to feel swept up by the intoxicating feeling of a profound shared experience, of a dream fulfilled, and for these fans, one shared with the people they love the most. And so a day that started in the relative oasis of a picturesque tennis court ends with the bedlam of a city gearing up for the mother of all parties. As Djokovic puts it: 'We're in for a long celebration and probably not much sleep tonight.'
New York Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
French Open recap: Gael Monfils performs a resurrection after Coco Gauff's rackets disappear
Follow The Athletic's French Open coverage Welcome to the French Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament. On day three, Gaël Monfils performed another resurrection Philippe-Chatrier, Novak Djokovic got into a tussle over the roof, Coco Gauff forgot her rackets and Daniil Medvedev had a mid-match string crisis. When Gaël Monfils crashed into the advertising screens five points into his match against Hugo Dellien of Bolivia, it looked like the Philippe-Chatrier faithful wouldn't even get a night session, let alone another audience with their hero, the beating heart of French men's tennis and its greatest conjurer. Advertisement When Monfils was two sets down, it looked like they would be going home early. But Monfils, 38 and in one of the great runs of form of his life, is more than au fait with a late night at Roland Garros. In 2023, he found himself 0-4 down in the fifth set against Sebastian Báez of Argentina, with cramps so intense that he hobbled around the terre battue like a zealot in search of a congregation. His people rose to him then. The groundstrokes flowed like they have done for so many years. Monfils, staggering from point to point and winner to winner, won the deciding set 7-5. This time, he needed his congregation for two whole sets and then some. But when he leveled the match to roars that echoed around Boulogne-Billancourt, it was no surprise. The stadium was full, bar a few empty seats from people whose work commitments meant that this match went too late. Outside, fans without night session tickets sat on deckchairs, roaring on a smaller version of their hero on a massive screen. Monfils led the final set 3-0 and looked to be cruising, before Dellien put up some staunch resistance on his service game. Monfils earned break point time and again, but was dragged back to deuce time and again, leaning on his racket and looking like he was ready to expire. Had Dellien held, a two-game deficit would have felt dangerous. The crowd were not to be denied. Dellien, under even more pressure than Monfils, hoiked a forehand wide for 4-0. Things were easier after that. Coco Gauff said she has never felt more relaxed before a Grand Slam first round-match than she did Wednesday morning at Roland Garros. Gauff was so chill that she forgot to bring an essential piece of equipment to the court: her rackets. As had happened to compatriot Frances Tiafoe, Gauff went to her bag to to grab a racket for the coin toss and … nothing. Advertisement What ensued was an awkward few minutes. Gauff looked to her box to tell them what was missing, then held up her bag and opened it wide, in case they didn't get the point from the fact that she had nothing to play tennis with. A ball kid was then sent on a very important mission to the locker room, in search of the Yonex sticks belonging to the world No. 2. Gauff said with everything else that goes into her bag, including shoes and fluids and snacks, it felt substantial enough that missing half a dozen rackets was not completely ridiculous. She also said that the oversight was so absurd that it may have worked in her favor, ahead of her 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Olivia Gadecki of Australia. 'It probably relaxed me going into the match, because it was just such a funny thing,'she said in her post-match news conference. She'd been focused on the conditions ahead of the match. It was cool and blustery, which she said took the pressure off because it made playing perfect tennis impossible. Later, she posted a picture of her French Open to-do list on X. Next up for Gauff is the raw but very talented 18-year-old Czech, Tereza Valentová. She's definitely going to need her rackets for that one. oops, forgot the last one — Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) May 27, 2025 Matt Futterman It's rare for a tennis match to be described as a stop-start affair, but the first set of Novak Djokovic's match against Mackenzie McDonald was painfully stilted. The weather was at fault, with intermittent rain leading both players to interrupt play to ask umpire Damien Dumusois why the roof wasn't being closed. The French Open organizers like the event to be an outdoor tournament as much as possible. They often waits until a point of no return to close the roofs on Courts Philippe-Chatrier and Suzanne-Lenglen, in a bid to avoid play continuing on the outside courts while the main courts turn into an indoor affair. Advertisement As early as the sixth game, the rain was falling heavily enough for the players to ask if the roof was going to be closed. High winds were also making conditions difficult, and this dance carried on until Djokovic came out to serve for the first set up 5-3. The roof began to close, and Djokovic duly served out the set while it inched shut overhead. Djokovic, who received a time violation for one of his protestations, said: 'I was just asking if and when they are going to make a decision to close the roof and how long we will have to play' in a news conference. 'That was my first question, how long we are going to play under that rain, because it was quite pouring with rain out there on the court. It was affecting the court, as well. The court became quite damp, a lot of bad bounces. 'The first information I got from the chair umpire was that they decided to wait. And so I asked, 'Who is 'they' and where are 'they'?' He said that it's supervisors and others that are deciding to leave it open.' Djokovic said he asked for the supervisors and officials that make up the 'they' to come outside, because conditions can look better they are from inside. He added that he asked Dumusois why a court with a roof should not use it just because other courts are continuing to play. This is at the center of the to close the roof or not to close the roof question, as it can create a disparity in conditions. The French Tennis Federation did not respond to a request for comment on their decision process, but with more rain expected, this debate is unlikely to go away. Charlie Eccleshare A struggling Daniil Medvedev went to extreme lengths to try and keep his Roland Garros hopes alive Tuesday, and it very nearly worked. Trailing by two sets to Cameron Norrie, Medvedev changed his strings mid-match. He recovered to win the next two sets and even served for the match in the fifth, but he ultimately lost by a 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 scoreline. Advertisement It continues a miserable year for Medvedev, who also lost in the first round of the Australian Open to a dogged but relatively underpowered leftie: the young American Learner Tien. Medvedev has spoken before about his struggles to hit winners with some of the balls used on the ATP Tour, and he has tweaked his strings and string tension previously in recent years having never even considered it before 2023. Earlier this year in Doha, Qatar, he changed his strings mid-match against compatriot Karen Khachanov and it worked, helping him to turn around a one-set deficit into a three-set win. On this occasion, Christopher Eubanks, the world No. 105 who is covering this year's French Open for TNT Sports, spotted that Medvedev had switched from a natural gut hybrid setup to a tighter full polyester string. Natural gut strings have more of a trampoline effect on the ball than their polyester counterparts, and Medvedev explained that it was hindering him early on. 'I could hit a bit more and maybe miss less,' Medvedev explained in a news conference after the match, without commenting on the exact nature of what he changed. 'When I tried them on practice, people were killing me. So maybe in the match it's a bit different, everyone is a bit tight so going through the court less. I changed for something (with which) I would make fewer mistakes.' Medvedev's search for the right racket strings feels symptomatic of his ongoing quest to rediscover his best tennis. The former world No. 1 and U.S. Open champion could well drop out of the world's top 15 after this latest setback. Charlie Eccleshare Something might be going on with Hailey Baptiste, the 23-year-old Washington D.C. native. Baptiste, yet another product of the Junior Tennis Champions Center, the same Maryland academy that produced Frances Tiafoe and Robin Montgomery, has already won 13 WTA Tour matches this year, more than any other season. Advertisement She made it through qualifying in Indian Wells, Calif., and in Rome. She beat the world No. 12, Daria Kasatkina, in Miami. On Monday she beat Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, a French Open semifinalist two years ago, coming back from a set down to blow past the Brazilian 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. In an interview after her win Monday, Baptiste said she decided to get back to believing in herself after a period of doubting whether she could stay with the best players in the world. Each win has given her a little more belief. Having her two quasi big brothers — Frances and Franklin Tiafoe — in her box during plenty of matches, helps, too. Another factor in her favor? Unlike most Americans, clay is her favorite surface. 'I just like the movement of sliding around, I like that you can be more crafty and you kind of have to play tennis a little bit more rather than smack the balls,' she said. Baptiste can indeed smack it, on both wings. She can sometimes get tight late in matches, especially when she is trying to close out opponents. That didn't happen Tuesday against Haddad Maia, even after she lost her first two match points on Haddad Maia's serve. Baptiste finished off the Brazilian easily in the next game, staying on the front foot through the finish line. 'I don't want to be playing the way she wants me to play, running around, letting my opponent be the aggressor,' she said. She will face Nao Hibino of Japan Thursday for a spot in the third round. Matt Futterman Tell us what you noticed on the third day… (Top photo of Gaël Monfils: Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic)
