Latest news with #Skip
Forbes
2 days ago
- Health
- Forbes
Robotics, Ergonomics, AI: A New Exoskeleton Powering Your Outdoor Adventures
Hypershell X enables you to go further and explore more through their state-of-the-art robotics, ergonomics, and AI. Exoskeleton technology, which helps to power hikes and adventures in the outdoors, isn't entirely newfangled. Skip magically partnered with Arc'teryx to create MO/GO, which integrates the special technology into a line of slick pants that they're calling 'movewear'. For MO/GO, which stands for 'mountain goat', the pants use sensors and AI to detect movement in real-time. The cost to consumers for this technology? $5,000. Another brand, however, offers parallel help for everyday explorers who want to adventure in the outdoors, but need a little support, at a more affordable cost. Like an e-bike for hikers and walkers, Hypershell X, which begins at $999 for the Hypershell GO X and goes up to $1,799 for the Hypershell Carbon X, has made innovation a part of their ethos in the field of exoskeletons with the goal of enriching people's experiences in the outdoors. While Hypershell X was founded in 2021, it wouldn't be until 2024 when the company would successfully kick off mass production and delivery. Earning the Best of Innovation award in the robotics category at CES Innovation Awards 2025 would come next. Partnering with global nonprofits and rescue organizations, Hypershell X has made it a priority to keep sustainability and equity at the forefront. Minimizing environmental impact is a direct part of the company's philosophy. 'With expertise in mechanical design, motion algorithms, AI, and embedded systems, Hypershell X is redefining exoskeleton technology. By combining innovation with human-centered design, Hypershell X strives to enhance mobility, amplify human potential, and integrate exoskeletons into everyday life for a more sustainable future,' an official report says. The sleek and lightweight design is easy to wear and move in. Unlike MO/GO, a pair of pants with the technology inserted on the inside, Hypershell X has two cuffs that go around the thighs and one brace that attaches at the waist, all to be worn on the outside of your hiking pants or tights. Lightweight, ergonomic, relatively quiet, and easy to wear, the Hypershell X will have you up and out quickly no matter where your adventures take you. Adapting to your every movement, precision sensors perform smart calculations as you move in real time. The good part: the more you wear it, the better it learns and works for your specific body and gait. The rechargeable battery lasts for an elongated time and functions even in colder temperatures. Utilize the Hypershell X when you go on walks or hikes, especially if there is incline or decline involved. You could also use this tech for walking up and down stairs or while exploring various destinations on vacation. The technology will give you a little boost, helping you on your way. Adjustable to work for various sizes and shapes, the Hypershell X is appropriate for most bodies. When you're finished, you can collapse the pieces and store away in its handy case until you're ready to use it the next time. Join American Hiking Society for National Trails Day on June 7, where volunteers will hit the trails to maintain and clean up the outdoor spaces that are important to so many. Hypershell is offering each person who registers a $20 coupon and a chance to win a free Hypershell Pro X.
Toronto Star
6 days ago
- Business
- Toronto Star
Skip the human? Food delivery service test drives robots in downtown Markham
The food delivery service Skip is now using a small fleet of cooler-sized, orange robots to make deliveries, as part of a three-month pilot project in Markham. The four robots have locked, insulated compartments that can hold up to 50 kilogram, with cameras inside that can detect a spill. On the Skip app, customers within a two-kilometre radius in downtown Markham can choose to have a robot make their delivery. The customer inputs their order number, the box opens, they take their food, and the robot wheels away. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The food delivery service Skip is now using a small fleet of cooler-sized, orange robots to make deliveries, as part of a three-month pilot project in Markham. Skip, the app formerly branded as Skip the Dishes, is the latest North American delivery service to try out robots on sidewalks as a way of making shorter runs in congested urban centres quicker and more efficient than cars or bike couriers. 'Driving 20 minutes in downtown Toronto or downtown Markham, you know, that maybe means 10 feet, 50 feet,' Paul Sudarsan, Skip's VP of retail and new verticals, said in an interview on Wednesday. But the technology has been controversial, especially in Toronto. In 2021, a similar robot delivery project by Tiny Mile fizzled, after the city banned robots, or 'automated micro-utility devices,' on sidewalks and bike lanes over fears that they'd become a hazard to pedestrians with vision loss or mobility issues. The Skip test run is using human 'robot guides' who follow closely behind, keeping tabs on how the robots interact with the people they encounter on the sidewalk. A human pilot is also on hand, at an undisclosed overseas facility, to take remote control of the robot when they encounter an obstacle. 'They yield to pedestrians. They yield to wheelchairs. They yield to to strollers,' Sudarsan said. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Asked whether the robots could potentially replace human couriers, he said they're only meant to compliment Skip's other delivery methods. 'Couriers will always be integral to our business,' he said. Skip's robot operations are run by Real Life Robotics, a firm based out of a startup incubator at the University of Waterloo. The company operates Skip's robot mission control out of a third-floor office in downtown Markham. Each night, after the robots end their shift at 9 p.m., a staff member comes down to meet them. RealLife Robotics CEO Cameron Waite, left, and head of growth Sharif Virani. 'This is very, very real,' Waite says of the bots being tested in Markham. 'The technology itself is mature. It's been tested. It's been vetted.' Steve Russell/ Toronto Star The robots enter 'follow me' mode and line up behind the human, like ducklings behind their mother, and together they walk into the lobby, up the elevator and into mission control for recharging and sterilization. On Tuesday, Real Life Robotics CEO Cameron Waite wanted to demonstrate how the whole thing worked. He opened the Skip app on his phone and ordered two croissants from a bakery across the street. Within a few minutes, on a large screen at the centre of the mission control room, Robot 4F140, who goes by Maple when interacting with the public, was assigned the order. At its home base, parked in a courtyard outside a bubble tea cafe, Robot 4F140 turned on and started rolling toward the bakery about a block away. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'Now we're driving,' Waite said, watching a map on the screen as a little green icon representing 4F140 started moving. Waite started moving around to different windows in mission control, trying to spot 4F140 and its guide on the street below. 'It'll come out,' Waite said. 'He might take a left.' The robot crosses the street, which at this point in the trial is being done with assistance from a human pilot overseas (the company wouldn't say where the pilots are located.) But the robots have sensors to detect when a light turns green and it's safe to cross. The Skip app allows customers within a two-kilometre radius of downtown Markham to choose a robot for their delivery. Steve Russell/ Toronto Star 'This is very, very real. It's very capable,' Waite said, watching as the robot parked outside the bakery and waited for its guide to go in and collect the croissants. 'Now it's more about commercializing these operations. The technology itself is mature. It's been tested. It's been vetted.' Like other robots used for commercial deliveries, the orange Skip robots have human features. A digital screen on the front makes it look like they have eyes, which is meant to make locals accept the robots as a 'member of the community,' said Sharif Virani, head of growth at Real Life Robotics. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW If the machines are seen to have human qualities, they're less likely to be vandalized or stolen, he said. E-scooters, on the other hand, don't have human features and frequently have people 'throwing them around.' 'They didn't see it as part of the community,' Virani said. A few minutes later, Robot 4F140 arrived outside the office tower. Virani and Waite went down to meet it. They scanned the QR code on the robot, and a form popped up on the phone so they could type in the order number. After that, the lid opened and Virani took the croissants. As the robot headed back to its home base, at about five km/h, it came up to an older man and slowly swerved around him. The man smiled. 'That's what happens when you have that face,' Virani said, watching the robot and the man. 'If you didn't have a face there, there's nothing to smile at.' But shortly after the robot returned to its spot in courtyard, a middle-aged couple had a different reaction. 'We are too old to accept that,' said the woman. 'This robot's on the street?' her husband asked, shaking his head. 'Unbelievable.'
The Review Geek
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Poker Face – Season 2 Episode 5 'Hometown Hero' Recap & Review
Hometown Hero The Murder Episode 5 of Poker Face season 2 begins with a minor league baseball game in a small town. The town's team is the Cheesemongers who play in the Velvety Canned Cheese Park stadium, run by Lucille, the owner of the family company Velvety Canned Cheese. We are then introduced to Russ 'Rocket' Waddell, known for his fastballs that went over a 100 mph but he offers a dismal performance in the current game. As the team is licking its wounds, Skip, the team manager, breaks the news to Russ that he is going to be let go. Russ is upset and is drinking his sorrows with his teammates when a stranger tells them he won a lot of money by betting on the team's loss. This gives Russ an idea, they could bet on their own loss and win a lot of money. He convinces four of his other teammates to join in. All they need to do is throw the next five games and they could be millionaires. They agree and a quick montage shows us how the Cheesemongers lose the next four games. However, things change for the fifth game. Skip announces that a recently promoted new player named Felix will join the team and open the game. Not wanting to take a risk, one of Russ's colleagues adds acid to Felix's pre-game bubblegum. However, this has the opposite effect and Felix does a fantastic job. One of Russ's teammates gives the opposing team's batter some advice and they manage to get Felix out. The game ends in a loss and the team are celebrating when Russ realises they have left the acid-laced bubblegum in the lockers. He goes back there to get rid of the evidence but finds himself confronted by Felix. One of Russ's teammates had made the rookie mistake of using Felix's notebook to do the math about how much money they were going to get. Felix knows their whole scheme and demands that Russ give him all the money. He wants to use to go to Belize and find God, which he has been inspired to do from his acid trip. When Felix insults Russ, Russ gets angry and throws a ball at Felix, which hits the back of his head. The nearby speed reader shows the ball was a fastball, going 101 mph. Russ is ecstatic until he realises Felix is dead. He makes it look like Felix was practicing with Rambo, the machine that spits out balls, and died in an accident. The Investigation We then shift to Charlie working as an administrative assistant at an office, where everyone works from home but they need someone in the office for insurance reasons. She's arguing with a printer when a baseball flies in through the window and hits her on the head. Charlie speaks with Lucille and assures her she won't be suing. Instead, she gets a job as a ball girl! As she watches a game of the Cheesemongers, she hears about Russ and how he got the 'yips' which stopped him from throwing fastballs. That evening, Charlie mingles with Russ and learns that he's fired. We then skip to the end of the fifth game, where Charlie meets Felix in the locker room and even has one of his gummies. She realises he's high and tells him to hydrate. Soon, the drug kicks in for Charlie and she hallucinates a vision of Lucille's grandfather telling her to protect the ballpark and save the team. In the morning, Felix is found dead and Charlie wakes up in the announcer's room. Since it looks like the machine was at fault, Lucille is worried about getting sued. Charlie tells Lucille and her retired cop friend about the drugs. But they don't find any drugs in the gummies found with Felix (Russ switched them out). Charlie then speaks with Skip, who agrees that Felix was high. The new report playing in Skip's office reveals that someone won three million dollars by betting on the Cheesemongers' loss. Charlie then goes to meet the team. One of the team members has new, gold tooth caps and another is sporting a fur coat. Along with a few lies from them, she puts the dots together and realises they drugged Felix and threw the games. Charlie conveys her thoughts to the ex-cop friend, who receives an autopsy report from his previous partner. She's surprised to see the report says the ball that killed Felix was going over 100 mph. She then speaks to Russ and even offers to buy him a drink after his last game the next day. But when he says his fastball is gone, she realises it's a lie. The next day, Charlie confronts Russ about his fastball. As he evades her probing, she realises that Felix insulted him and Russ hit him with a ball in retaliation. Charlie then tells Russ that a major league scout is watching the game. When the game starts, she even rouses the crowd to cheer his name. Russ sees a man measuring his ball speed in the stands and assumes he's the scout. He then hits a fastball! However, the man in the stands brings out a walkie-talkie – he's a cop! And Russ just proved his ability to hit a fastball. The Episode Review Poker Face offers yet another delightful murder followed by Charlie's quirky, zinger-filled investigation. As always, this is a tightly written episode that crafts interesting and believable characters in the first half and then follows up with a fun journey where Charlie figures out the truth. This episode also levels up the absurdist elements of the previous alligator escapade where Charlie saw God in its eyes. This time, she goes on a fully animated acid trip where B.J. Novak, playing Lucile's grandfather, tells her to protect the team. And it's just long enough to be funny and enjoyable without taking you out of the episode. Like in other episodes, throwaway dialogues and random details are found to be relevant towards the end of the show. Which makes it all the funnier that Charlie binge watched The Office right before this whole adventure. Her talks with the mysterious trucker continue on the sidelines and I'm wondering if this will ever take centre stage or if it will simply offer a means for Charlie's narration every now and then. Either way, this remains a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Previous Episode Next Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
News.com.au
25-04-2025
- News.com.au
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Tina Knowles reveals longstanding family trauma
An encounter with police left Beyoncé's relatives "on guard all the time", her mother Tina Knowles revealed in her new memoir, Matriarch. Tina, 71, recalled her brother Skip was arrested in 1967 after a cab driver dropped him at the wrong address when he was trying to get home from a date. Although the house was near Skip's, the homeowner didn't immediately recognise him and called the police to report a strange man on her doorstep. By the time she realised her mistake and phoned Tina's mother to let her know Skip was at the wrong house...
Globe and Mail
25-04-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Canada's Best Executives 2025
Rachel MacAdam, VP of Marketing at Skip, at the company's Juno Awards pop-up in Vancouver's Robson Square, in March, 2025. Alison Boulier/The Globe and Mail to view this content.
