Parallel Works and CoreWeave are running a fully managed AI and HPC environment for DARPA's NODES program. By combining Parallel Works' ACTIVATE platform with CoreWeave Cloud, researchers can access dedicated compute, unified orchestration, and expert support, allowing them to focus on advancing research rather than managing complex technology. Read the release:

4 generations of autonomous vehicles. In 2019 I was at CMU. 2007 DARPA urban challenge winning car was brought on campus alongside an Argo AI vehicle, which looked more polished. Fast forward, AVs are actually on road. Cybercab looks more polished and advanced than a Waymo.

Daily Hard Tech Headlines: - @PsiQuantum has secured a $125 million agreement with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to expand testing of its approach to building a utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer. The company remains one of only two participants in Stage C, the final phase of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. - @terraindustries, an African defense and critical infrastructure security startup, has launched Kama, an autonomous interceptor drone built to counter weaponized commercial drones. The company plans to produce the system at its Abuja and Accra factories. - @_Andrenam_ has secured an $18 million Series A. The Los Angeles startup develops sonar systems for maritime security, with the round led by Upfront Ventures. - @Saronic has partnered with Samsung Heavy Industries to scale autonomous ship production in the United States, focusing on robotic shipyard automation and high-throughput manufacturing. - Hokkaido Spaceport’s Launch Complex 1, a new Japanese orbital launch site, is nearing completion. - Northrop Grumman has launched its Mission Robotic Vehicle aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, enabling the inspection of satellites in orbit using two robotic arms and the installation of propulsion modules to extend their operational lives. - Bahrain is exploring the development of its first small modular nuclear power plant. - The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has launched a Drone as First Responder program using systems provided by Paladin. - MOBY Robotics, an ocean intelligence startup, has secured a commercial contract to map the seabed in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone using deep-ocean robotic systems. The customer was not disclosed. - United States Marine Corps tested forward manufacturing capabilities in Okinawa during Valiant Shield 26, including circuit-board repair, metal restoration, hybrid manufacturing, and 3D printing while in transit. - @vast, the Long Beach space infrastructure startup, has launched a national security division focused on space-based capabilities for the DOW and intelligence community. Melanie Stricklan will lead the division. - Babcock International Group, ACUA Ocean and Frankenburg Technologies are teaming up to develop a maritime C-UAS system combining Acua’s unmanned surface vessel, Babcock’s launcher and Frankenburg’s precision-guided interceptor missiles. - Cooperative Ventures, backed by two of North America’s largest agricultural cooperatives, has invested in OpenTug, which develops software for the inland barge networks that move grain, fertilizer, and other bulk commodities across the United States. - Simon Shuham, the former head of product at Exowatt, has launched a Denver-based stealth startup developing high-efficiency systems that convert stranded waste heat into electricity. - Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) secured a $4.5 million investment from the Canadian government to support the scaling of small nuclear technology for the Arctic.

Testing and evaluation is how serious science moves forward. Microsoft’s topological quantum system is now on site in Maryland, where DARPA will put the hardware through its paces. Here’s why that matters for the path to quantum at scale:

Robotics deep dive: BOSTON DYNAMICS Boston Dynamics has had four owners in thirty-four years. Spun out of MIT in 1992, funded for most of its first two decades by DARPA contracts. Google bought it in December 2013: price never disclosed. SoftBank bought it in 2017: price never disclosed. Hyundai Motor Group announced its purchase in December 2020 and closed in June 2021, at a valuation of $1.1bn. The Hyundai deal is worth reading closely, because "Hyundai bought Boston Dynamics" is not quite what happened. The 80% was split four ways: Hyundai Motor 30%, Hyundai Mobis 20%, Hyundai Glovis 10%, and Executive Chair Chung Euisun personally 20%, paying 374, 249, 125 and 249 billion won. SoftBank kept the other 20%. That structure is why this post can exist. Three of those four buyers are listed Korean companies, so Boston Dynamics' results land inside filings that anyone can pull. They report a net loss of 335 billion won in 2023, 440.5 billion in 2024, and 528.4 billion in 2025, about $390m in that last year. Roughly 1.3 trillion won of net loss across those three years, and the annual loss has grown every year since Hyundai took over in 2021. Set that against what has ever been disclosed on the revenue side, which is close to nothing. Boston Dynamics said more than 1,000 Spots were running in 35 countries as of 2022. At the $75,000 list price that is around $75m of hardware, cumulative, across the product's whole life. Stretch unit numbers have never been published. Neither has revenue. On 16 July 2026 SoftBank sold its remaining stake for a reported $325m and Hyundai took the company outright. The engineering is not the problem and never was. BigDog, Spot, Handle and Atlas were the most capable machines anyone had built in their categories, for thirty years running, and the videos did something no marketing budget can buy. Treat that as what it is: distribution. What the record shows is that being the best in the world at legged robots has not, so far, produced a profitable robot company. Every humanoid company raising money in 2026 is priced on the assumption that this generation converts. Boston Dynamics is the longest run of evidence we have on what that conversion costs.

Ladies and gentlemen, the start of the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games. In China 🇨🇳 In a different timeline US gov kept funding DARPA Robotics Challenge and we'd already be doing the Robot Olympics (aqua edition). But, I guess now China will be the one leading us to singularity.

I’m incredibly excited that Dan Wattendorf is joining OpenAI Foundation as our Head of Bio-Resilience. As AI capabilities advance, biology could become one of the most consequential areas - for both extraordinary benefits and serious risks. We need to build the institutions and technologies that will help the world prepare. Dan has a rare combination of scientific judgment and the ability to make ambitious things happen. He helped pioneer DARPA’s early mRNA technology, served as a US Air Force colonel, and led the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Accelerator. There is an enormous amount to build, and I’m very glad Dan will be leading the charge.