Human-like machines: How ‘human’ should humanoid robots be?

Boston Dynamics "Spot" and Softbank Robotics "Pepper" robots collaboratively dance to cheer for the Japanese baseball team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks before their Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) game against Rakuten Eagles as no spectators are allowed in the stadium due to COVID-19. Up to 5,000 fans will be allowed to attend baseball games from July 10.

Indonesia's Diponegoro University holds its graduation ceremony without its flesh-and-blood graduates, with robots receiving diplomas from the rector's hands in the students' stead. The 2,500 graduates were only allowed to watch the formalities via live broadcast due to pandemic social distancing, but they were represented by the top three students in each faculty -- who had their faces displayed on-screen as the robots took the stage.

Human Rights Watch has released a report saying that a growing number of countries have shown a desire for a new international treaty against fully autonomous weapons. It says 30 countries explicitly seek a ban.

E-commerce giant Alibaba's robotic logistics network, inaugurated in 2018, with claims of being the China's largest robot intelligent warehouse, has some 1000 robots sorting delivery packages ahead of the annual Singles Day, the world's biggest shopping day. Singles' Day, also called "11.11" for the November 11 date, was originally set as an unofficial day for unmarried Chinese. But Alibaba -- which accounts for more than half of China's e-commerce -- commandeered it as a discount sales event akin to the late-November US "Black Friday", which "Singles' Day" now handily surpasses.

The Austrian government is calling for a system of international ethics on the use of killer robots and drones in combat. Vienna says it wants humans, and not algorithms, to decide on matters of life and death.

Hong Kong residents can now get Covid-19 tests from vending machines put in place by the local government in several metro stations. The tests are free of charge and accessible by scanning a Hong Kong transport card. Those using the kits have to return their specimens to a government clinic for results.

In the northern Chinese city of Shenyang, robotic arms, built to collect samples quickly while lowering the risk of cross-infection between people, were used as part of a campaign to suppress a rise in coronavirus cases in the surrounding province.

A Hong Kong professor has developed a programme using role-playing robots to help children with autism improve their social skills, an initiative that has been adopted by other non-profit groups and schools.

Malaysian police have hit on a novel way to dispose of more than 1,000 bitcoin-mining machines seized in raids -- crushing the devices using a steamroller. Authorities on Borneo island discovered the machines, worth an estimated 5.3 million ringgit ($1.25 million), in crackdowns between February and April, and say they were powered using stolen electricity.

Many Kenyan households, especially in informal settlements, lack piped water. However, vending machines installed are helping to solve the problem. Moreover, one can vend cooking fuel and milk.

A United Nations panel in Geneva remains split on whether to ban autonomous weapons, which don't need a human to pull the trigger. The war in Ukraine is complicating the conversation.

Starting in April, wide-eyed delivery robots will be allowed to use Japan's roads to deliver food and parcels. FRANCE 24's Solange Mougin explains how this could help the country's ageing workforce. But first, Disney cuts 7,000 jobs in a bid to make its streaming business profitable. Plus, Alphabet's stock tumbles as its newly presented AI-powered search bot makes a mistake in a demo video.