This week’s roundup of data news highlights from September 5, 2026, to September 12, 2026, features a new virtual taekwondo competition at the Asian Games and AI-powered analysis helping Seattle Seahawks coaches make faster decisions during games.
1. Automating Formula Racing
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League has held its first multi-car autonomous race in Italy, testing how driverless systems perform under real competition. Each team used identical race cars equipped with sensors and an AI system that combined sensor data to perceive track conditions, plan overtakes, and control the vehicle at racing speeds. The race tests autonomous systems’ reliability and split-second decision-making under demanding conditions.
2. Setting Up Industrial Robots
Washington state-based company General Robotics has created GRID, a platform that helps companies set up and deploy industrial robots. The platform’s software automatically analyzes sensor data, identifies failures, and learns from each robot setup, allowing new machines to be configured in hours rather than weeks. The approach could make industrial robots easier to deploy at scale by automating much of the engineering work needed to get them running.
3. Navigating State Services
California’s state government has announced an online AI assistant called AskCA that helps residents navigate public services through a single entry point. The assistant uses Anthropic’s Claude model and state-verified information to guide users through tasks such as finding a job, accessing family services, or seeking disaster recovery support. The tool could make government services easier to access without requiring residents to search across multiple agencies.
4. Competing in Virtual Reality
The Asian Games, a major international sporting competition in Asia, has launched a new event that brings taekwondo into a virtual arena using motion-tracking sensors, controllers, and VR headsets. Competitors perform real techniques while the system translates their movements into avatar-based strikes, with video-game features such as health and stun bars. The event aims to attract younger athletes and expand participation with a more accessible version of the sport.
5. Testing AI-Designed Drugs
Boston-based pharmaceutical company Insilico Medicine has tested a drug created with help from AI tools to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease. The tools helped researchers identify proteins linked to the disease and develop a drug called rentosertib. Researchers then used six AI tools that estimate biological age to assess the drug’s effects. The results suggest rentosertib could affect biological aging, offering a new direction for longevity research.
6. Mapping Energy Demands
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an algorithm that helps cities identify locations for utility energy projects. The system combines grid requirements with zoning rules, noise limits, historic preservation concerns, and community priorities when evaluating potential sites. By accounting for these local constraints, the tool could help utilities and planners choose the appropriate type, size, and location for new power generation and energy storage.
7. Remodeling Recycling Systems
Colorado-based automation company AMP has partnered with Kent County in Michigan to deploy an AI-powered recycling system called AMP ONE to increase the recovery of reusable materials. Using computer vision and robotic hands, the integrated system identifies and separates recyclables often missed through manual sorting. The technology aims to increase recycling rates, reduce landfill waste, and help aging facilities handle changing waste streams.
8. Improving Nonverbal Gestures
China-based robotics company Galbot has created RoboGesture, a framework that helps humanoid robots communicate through more natural gestures. The system connects speech with movements, using audio processing and AI models to generate gestures matching a speaker’s meaning, rhythm, and tone. The technology could make humanoid robots more expressive and responsive during face-to-face interactions.
9. Analyzing Football Games
Microsoft Copilot has partnered with the Seattle Seahawks to bring real-time AI-driven analysis into coaching workflows during games. The system runs on Surface tablets and booth setups, allowing analysts to query live play-by-play data for formation tendencies, player usage, and situational insights. The technology could speed up decisions between series by giving coaches faster, data-driven information while complying with NFL technology rules.
10. Designing Foldable Phones
Apple has built its new foldable phone, Duo, using an AI-assisted manufacturing process to strengthen its hinge, one of the device’s most failure-prone components. Algorithms and laser scanning match each hinge to its ideal housing, while 3D printing adds thin layers to smooth imperfections. The AI-driven process helps Apple precisely tailor each hinge to its housing, improving manufacturing consistency and reducing imperfections.
