I help organisations become future-fit. #Mindcandy scenario prompts are designed to stretch your imagination, sharpen situational awareness, and spark opportunity thinking. Find out more here.
Today’s scenario prompt: the impact of robotics on your business model
Today’s theme is robotics. Time to rewatch Westworld. Humanoids, soft bots, nano bots, embodied AI and human augmentation are moving from lab demos into operating models. BrainBody LLMs link “mind” and “muscle”, giving robots more human-like movement and decision-making. This is no longer an “if” question. It is a “where first, and what does that do to your business model?” question.
The CEO question
Where can you apply robotics now across operations, products and services – and where will robotics be applied to you by suppliers, competitors and customers?
Mindcandy club
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All the prompts:
You are the upgrade
Data, acceleration, and the future of intelligence: Lessons from 25 core books (and links to 114 other books) about AI, technology abstraction, and consciousness.
https://www.ronimmink.com/product/a-book-about-books-about-ai/
Tiny reconfigurable robots can help manage carbon dioxide levels in confined spaces
Strategically coupling nanoparticle hybrids and internal thermosensitive molecular switches establishes an innovative paradigm for constructing micro/nanoscale-reconfigurable robots, facilitating energy-efficient CO2 management in life-support systems of confined space.
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-tiny-reconfigurable-robots-carbon-dioxide.html
7 Humanoid Robots Redefining How You Work and Live
A lineup of the humanoid robots leading that shift today.
https://www.eweek.com/news/best-humanoid-robots-pushing-industry-forward/
Digital Tattoo Tech: Are Biometric Tattoos the Ultimate Future Wearables?
Digital tattoo technology refers to ultra-thin, flexible electronic patches or inks that can be applied directly to the skin, similar to traditional tattoos but with embedded sensors and circuits that collect and transmit data.
Harnessing AI for Intelligent Sensors
The UK is advancing sensor, spectrum capabilities and autonomous systems for so-called Cognitive Intelligent Sensing (CoInS) technologies, for the U.K. Ministry of Defence and the U.K. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)—akin to DARPA.
https://www.afcea.org/signal-media/emerging-edge/harnessing-ai-intelligent-sensors
Artificial tendons give muscle-powered robots a boost
By pairing lab-grown muscles with synthetic skeletons, researchers are engineering a menagerie of muscle-powered crawlers, walkers, swimmers, and grippers.
https://news.mit.edu/2025/artificial-tendons-give-muscle-powered-robots-boost-1201
Manta ray-inspired soft robot uses magnetic fields to swim and power itself autonomously
Researchers use magnetic fields to stabilise flexible batteries in manta ray-inspired soft robots for untethered operation.
https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/magnetic-fields-boost-soft-robot-batteries
New Self-Fertilizing Wheat Could Transform Farming
UC Davis scientists created wheat that can partially fertilize itself by releasing a chemical that activates nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil.
https://scitechdaily.com/new-self-fertilizing-wheat-could-transform-farming/
Meet BrainBody LLM: Algorithms that can make robots think and act like humans
The BrainBody-LLM algorithm mimics how the human brain and body communicate during movement.
https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/brainbody-llm-algorithms-make-robots-think
At least 80 new tech unicorns were minted in 2025 so far
Using data from Crunchbase and PitchBook, TechCrunch tracked down the VC-backed startups that became unicorns so far this year. While most are AI-related, a surprising number are focused in other industries like satellite space companies Loft Orbital and blockchain-based trading
