Robotics
Buying robots: the questions that matter
For anyone evaluating an automation proposal, the specification sheet is the least useful document in the pack.
Muskeology — Frontier tech, minus the hype
Robotics
Autonomous mobile robots outside the warehouse
Hospitals, hotels, factories and pavements — where wheeled autonomy has spread, and the specific reasons each environment is harder than a warehouse.
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Robotics
Automation and employment: what the evidence supports
The research is more equivocal than either the enthusiasts or the alarmists suggest, and the distributional findings are clearer than the aggregate ones.
Robotics
Safety standards and how robots are allowed near people
The rules governing industrial robots are specific, well developed, and the reason most machines still work behind a fence.
Energy
Reading an energy statistic without being fooled
Capacity is not generation, generation is not energy, and percentages depend entirely on the denominator chosen.
Neurotech
Reading a neurotechnology paper
What to look for in a study, and which sections tell you whether the headline is supported.
AI & Compute
What to actually worry about with AI
A great deal of the risk discussion is about scenarios, and a shorter list of problems is already causing measurable harm.
Electric Vehicles
All electric vehicles →
Electric Vehicles
Buying an electric car: what actually to check
A short list of specifications that determine daily experience, most of which are not in the headline figures.
Electric Vehicles
Electric trucks and the freight problem
Heavy freight is where battery mass, charging power and duty cycles all bite hardest, and where the answer differs sharply by route length.
Electric Vehicles
Total cost of ownership: running the numbers properly
Purchase price is the worst comparison available, and the honest calculation depends heavily on where you charge and how long you keep it.
Space
All space →
Space
How to follow space news without being misled
A small set of habits that separate an achievement from an announcement, and a schedule from an aspiration.
Space
Space law and who owns anything up there
A treaty framework from the 1960s, written for two states and no companies, now governing a commercial industry it did not anticipate.
Space
Space telescopes and why they cost what they do
An instrument that must work perfectly, first time, with no repair possible, at a temperature near absolute zero, folded to fit in a fairing.
AI & Compute
All ai & compute →AI & Compute
What to actually worry about with AI
A great deal of the risk discussion is about scenarios, and a shorter list of problems is already causing measurable harm.
AI & Compute
Where AI systems actually fail in production
Not in the model. In the data pipeline, the distribution shift, the feedback loop and the assumption that the world stays still.
AI & Compute
Evaluating an AI product claim
A short checklist for reading announcements, which mostly consists of asking what was measured and against what.
Neurotech
All neurotech →Neurotech
Reading a neurotechnology paper
What to look for in a study, and which sections tell you whether the headline is supported.
Neurotech
What we would need to know to build a real brain interface
Reading motor intent works because motor cortex is comparatively well understood. Almost nothing else in the brain is.
Neurotech
Neurotech companies, funding and the hype cycle
A field with genuine progress, long timelines and investors who need exits sooner than the biology allows.
Energy
All energy →Energy
Reading an energy statistic without being fooled
Capacity is not generation, generation is not energy, and percentages depend entirely on the denominator chosen.
Energy
Demand flexibility: the cheapest thing nobody buys
Shifting when electricity is used costs almost nothing and displaces generation, storage and network investment. Most of it remains unexploited.
Energy
Fusion: reading the milestones properly
Several genuine records have been set recently, and the gap between scientific breakeven and a power station is larger than the coverage suggests.
Robotics
All robotics →
Robotics
Autonomous mobile robots outside the warehouse
Hospitals, hotels, factories and pavements — where wheeled autonomy has spread, and the specific reasons each environment is harder than a warehouse.
Robotics
Buying robots: the questions that matter
For anyone evaluating an automation proposal, the specification sheet is the least useful document in the pack.
Robotics
Automation and employment: what the evidence supports
The research is more equivocal than either the enthusiasts or the alarmists suggest, and the distributional findings are clearer than the aggregate ones.
About Muskeology
Electric vehicles, rockets, neural interfaces, AI and the rest of the frontier — what the engineering actually says, what has shipped, and what is still a slide. We publish explanatory articles rather than news, which means an article here is written to still be useful a year from now. Every piece is bylined, sourced and read by an editor before it appears — the full process is set out in our editorial policy.