Move Aside, Chatbots: AI Humanoids Are Here

Michael Calore: Yeah. That’s a whole other topic.

Kylie Robison: Yes, it is. Will, what do you recommend?

Will Knight: I’m going to recommend what I think is a genuinely useful home robot. I have a cat, Leono. He’s very nice but will bring in various animals, dead or alive, into our house overnight. Often including large rabbits that then run around.

Kylie Robison: Oh my God.

Will Knight: This cat flap has a camera and computer vision, and it can tell if your cat has a rat or something in it’s mouth. It will say, “Contraband detected,” and then block them from coming in, which I think is a good thing.

Michael Calore: When it sends you a notification that contraband is detected, do you get a photo of what your cat has in its mouth?

Will Knight: Yes. I think you get a video feed of it trying to bring in. There’s some on the website, which are great. There’s one that has a very large frog in its mouth.

Kylie Robison: You got to put a wanted poster with these.

Will Knight: Yes.

Kylie Robison: “Wanted: cat with frog in mouth.”

Will Knight: Yes. I should say it’s called OnlyCat. That’s the name of it. I’m actually genuinely curious how she brings these rabbits into the house.

Kylie Robison: Me, too.

Will Knight: I need to put a camera down there, because they’re enormous. I feel like she has to go through, go back and get it, and then pull it. It must be.

Kylie Robison: Wow. Free rabbit.

Michael Calore: She’s really working hard.

Kylie Robison: Paying her rent.

Will Knight: Yeah. Yeah. Over to you, Mike.

Michael Calore: OK. I would like to recommend merino wool T-shirts.

Kylie Robison: Why? I would imagine merino wool is quite sweaty, actually. I don’t know why I think that.

Michael Calore: No. It’s the opposite.

Kylie Robison: I see.

Michael Calore: We’re in mid-September here in San Francisco, which is also known as actual summer.

Kylie Robison: Yeah.

Michael Calore: It’s very hot, so I’ve been thinking a lot about thermal regulation. I’m also doing a lot of activities, like hiking and canoeing and doing things out in the wilderness and getting sweaty. The merino wool T-shirt has been really great. A bunch of different people make them. My colleague Scott Gilbertson, who works on the WIRED reviews team, has been testing a bunch and he’s written about them. He has a buying guide that gets continuously updated once a season with all the best picks. His favorite is the Proof 72-hour merino wool T-shirt. Mine is the one that Smartwool makes. Merino wool is very, very good at wicking moisture away from your body so it actually keeps you cooler. It keeps you from really feeling sweaty, which is nice. Even if you’re not particularly sweating hard, it’ll just make you feel fresher. And also, it has natural antimicrobial properties.