Currently browsing Posts Published October 2026

This $1599 smart monitor robotic arm has its own built-in PC, and its 27-inch 4K display will follow you around thanks to its ‘binocular 3D sensor’

  • The CyboPal ONE puts a 27-inch 4K, 160Hz display on a six-axis robotic arm that repositions itself to your posture
  • It can be bought for as low as $1,599 on Kickstarter, against a planned $2,499 retail price in the future
  • CyboPal assigns its binocular 3D sensor to obstacle avoidance and path planning, and says face tracking repositions the screen in under four seconds

Monitor arms have spent decades doing one job: holding still; CyboPal’s answer challenges that premise in an intriguing way.

The Kickstarter-funded CyboPal ONE bolts a 27-inch 4K display to a six-axis robotic arm that clamps to your desk, keeps an eye on where you are, and moves the screen to match, whether you are hunched over a keyboard, standing, or leaning back to read.

The $1,599 price is the Super Early Bird price, converted from HK$ 12,536 on the same site, and it seems to stay the same even if you order up to 5, though only the first 300 single-unit orders benefit from the current markdown.

A pricey arm with a built-in PC to run the robot, not your work

The pricing hasn’t stopped backers, who have piled in by the bucket; Kickstarter showed the campaign, which closes on November 21 2026, at just over 11,000% of its HK$80,000 goal, roughly HK$8.8 million (about $1.1 million).

This includes about 255 visible backers, even though BackerClub’s tracker counts more than 450 backers, which may include those who paid a $30 deposit to get an $1,499 lock-in.

The ONE also carries its own computer: CNX software lists an eight-core Rockchip RK3588 with a 6 TOPS NPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, housed in what CyboPal calls a Linux AI Compute Base that handles face tracking, gesture recognition, and 3D spatial sensing on the device.

The campaign pitches the ONE as a companion to the computer you already own, tying voice control, robotic motion, and the full feature set to a USB-C link with that machine, which the same port can also charge at up to 65W.

The Pauli voice agent runs in a CyboPal desktop client for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and an HDMI 2.1 input lets compatible phones, tablets, and other sources use the panel as an external display. The onboard RK3588 essentially is the robot’s brain, but you still need a laptop or desktop to do the necessary compute.

CyboPal’s founder and CEO Frederic Peng said in the company’s launch announcement that AI “should also change what a computer is.” One could argue this is more akin to having a more persistently present assistant than a modern stationary computer.

CyboPal says face tracking brings the screen into position in under four seconds, within a 747mm reach, and presents tracking as one mode among several: you can also recall saved positions or tell the screen to come closer, back off, rotate, or switch to portrait mode.

Gestures allow users to move the screen and scroll content, and a firm tap on the desk stops the arm in place. CNX’s spec list, which includes a separate HDR camera, assigns it to spatial awareness, path planning, and obstacle avoidance, and the campaign describes 3D sensing as how the arm spots desk clutter and stays within preset boundaries.

CyboPal’s Kickstarter page bills the ONE as the world’s first desktop robotic terminal, a category label the company introduced with this product, and claims mass production is already underway.

The ONE has multiple use cases, chief among them being catering to people who change positions all day, and possibly users with limited mobility; Gizmodo Japan has suggested it could prove handy as a medical tool.

Whether that enthusiasm pans out into a tangible product that delivers on its promises remains to be seen. At $1,599 now and $2,499 later, backers are paying for a monitor, an arm, and a bet on software that hasn’t been independently tested, making it a rather expensive, albeit intriguing, gamble.

Disclaimer: We do not recommend or endorse any crowdfunding project. All crowdfunding campaigns carry inherent risks, including the possibility of delays, changes, or non-delivery of products. Potential backers should carefully evaluate the details and proceed at their own discretion.

Hard drives were supposed to lose the storage war — but AI demand is now pushing their biggest suppliers years ahead

  • Toshiba plans to nearly double AI storage HDD capacity by fiscal 2027
  • Toshiba is spending $380 million to expand Philippine HDD production capacity
  • New Toshiba drives could increase storage capacity by 40% per drive

Artificial intelligence is giving conventional hard drives an unexpected second wind, as data centers require enormous amounts of relatively affordable storage.

Toshiba is responding to this surge by investing 60 billion yen, or about $380 million, to expand its HDD manufacturing in the Philippines.

The company expects production capacity for AI and cloud storage drives to nearly double by fiscal 2027.

Toshiba prepares for the storage squeeze

The investment would become Toshiba’s first major HDD expansion in roughly five years as the company responds to growing demand from AI infrastructure.

New production lines will be added, while Toshiba will also handle drives capable of storing up to 40% more data than existing products.

The company is additionally pursuing 65TB-class HDDs around 2030, followed later by models capable of reaching 100TB.

These higher-capacity products would allow Toshiba to supply more storage without requiring equivalent increases in drive quantities.

Toshiba currently holds slightly more than 10% of the global HDD market when measured by storage capacity, and the company is expanding because demand is strong.

Hard drives remain useful to Toshiba’s expansion plans because their lower cost allows data centers to store enormous datasets without relying on expensive SSDs.

Though SSDs provide faster access, their prices run about 20 times higher than HDDs, making disks attractive where capacity matters more than immediate retrieval speed.

AI systems generate and retain substantial amounts of data, creating demand for storage that does not always require the performance associated with SSDs.

Rivals such as Seagate and Western Digital also face strong demand for their high-capacity drives from data center customers.

Seagate has reportedly allocated most of its nearline HDD capacity through 2028, with some customers discussing requirements extending into 2029 and beyond.

Western Digital has also committed much of its 2027 production, with some capacity for 2028 and 2029 already covered.

Toshiba scales production beyond capacity

Toshiba also plans to automate inspection activities and cleanroom operations at its Philippine facilities as production increases.

The company expects those changes to reduce additional staffing requirements by around 40% while also improving manufacturing yields.

Toshiba is not expanding in isolation, because suppliers of specialized HDD components are also increasing their manufacturing capabilities.

Nitto Denko plans to spend 28 billion yen (about $117 million) expanding CISFLEX production, with capacity expected to rise 40% by fiscal 2028 from fiscal 2025.

Nitto Denko controls more than 90% of the global market for the component used in HDD magnetic-head suspension assemblies.

Western Digital is separately planning about $1 billion of investment in Japan through 2030 for research, manufacturing technology, recruitment, and cooperation with universities.

For Toshiba, the immediate challenge is increasing supply quickly enough to capture AI-driven demand, and its long-term plan is to increase its market share to 30%.

Via TrendForce

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