<figure class="wp-block-video"><video controls src="https://gamesatwork.biz/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Rotate_slowly_around_202507120907_80sfp.mp4"></video><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">original photo, by Michael Martine, Sandwich MA June 2025.  Animated by Google Veo3 July 2025</figcaption></figure>
<p>Published 14 July 2025</p>
<p>e520 with Michael, Andy and Michael &#8211; stories about AI advertising, still photo animation, anime agents, Pollen Robotics, Unity tokamak fusion reactor digital twin and a whole lot more.</p>
<p>Michael, Andy and Michael get things off to a fast start with an article all about AI advertising.&nbsp; And how including AI inside does not correlate with positive impressions.&nbsp; The Google Veo3 capability to turn still image prompts into short videos is next in focus.&nbsp; The hero image for this episode was made using Veo3.&nbsp; On deck next are the open source Reachy robots from Pollen Robotics newly available on Hugging Face, along with associated demo code and AI models.&nbsp; Then, on Kickstarter, the co hosts consider an AI 3D character pod.&nbsp; The Dipal D1 on Kickstarter trumpets itself as the “world’s first curved 3D AI Character Pod”.&nbsp; The intrepid Games at Work team digs up the Gatebox example from 2017 and the associated episodes shared in the links below.&nbsp; This even includes a discussion from 2018 about “cross-dimensional” human-AI agent marriages, which foreshadows the game “Date Everything” from the Wired article.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The next article is absolutely right in the wheelhouse for Games At Work:&nbsp; South Korean scientists used Unity to create a digital twin of a toroidal fusion reactor.&nbsp; And using the game engine’s physics engine, these scientists may have unlocked how to unleash fusion energy.</p>
<p>Rounding out this episode is the upcoming LEGO launch of a new Arcade Machine.&nbsp; This fun kit has a number of cool easter eggs in it, and the team’s looking forward to building it.</p>
<p>What is your impression on “AI inside” advertising?&nbsp; How do you think game engines may be used to further science (weird or otherwise)?&nbsp; Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know!&nbsp;</p>
<p>These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.&nbsp; All rights reserved.&nbsp; That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Selected Links</strong></h2>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size"><strong>AI</strong></h2>
<p>Futurism article: <a href="https://futurism.com/customers-see-ai-research">Something Hilarious Happens When Potential Customers See That a Product Has AI Features</a></p>
<p>Terrence Eden’s blog post: <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/07/gadget-review-thermal-imaging-camera-topdon-tc004-mini/">Gadget Review: Thermal Imaging Camera &#8211; Topdon TC004 Mini</a></p>
<p>Axios article: <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/10/google-veo-3-ai-videos-still-images">Google AI&#8217;s new trick: Turn any image into a brief video</a></p>
<p>Google’s <a href="https://deepmind.google/models/veo/">Veo3</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p>TechCrunch article: <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/09/hugging-face-opens-up-orders-for-its-reachy-mini-desktop-robots/">Hugging Face opens up orders for its Reachy Mini desktop robots</a></p>
<p>Hugging Face blog post: <a href="https://huggingface.co/blog/reachy-mini">Reachy Mini – The Open-Source Robot for Today&#8217;s and Tomorrow&#8217;s AI Builders</a></p>
<p>Hugging Face <a href="https://huggingface.co/spaces/pollen-robotics/Reachy_Mini_Apps">Reachy Mini Spaces</a></p>
<p>Pollen Robotics <a href="https://www.pollen-robotics.com/reachy-mini/">Reachy Mini</a></p>
<p>Wall-E <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/eve-wall-e-40619">Eve</a> (LEGO version, of course!)</p>
<p>Pollen Robotics <a href="https://www.pollen-robotics.com/reachy/">Reachy 2</a></p>
<p>Wikipedia entry: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien:_Romulus">Alien: Romulus</a> (with face hugger poster &#8211; not as bad as spiders, but close!)</p>
<p>Kickstarter: <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dipal-d1/dipal-d1-worlds-first-curved-screen-3d-ai-character-pod">Dipal D1 – World’s First Curved Screen 3D AI Character Pod</a></p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/kcCHYLIRayk?si=W9VC8qOXigQ1kQ87" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Games at Work <a href="https://gamesatwork.biz/2017/01/22/episode-159-virtually-secure/">e159: Virtually Secure</a> (for initial Gatebox discussion)</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/eAkeZqAN_qU?si=TnifRwFn45d_Wb2P" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Games at Work <a href="https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/11/26/episode-218-virtually-married/">e218: Virtually Married</a> (for “cross-dimensional” human-AI nuptials)</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size"><strong>Weird science through games</strong></h2>
<p>Popular Mechanics article:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a65192792/fusion-reactor-video-game-tech/">A Video Game Engine Just Broke a Huge Barrier for Nuclear Fusion. This Could Be the Key to Unlimited Power.</a></p>
<p>Computer Physics Communication volume 309, April 2025: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010465524004132">Development of novel collision detection algorithms for the estimation of fast ion losses in tokamak fusion device</a></p>
<p><a href="https://unity.com">Unity</a></p>
<p>Wired article: <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/a-game-called-date-everything-literally-lets-you-date-everything-except-people/">A Game Called Date Everything Literally Lets You Date Everything—Except People</a></p>
<p><a href="https://dateeverything.com">Date Everything</a></p>
<p><iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" frameborder="0" height="150" style="width:100%;max-width:660px;overflow:hidden;background:transparent;" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" src="https://embed.music.apple.com/us/album/weird-science/1440740144?i=1440740351"></iframe></p>
<blockquote  data-instance="graphics.social" data-post-id="114793618464871573" class="ftf-fediverse-post-embed">
<p>I integrated my Pixels dice with Home Assistant! </p>
<p>If you have Home Assistant with Bluetooth support, you can install my HACS component too: <a href="https://github.com/jaxzin/gamewithpixels-ha" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">github.com/jaxzin/gamewithpixe</span><span class="invisible">ls-ha</span></a></p>
<p class="ftf-fediverse-post-embed-author">
            &mdash; Brian Jackson (@brian@graphics.social)
            <a class="ftf-fediverse-post-embed-link" href="https://graphics.social/@brian/114793618464871573">2025-07-04T06:46:49.876Z</a>
        </p>
</blockquote>
<p><script data-allowed-prefixes="https://graphics.social/" async src=“https://graphics.social/embed.js"></script></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size"><strong>Federal Trade Commission corner</strong></h2>
<p>The Verge article: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/702398/ftc-click-to-cancel-rule-struck-down-appeals-court">Appeals court strikes down ‘click-to-cancel’ rule</a></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size"><strong>LEGO</strong></h2>
<p>The Verge article: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/697411/lego-arcade-machine-price-release-date">Lego’s latest buildable arcade machine is packed full of fun hidden details</a></p>
<p>LEGO <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/arcade-machine-40805">Arcade Machine 40805</a></p>
<div class="wp-block-post-author">
<div class="wp-block-post-author__avatar"><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/413b204bea2a9cb455940cdcb1580892e0777e4b07485d1ebbdf43db70375711?s=48&#038;d=retro&#038;r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/413b204bea2a9cb455940cdcb1580892e0777e4b07485d1ebbdf43db70375711?s=96&#038;d=retro&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-48 photo' height='48' width='48' decoding='async'/></div>
<div class="wp-block-post-author__content">
<p class="wp-block-post-author__byline">Web 11.0 mashup junkie, and co-founder / co-host of the GamesAtWork.biz podcast. My views are my own.</p>
<p class="wp-block-post-author__name">Michael Martine</p>
</div>
</div>


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