Hugging Face is selling a cute $399 open source duck robot, Microduck | TechCrunch
Hugging Face unveiled the Microduck on Thursday, a cute little duck-like robot that sells for $399 — and ships before Christmas.
The video highlights Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)—a building technology featuring a rigid insulating foam core sandwiched between two structural boards (typically OSB or plywood). Although the technology dates back to 1937 and offers rapid assembly alongside super-insulated energy performance, homebuilders often face regulatory, code enforcement, and adoption hurdles when using alternative panelized systems.
Rapid Construction & Efficiency: SIPs allow a weather-tight home shell to be erected in as little as a single day while delivering roughly twice the thermal efficiency of standard stick-built framing.
Historical Origins: The technology originated in 1937 at the Forest Products Laboratory and received early publicity, including a dedication from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Structural & Thermal Performance: The "foam sandwich" construction functions as a continuous insulation barrier, significantly lowering HVAC climate loads and reducing monthly energy bills.
Building Code & Enforcement Challenges:
While SIPs are recognized in modern building codes (like the International Residential Code), builders frequently encounter resistance or extra engineering hurdles from local code inspectors accustomed to traditional stick framing.
Chapter 1 of the IRC allows alternative materials provided the owner/builder supplies engineering documentation showing structural and energy compliance.
Common Industry Considerations:
Cost vs. Savings: Higher upfront panel/supplier costs can be offset by lower labor time and long-term energy savings.
Tight Building Envelopes: High airtightness requires proper ventilation planning (like ERVs/HRVs) to maintain indoor air quality.
Pest & Moisture Prevention: Continuous maintenance and quality panel construction are necessary to prevent issues such as moisture intrusion or rodent burrowing into foam cores.
A structural insulated panel, or structural insulating panel, (SIP), is a form of sandwich panel used as a building material in the construction industry.
SIP is a sandwich structured composite, consisting of an insulating layer of rigid core sandwiched between two layers of structural board. The board can be sheet metal, fibre cement, magnesium oxide board (MgO), plywood or oriented strand board (OSB), and the core can either be expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), polyisocyanurate foam, polyurethane foam, or be composite honeycomb (HSC).
The sheathing accepts all tensile forces while the core material has to withstand only some compressive as well as shear forces.
In a SIP several components of conventional building, such as studs and joists, insulation, vapor barrier and air barrier can be combined. The panel can be used for many different applications, such as exterior wall, roof, floor and foundation systems.
So far this email list had quite good AI generated images, most likely by Google Gemini Flash (nano-banana) AI model. Now it added an extensive video... AI generation is improving quickly...
AI+Semantics NewsBytes — August 30, 2026
SHACL & SPARQL Special Edition
Why Did We Stop Building Round Houses? - YouTube
The video explores why circular houses—despite their exceptional structural advantages and historical prevalence—have largely disappeared from modern residential construction. It highlights how circular architecture, like the prefabricated homes built by Deltec Homes, offers extraordinary wind resistance and durability against extreme weather like hurricanes, while examining the historical, practical, and financial reasons standard rectangular designs took over.
Extreme Weather Resilience:
Round houses dissipate wind pressure rather than catching it, making them far more resilient against high-wind events.
During Hurricane Michael (2018), a circular home built by Deltec Homes was one of the few structures left standing in Mexico Beach, Florida.
Deltec Homes boasts a 99.9% survival rate across three decades of major storms (including Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina, Michael, and Ian).
Aerodynamic & Structural Advantages:
Continuous circular or polygonal framing distributes load forces evenly around the entire structure.
The lack of large, flat vertical walls reduces the drag coefficient, allowing hurricane-force winds to wrap around the exterior rather than pushing against it.
Why Rectangular Houses Won Out:
Manufacturing & Materials: Traditional building materials (plywood, drywall, studs, furniture) are mass-produced in rectangular/flat dimensions, making round homes costlier and more wasteful to construct.
Land Use & Zoning: Rectangular footprints are far easier to fit onto standard grid-based urban plans and sub-divided lots.
Interior Layout Efficiency: Partitioning round spaces into standard rooms, closets, and kitchens creates awkward, dead spaces along curved walls.
The official website for Deltec Homes is
