Popular sneaker brand On announced on Wednesday that it’s expanding its robotic production facility and opening up a new location in South Korea. 

The Swiss brand is most known for developing running, training and lifestyle sneakers with a heavily cushioned, cloud-like sole. On opened its first robotic factory in Zurich in July 2025, after four years of development, and began production with four robots to make its first laceless LightSpray Cloudboom Strike LS shoe. 

A representative for On did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The process involves a robotic arm that sprays On’s signature LightSpray material onto the shoe, creating a light, one-piece upper in just a few minutes. With the new location, the company plans to increase production by using 32 more automated robots. 

As robots and AI continue to move more deeply into companies, there’s controversy about what this could mean for human workers. As recently as this year’s CES event, it’s evident that robots are here to stay, with Hyundai unveiling its Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot among other robot demos. Robot manufacturing companies are also expanding by using humanoid robots to take over specific tasks, and possibly for home use; however, the technology has not yet advanced enough to rely on them completely.

Supporters say robots could help in certain instances, such as social robots assisting kids to build confidence when reading aloud. In other cases, it could increase efficiency in a warehouse or factory setting and help around the home. But critics say automation could lead to more job loss, and even eliminate entry-level jobs. 

In addition to the location announcement, On is launching the LightSpray Cloudmonster 3 Hyper, which is the first shoe upper designed at the new factory. According to On, the shoe is an ultimate super trainer for long runs and tempo runs, which are specific training runs where you’re running at a moderate-to-hard pace. The new shoe will be available first in North America on March 5, and then globally on April 16.

On says using robots to manufacture its latest shoes reduces waste and carbon emissions, plus cuts the time it takes to design an upper compared to handcrafted shoes. 

«The beauty of LightSpray is that we can precisely program each robot, whether in Zurich or Busan, to execute precisely choreographed movements to craft each shoe’s unique look and feel,» said On’s chief innovation officer, Scott McGuire, in a statement.

On chose South Korea for its second factory location because of the country’s advancements in automation and robotics, and hopes to continue expanding its factories globally over the next few years. The company aims to eventually start production in the Americas and increase production in Europe.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun one. One of the groups matches up with the color of its category, which you might spot right away. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Iconic moment.

Green group hint: Color of this group.

Blue group hint: Try the fish, I’m here all week.

Purple group hint: Polite request.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Pivotal point.

Green group: Green things.

Blue group: Elements of joke-telling.

Purple group: «____ please.»

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pivotal point. The four answers are crossroads, landmark, milestone and watershed.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is green things. The four answers are grasshopper, shamrock, Statue of Liberty and wasabi.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is elements of joke-telling. The four answers are callback, punchline, setup and timing.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is «____ please.» The four answers are attention, check, drumroll and pretty.

There’s a reason your mom knows Pikachu. Over the past three decades, Pokemon has gone from being Satoshi Tajiri’s childhood dream to the highest-grossing entertainment franchise in the world.

The pocket monsters’ legacy includes a wildly popular anime, widely scalped trading cards, a movie starring Ryan Reynolds and many, many games. New entries in the series are dipping into the history of the franchise and dialing up the nostalgia. Pokemon Champions, which is slated to release in 2026, will combine all of the franchise’s battling gimmicks under one unified competitive game.

A Pokemon game exists for nearly every gamer, whether you love exploring new worlds, bonding with cuddly creatures, crawling through dungeons, solving mysteries or battling with other players.

We’ve curated this list of the best Pokemon games you can play, including mainline games and spin-off titles from throughout the franchise’s history.

Read more: Best Pokemon Day Deals: Enjoy Big Savings on Switch Games, TCG, Plushies and More

Best Pokemon games of all time

Recent updates to the list

February 2026: Removed Pokken Tournament DX. Added Pokemon Legends: Z-A, the latest game in Game Freak’s open world Pokemon spin off series.

New Pokemon games coming in 2026

There are multiple new Pokemon games releasing in 2026. Pokemon Champions is a player-versus-player battler that will be released for the Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS allowing players to bring over their favorite monsters from the Pokemon Home app. New set expansions for Pokemon TCG Pocket and new events for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will also be released throughout the year.

Best Pokemon game FAQs

How we determined CNET’s best Pokemon games

When creating this list of the best Pokemon games, we factored in how unique and enjoyable these games are for most players. We evaluated criteria including graphics quality, innovative gameplay mechanics and compelling narratives. We balanced our picks to include a variety of mainline titles across all nine generations while still representing the wealth of Pokemon spin-offs from other genres. We favored games that hold up well for contemporary gamers and added something new to the iconic franchise. If you’re looking for help choosing your next game, CNET’s top PlayStation 4 list is a good place to start narrowing down your choices.