Pokémon GO is set to feature Tinkatink for the next Community Day. Meanwhile, Niantic reveals that it has been using player-collected augmented reality data to train pizza-delivery robots.
Pokémon GO Moves Forward with Community Day and AI Mapping
Tinkatink Hammers Home in Community Day
Pokémon GO reveals that the Metalsmith Pokémon, Tinkatink, is slated to headline the next Community Day on April 11, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM local time.
During Community Day, players will have a higher chance of encountering Tinkatink and its Shiny form. Moreover, evolving Tinkatuff (Tinkatink's evolution) into Tinkaton before 9:00 PM local time will grant it the Charged Attack Gigaton Hammer, with 130 power for PvP matches and 300 power for gyms and raids.
Event bonuses that are available during the event include the following:
⚫︎ 2× Candy for catching Pokémon
⚫︎ 3× Stardust for catching Pokémon
⚫︎ 2× chance for Trainers level 31 and up to receive Candy XL from catching Pokémon
⚫︎ Incense (excluding Daily Adventure Incense) activated during the event will last for three hours.
⚫︎ Taking snapshots during the event will lead to a surprise.
Additionally, three other bonuses will remain accessible until 9:00 PM on the same day:
⚫︎ Lure Modules will last for one hour and may attract the featured Pokémon.
⚫︎ One additional Special Trade.
⚫︎ Trades will require 50% less Stardust.
As with Pokémon GO’s previous events, the April Community Day will also offer optional premium access. For $1.99, players can obtain the following exclusive rewards by completing Special Research:
⚫︎ 3 encounters with Tinkatink that have a Special Background
⚫︎ Additional encounters with Tinkatink
⚫︎ 1 Premium Battle Pass
⚫︎ 1 Rare Candy XL
Events Lining Up Until May
The previous Community Day took place on March 14, with Scorbunny in the spotlight. Aside from the next Community Day in April, there are still events awaiting players before March ends. Gigantamax Pikachu will make its debut during Max Battle Day on March 28, whereas the Pokémon Pokopia Celebration Event recently concluded on March 16 at 8:00 PM local time.
Pokémon GO announced the following events scheduled until May:
⚫︎ March 21 - Research Day
⚫︎ March 28 - Max Battle Day
⚫︎ April 4 - Raid Day
⚫︎ April 11 - Community Day
⚫︎ April 18 - Hatch Day
⚫︎ April 25 - Max Battle Day
⚫︎ May 2 - Shadow Raid Day
⚫︎ May 16 - Community Day Classic
⚫︎ May 23 - Raid Day
AR Player Data Helps Robots Navigate Urban Environments
Shifting the focus from internal events to external ventures with partner companies, Pokémon GO creator Niantic reports that augmented reality (AR) data crowdsourced from players has been used to train delivery robots at robotics startup Coco. 30 billion images captured by players in-game are being used to hone the virtual positioning system in Coco's fleet of 1,000 suitcase-sized robots, helping them deliver pizzas accurately to customers across Los Angeles, Chicago, Jersey City, Miami, and Helsinki.
It is worth noting that while Niantic was behind the hit Pokémon spin-off that surpassed 1 billion downloads globally, ownership of the title was passed to Monopoly Go! maker Scopely in early 2025 as part of a $3.5 billion sale, along with Niantic's other video games. The Pokémon GO creator now operates its geospatial AI work under a new name, Niantic Spatial. Nonetheless, it continues to retain the accumulated dataset of real-world scans consciously gathered from Pokémon GO players over the years, which it uses in its partnership with Coco Robotics today.
Niantic Spatial CTO Brian McClendon spoke with MIT Technology Review about launching a new world model trained on hotspots in Pokémon GO, such as PokéStops or Gym locations. The model would prove to be more effective than GPS, since "the urban canyon is the worst place in the world for GPS," according to McClendon.
Essentially, each mapped location in the game contains thousands of images captured from different angles, times, and weather conditions, creating an inch-accurate spatial record. "The more cameras we have out there, the better [the visual positioning system] becomes," said Konrad Wenzel at ESRI, a company involved in geospatial mapping and intelligence.
"It turns out that getting Pikachu to realistically run around and getting Coco’s robot to safely and accurately move through the world is actually the same problem," Niantic Spatial CEO John Hanke also remarked.
Pokémon GO is currently available for iOS and Android. For more information about the game, check out our article below!
Sources:
X/Twitter | Pokémon GO teases Tinkatink
Pokémon GO | April Community Day: Tinkatink
Pokémon GO | Save the dates for next Season’s Community Days!
MIT Technology Review | How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world
