Awesome Robots

Domino’s Australia is toying with an autonomous pizza delivery robot. The company’s prototype is a self-navigating wheeled robot that has a top speed of 12mph, sensors to avoid obstacles, and compartments that are unlocked via Domino’s app.

iRobot’s newest mopping robot. Unlike the Braava 300, the Braava Jet has a built-in water spray and uses cleaning pads that have water-activated detergent. Each pad is good for 150 to 200sq.ft. A reusable and washable cleaning pad is also available.

Engineers from Stanford University’s Biomimetics and Dextrous Manipulation Lab are working to build robots which can replicate the abilities of ants, which can work together to move unexpectedly large objects. Here, their teensy μTug robots pull a 3900+lb. automobile.

“Every time a computer does some narrow thing there’s a temptation to think that it’s all over for us.” Breakthroughs in robotics and artificial intelligence are often met with a hint of dread. Retro Report talked to scientists to ask if we should fear our creations.

YouTuber Greg Killian put together clips of robots being stress tested or used in gladiatorial combat in this hilarious – yet still heartbreaking! – parody of ASPCA commercials. “In the arms of the angel…”

“Where is Box? I love Box.” Boston Dynamics really hit a nerve with its latest demo video of its Atlas robot. We know it’s all a test, but we can’t help but feel for the guy – er, bot. Auralnauts turns the tables around in this horrifying parody.

The new version of Cyberdyne Systems’ Boston Dynamics’ ATLAS robot is more agile than ever, capable of walking indoors or out without tethers, can lift and carry objects, and can even recover falling. Also, we don’t recommend poking it with a hockey stick.

Inspired by the ability for their cars to park themselves, Nissan Japan created an office chair with the same capability. Watch as the army of robotic chairs finds their way back to their homes in this clever promo video. Now can we see it with people in the chairs?

We’ve seen what a young maker’s BB-8 is like; now let’s see how the pros do it. Ed Zarick – the man behind the Xbox One & PS4 laptop – made his own life-size BB-8 droid with the help of BB-8 Builders Club and Astromech.net.

Writer/director/animator Justin Nixon and team’s dystopian stop-motion short tells the story of a family of robots whose tragedy and desire for resolution leads them to the discovery of the dark secret behind the blind devotion of their fellow citizens.

During the 2016 Waste Management Phoenix Open, a golf-playing robot known as LDRIC was allowed to take its shot at a little time in the tee box. Here, on the par-3 16th hole, it struts its stuff with an Eagle. Oh, and it can talk, kick footballs, and soccer balls too.

After nearly cutting off a limb with her chopping robot, engineer Simone Giertz built another somewhat askew robotic assistant, though this one is much more likely to make her die from embarrassment than blood loss. We think she should marry Mehdi Sadaghdar.

A robot designed to be a temporary office worker is ignored by his co-workers, save for the new HR manager. Neill Blomkamp’s 2006 short film effectively uses a robot as a metaphor for someone who thinks that he is above his peers yet still craves human contact.

Angelo Casimiro wanted a replica of The Force Awakens’ rotund droid, but Sphero’s version wasnt’t big enough. Instead, he spent his Xmas break building his own full-size droid for just $120, with a paper-mâché beach ball body and an Arduino brain. More on Instructables.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen a robot solve a Rubik’s Cube, but the machine built by Jay Flatland and his friend Paul Rose can solve the puzzle in just a hair over 1 second. Impressive, but we dare you to solve this one, guys.

Also known as “flexible microactuators” – these unusual soft robotic devices can manipulate objects like human fingers do. They’re more than a little phallic, but still impressive. The bit with where they turn the bolt is hypnotic. Oh, and the same guys developed this nightmare.

Developed by Disney Research and ETH Zurich, this ingenius robot can change from riding on the ground to driving sideways up walls like a boss. It uses rotating propellers to transition from ground to wall modes, then provide the thrust to hold it to the wall.

Golf with giant mechs. The PS4 exclusive 100ft. Giant Robot lets you wreak havoc on Earth (and beyond) to make shots easier for yourself and harder for your opponents. It has real-time and turn-based modes plus a single-player campaign. Compatible with PlayStation VR.

Builder Arthur Sacek created this neat robotic LEGO contraption which can manipulate the individual pins one of those pin art desktop toys to draw uploaded images. Every time it finishes drawing a frame, it snaps a picture to create animations.

This robot has a single task to perform – to cut food into pieces. And that it does. What makes Newtech’s ultrasonic cutting machine so amazing, is that it doesn’t care what angle or position its target enters the conveyor at – it always finds the perfect center.

Yamaha has developed an industrial robot that is capable of riding a motorcycle. While we wait for the robot MotoGP races some day, Motoman is helping to make bikes safer and more comfortable for humans. For now, he has training wheels, but they’ll come off soon.

German grade school teacher Lars Reimers decided to teach his students Kraftwerk’s 1978 technopop classic Die Roboter (The Robots), and had them perform it in the best possible way – dressed in cardboard robot costumes they made themselves.

After a tragic accident, Jason Barnes had his hand and wrist amputated. As if that weren’t challenging enough, Jason plays the drums. But thanks to Gil Weinberg, and the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, he can play entirely new styles with his new robotic hand.