Robots

Researchers Create Trash-Talking Robot That Proves Machines Can Get Under Human’s Skin

Trash talk has long been an effective (but underhanded) tool when it comes to sports, gaming, and other competitive endeavors. But it’s been assumed that it’s a strategy that only works between humans who can deliver remarks with emotional weight. It turns out that’s not the case, as researchers from Carnegie Mellon University discovered after…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Tiny Goggles Turn Nintendo’s R.O.B. Accessory Into the Worst Smartphone-Controlled Personal Assistant

To help sell people on its new console after the 1983 video game crash, Nintendo branded the NES as a complete “Entertainment System”, which included a robotic accessory that could play along with gamers. Thirty years later, some hackers at Croxel have found a clever way to revive that long-forgotten accessory. https://gizmodo.com/someone-stuffed-an-original-nes-with-a-smaller-nes-and-1839639275 Nintendo’s claims about…

Toys & Collectibles Andrew Liszewski

You Can Now Buy Pretend Food for Your $2,900 Sony Robot Dog

There’s no denying the appeal of a robot dog. You get the companionship, the fun of playtime, and the pre-programmed loyalty without all the mess or expenses of feeding and maintenance. Unless you really want to feed your Aibo, in which case Sony will happily sell you make-believe virtual meals and treats that unlock fun…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

The Newest Teaser for Westworld’s Next Season Is an Ad for a Menacing Tech Company

Incite, Inc. is here to propel you forward to the future. No, don’t think about the name too much. It’s probably not threatening. The new Westworld ad is a doozy, and has ARG written all over it. Released yesterday at a WIRED panel called “The Future of Data: The Promise and Peril,” the ad features…

io9 Julie Muncy

Dark Fate‘s Tim Miller Helps Us Answer All Your Burning Terminator Questions

“If you have a story that lends itself to a continuation, that should kind of be there in it,” director Tim Miller told io9. “It was in T2, even if you didn’t recognize it. I don’t think it was [James Cameron’s] intention to put it there but he really did leave an open-ended story because…

Movies Germain Lussier

Sony’s AIBO Robo-Dog Could Be Trained to Operate Hitachi’s Smart Appliances for You

Most smart appliances can be remotely operated using an app, but for voice control, you usually need to add an intermediary like Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa. Sony thinks Aibo could fill that role too, in the company’s latest attempt to convince consumers to spend $2,900 on its robotic dog. https://gizmodo.com/sonys-aibo-is-one-dumb-dog-so-far-1828559275 Since its re-release last…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

The Most Futuristic Developments We Can Expect in the Next 10 Years

With the decade winding down it’s time for us to set our sights on the next one. The 2020s promises to be anything but dull. From the automation revolution and increasingly dangerous AI to geohacking the planet and radical advances in biotechnology, here are the most futuristic developments to expect in the next 10 years.…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Just My Opinion: The Company Offering $130,000 for the Perfect Robot Face Should Choose Luigi

British engineering firm Geomiq is now accepting submissions from the public to be the literal face of a “state of the art humanoid” robot slated for production in exchange for $130,000, CNET reported on Tuesday. Geomiq is asking for those interested to sent in photos of their faces to the company (instructions on Geomiq’s website…

Tech News Tom McKay

Terminator: Dark Fate‘s Post-Judgment Day Future Is Female, and We’re Here for It

Terminator: Dark Fate is an engaging story about three, tremendously powerful women. That’s it. That’s the review. (Ok, not really…) Created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, the Terminator franchise is probably one of the most familiar to audiences outside of comic book properties, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings. But the…

Movies Jill Pantozzi

Metal Men Artist Shane Davis Reflects on the Lies That Make Heroes Tick

Writer Dan DiDio and artist Shane Davis’ new Metal Men series, out this week, is drenched in bright splashes of gleaming color that hide a dark, human truth. It binds the comic’s team of heroes and their creator together in ways that devastate them all. The book still features the Metal Men series’ signature camp…

Books & Comics Charles Pulliam-Moore

Useless Police Robot Fails to Call For Help When Needed

If there was an emergency and you saw a police robot patrolling the area, a reasonable person would expect that simply pushing its emergency alert button would call for help. That’s what a California woman reportedly tried to do. In reality, the robot told her to get out of the way and carried on with…

Tech News Victoria Song

UPS Gets FAA Approval to Run America’s First Drone Delivery Airline

The Federal Aviation Administration has given UPS approval to run a drone fleet, enabling the company to create a UAV delivery airline. UPS announced on Tuesday that the federal agency granted the company a Part 135 certification—a high level of certification used by charter airlines—to operate its drones. This permits UPS to fly drones that…

Tech News Jennings Brown

This Self-Driving Garbage Can Remembers to Take the Trash to the Curb For You

Despite what the inventors of the world want you to believe, not everything in your home needs to be intelligent, automated, and motorized—except your garbage cans. The inventor of the SmartCan wants to ensure you’ll never again forget it’s trash day, because these cans automatically drive themselves to the curb for you. This is the…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Cool NASA Concept Envisions a Shapeshifting Robot to Explore Saturn’s Moon Titan

Why send one robot to explore a world when you can send a whole bunch all at once? Such is the thinking behind NASA’s highly conceptual Shapeshifter—a modular, morphing, self-assembling robot capable of deploying several smaller machines. The Shapeshifter concept is currently being developed as part of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which encourages…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Was Boris Johnson Trying to Quote Churchill During His Dystopian Chicken Speech at the UN?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a bizarre speech on Tuesday night at the United Nations General Assembly that included plenty of dire warning about the future, including everything from the rise of killer robots to “limbless chickens” on the kitchen table. And as strange as it sounds, Johnson may have been trying to quote former…

Tech News Matt Novak

Megabots Throws in the Towel and Puts Battle Robots on Ebay

Megabots, a startup that was dedicated to bringing behemoth battle-robot entertainment to the masses, is selling off its assets before filing for bankruptcy. On Monday, Megabots released a YouTube video advertising the sale of one of its most visible assets—the 15-ton Eagle Prime battle mech–and explaining why the company had to call it quits. When…

Tech News Jennings Brown

Boris Johnson Warns of ‘Pink-Eyed Terminators’ and ‘Limbless Chickens’ in Absolutely Bonkers UN Speech

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered a bizarre late night speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, warning that technology could make our world a dystopian hellscape if it’s not properly constrained—a place where mattresses monitor our nightmares, heartless algorithms deny us medical care, and… robots travel from the future…

Tech News Matt Novak

Spot, Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog, Is Finally Available For Sale

After debuting just shy of two years ago, Boston Dynamics has finally made its Spot robotic dog available for sale, but don’t expect to find a great Black Friday deal on this bot at Best Buy come Thanksgiving. The company hasn’t made them available to the average consumer just yet—only businesses that can promise an…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders on the Intersection Between Writing About Science and Writing Science Fiction

io9 was founded as a website dedicated to both science journalism and science-fiction and cultural criticism. And although that mission has evolved over the years, that intersection between science and science fiction is something that still drives co-founders Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz’ work as authors. At a recent talk in London, England, the…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook

Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz on Creating Worlds, and How to Tell If You’re in an Alternate Timeline

Readers of io9 are no doubt very aware that since leaving the site, co-founders Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz have gone on to write their own award-winning works of fiction. But how do science fiction and fantasy bloggers move to writing science fiction themselves? At a recent talk in London, England, the duo discussed…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook

Researchers Create Trash-Talking Robot That Proves Machines Can Get Under Human’s Skin

Tiny Goggles Turn Nintendo’s R.O.B. Accessory Into the Worst Smartphone-Controlled Personal Assistant

You Can Now Buy Pretend Food for Your $2,900 Sony Robot Dog

The Newest Teaser for Westworld’s Next Season Is an Ad for a Menacing Tech Company

Dark Fate‘s Tim Miller Helps Us Answer All Your Burning Terminator Questions

Sony’s AIBO Robo-Dog Could Be Trained to Operate Hitachi’s Smart Appliances for You

The Most Futuristic Developments We Can Expect in the Next 10 Years

Just My Opinion: The Company Offering $130,000 for the Perfect Robot Face Should Choose Luigi

Terminator: Dark Fate‘s Post-Judgment Day Future Is Female, and We’re Here for It

Metal Men Artist Shane Davis Reflects on the Lies That Make Heroes Tick

Useless Police Robot Fails to Call For Help When Needed

UPS Gets FAA Approval to Run America’s First Drone Delivery Airline

This Self-Driving Garbage Can Remembers to Take the Trash to the Curb For You

Cool NASA Concept Envisions a Shapeshifting Robot to Explore Saturn’s Moon Titan

Was Boris Johnson Trying to Quote Churchill During His Dystopian Chicken Speech at the UN?

Megabots Throws in the Towel and Puts Battle Robots on Ebay

Boris Johnson Warns of ‘Pink-Eyed Terminators’ and ‘Limbless Chickens’ in Absolutely Bonkers UN Speech

Spot, Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog, Is Finally Available For Sale

Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders on the Intersection Between Writing About Science and Writing Science Fiction

Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz on Creating Worlds, and How to Tell If You’re in an Alternate Timeline

Can You Run a Computer Without RAM? Surprisingly, Yes—But You’ll Be Miserable

Artemis 2 Live Updates: Countdown to the Moon 🔴

How Adult Swim Skipped the April Fools’ Nonsense and Dropped a ‘Smiling Friends’ Claymation Horror Short Instead

Oracle Lays Off Thousands to Offset AI Spending

The Films and Shows You Should Be Streaming in April 2026

Chinese Startup Debuts Super-Bendy Robotic Arm for Orbital Repairs

Your Devices Are Targets. Bitdefender Shields Them All — For Less Than You Think

Of Course, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Post Credit Scene Is Another Big Cameo

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

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