Robots

UAV Courier Pigeons Deliver Medical Supplies, Sans Awkward Number Two’s

Here’s a great example of a robot originally developed for war being reused to help those in need. These tiny UAVs were once spy planes, but today they could deliver medical samples from isolated South African villages to labs for testing, or deliver emergency medicines and antidotes to those same locations. “The implications of these…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Why We Need the Three Laws of Robotics in the Real World

We’ve had robots working in our factories for decades, but no one’s ever programmed Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics into one. Now some scientists and programmers are trying to make it happen, and it’s not because they’re fans of golden age scifi. Why are the three laws so vital to future human/robot interactions, and…

io9 Ed Grabianowski

Robot Legs Not So Different from Our Own

Humans make walking look easy, but that’s only because walking is a very efficient process in which our tendons and muscles work in conjunction to store and release 40% more energy than we exert. Obviously robots want in on this action. Oregon State University researchers have developed a leg that uses motors to drive a…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Uniqlo Wakamaru Robot Shopping Guide Is Afraid of Americans

We took a trip down to Uniqlo to see how the American invasion of their Wakamaru shopping robot was faring. Not so well. Bewildered by the bustling crowd scurrying around against booming techno music, it had to be led around by hand and had trouble understanding our bizarre alien language. When our intern asked, “Where…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Tokyo’s Robotic Bike Parking Garage is Awesome

Click to view In Tokyo, a lot of people ride bikes. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot, as in more people commute by bike in Tokyo than do in all of the United States. All those bikes need somewhere to go while people are at work, if they use them to…

Tech News Adam Frucci

A Robot Within a Robot, Swaddled in a Wooden Radio Cabinet

Click to view This astonishing Viking mega-robot, known as Little Big Man, is controlled by another robot nestled in a neon cave within the big Viking’s radio cabinet chest. It’s one of the latest sculptures by Nemo Gould, whose awesome recycled robot stylings we’ve raved about before. Gould built Little Big Man for a show…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The 50-Foot Mechanical Spider Awakens

The 50-foot robot spider known as “La Princesse” has awakened from hibernation to explore the streets of Liverpool. This £1.5m beast is supposed to aid tourism and spur the local economy—which will just mean that La Princesse has more goodies to eat. We’re not quite sure what strange marching bands and snow have to do…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Massive Lego Mecha Can Probably Kill Humans, then Drink Ten Packs of Good Ole Fortran

This is what you get when you combine Lego and massive mechas done at the minifig scale: the biggest robotic overlord I’ve laid my eyes on. Then, when you go through the massive gallery, you get what I call a robner followed by a brickgasm. Updated: actually, reader/brother Oscar sends me pictures of a huge…

Tech News Jesus Diaz

The Styrobot Wants to Rule Your Cups and Packaging

There’s really nothing great that can be done with Styrofoam other than not produce it in the first place, but in lieu of recycling it or throwing it away, one man and his son, inspired by this artwork, took 5 years worth of Styrofoam packaging and did the next most logical thing—built a giant robot.…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Girl Pilots Japanese Fighting Robot With Gundam Master/Slave Control Suit

Naoki Maru may live in Hikone, north of Kyoto, down the road from a samurai castle full of katana swords and armor, but for him, the ancient Japanese art of bushido is best carried out with robots, not people. King Kizer, the Maru family robot, has dominated the Robo-One tourney over the past three years,…

Tech News Tim Hornyak

Six Ton Walking Spider Takes Passengers on Giant Robot Rides

Martin Montesano’s giant “Walking Beast” isn’t the first robot spider ever made, but it is the only one I can recall that is this enormous and has the ability to take on passengers. His 12,000-pound, 23-foot-long creation was built over the course of three years at an expense of $50,000-and it can carry up to…

Tech News Sean Fallon

The Wrong Door: If Terry Gilliam Directed Transformers as a TV Variety Show

Leave it to the BBC to introduce a show about robots attacking humans and generally making a mess of the landscape that’s both funny and tailor-made for the ADHD audience. The Wrong Door is a violent, live-action Robot Chicken prone to the same breezy matter-of-factness that made Terry Gilliam’s Python interludes both funny and horrifying.…

Tech News Wilson Rothman

Burning Man 2008 Preview: Hippies, Robots, Crazy Cars and Flaming Fine Art

Once again, the week before Labor day brings offbeat art lovers from around the world to Black Rock City, Nevada, for a seven-day event that immerses the senses in radical artistic self-expression. Actually, its pretty hard to describe Burning Man unless you have actually been to one, but it is certainly a far cry from…

Gadgets Sean Fallon

High-Flying Solar Power Zephyr Glider Breaks Own World Record With 3.5 Day Flight

Last we heard from the U.K.’s high altitude Zephyr glider, it was unofficially breaking the record for longest unmanned flight. That was back in 2007, when the record was a paltry 30 hours, and the Zephyr was able to manage a 54 hour flight, thanks to its solar powered batteries. On Friday, the Zephyr flew…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Sassy DIY Talking Robot Tells You How to Assemble Sassy DIY Talking Robot

This sassy little thing is the brainchild of L. Scott Hudson, who recently participated in MAKE’s Dorkbot Austin robot building event. This gal is kind of like the Twitter box bot we wrote about this week (also a MAKE find), but it’s got the added bonus of moxie. It also gives you step-by-step self-assembly instructions…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Intel Explains In What Year We’ll Be Cyborgs But Terminators Will Kill Us Anyway

2050. That’s the year that you’ll plug your brain into a toaster. Intel doesn’t know how, precisely, but according to Intel CTO Justin Rattner’s recent keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, they’re working on it. From Intel’s summary of the event: He said Intel’s research labs are already looking at human-machine interfaces and examining future…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Cardboard Twitter Robot Will Read Out Loud How Big Your Poop Is and Be Sad About It

The Ganzbot is a cardboard robot built with an Arduino Decima that can read incoming Twitter feeds and show emotions as it reads them out loud—like happiness when you tweet you a got date, or soul-crushing depression when she stands you up—based on the mood you tell it to be in. You can build one…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Completely Unimpressive Robot Already Developing Bender Attitude

One day, robots will whiz by us one one wheel at 1000mph while solving absurd equations that would take us lifetimes to calculate. But that day has not yet come. So when a robot with coordination no better than a toddler starts trash-talking its humanoid accomplice, you know we’re in for a painful and degrading…

Tech News Mark Wilson

WowWee Femisapien On Sale Now

For those of you looking for your first taste of a female robot that will do your bidding, the $99 WowWee Femisapien is on sale now at WowWee’s site and major retailers like Target and Amazon. What’s super cool about this robot is that you can program its movements, essentially, with a touch of a…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Snake-Like Rescue Robot Will Scare the Sh*t Out Of You, Then Pull You From the Rubble

If I was trapped in a pile of earthquake rubble, I’d do just about anything to get the hell out as soon as possible. But if this cilia-covered rescue snakebot squirmed it’s way up my leg, I think the chances of heart failure might need to be factored in. It’s called the Active Scope Camera,…

Tech News John Mahoney

UAV Courier Pigeons Deliver Medical Supplies, Sans Awkward Number Two’s

Why We Need the Three Laws of Robotics in the Real World

Robot Legs Not So Different from Our Own

Uniqlo Wakamaru Robot Shopping Guide Is Afraid of Americans

Tokyo’s Robotic Bike Parking Garage is Awesome

A Robot Within a Robot, Swaddled in a Wooden Radio Cabinet

The 50-Foot Mechanical Spider Awakens

Massive Lego Mecha Can Probably Kill Humans, then Drink Ten Packs of Good Ole Fortran

The Styrobot Wants to Rule Your Cups and Packaging

Girl Pilots Japanese Fighting Robot With Gundam Master/Slave Control Suit

Six Ton Walking Spider Takes Passengers on Giant Robot Rides

The Wrong Door: If Terry Gilliam Directed Transformers as a TV Variety Show

Burning Man 2008 Preview: Hippies, Robots, Crazy Cars and Flaming Fine Art

High-Flying Solar Power Zephyr Glider Breaks Own World Record With 3.5 Day Flight

Sassy DIY Talking Robot Tells You How to Assemble Sassy DIY Talking Robot

Intel Explains In What Year We’ll Be Cyborgs But Terminators Will Kill Us Anyway

Cardboard Twitter Robot Will Read Out Loud How Big Your Poop Is and Be Sad About It

Completely Unimpressive Robot Already Developing Bender Attitude

WowWee Femisapien On Sale Now

Snake-Like Rescue Robot Will Scare the Sh*t Out Of You, Then Pull You From the Rubble

Artemis 2 Crew Become First Humans to Travel Beyond Earth Orbit Since the 1970s

Artemis 2 Day 2: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Labubus Might Be Labu-Bust After Pop Mart Posts Record Share Loss

Cursor’s New Tool Lets Users Delegate to a Team of Coding Agents

Nvidia Needs to Remind Itself What PC Gamers Actually Want

Iran Says It Hit Oracle Facilities in UAE

‘Invincible’ Season 4 Is Doing Right By Debbie

New Theory Says We’ve Been Overcomplicating the Big Bang

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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