Robots

AMC Renews Humans For A Second Season

AMC, Channel 4 and Kudos have renewed their science fiction show Humans for a second, eight episode season yesterday, continuing their cautionary story of robots in the near future. The new season will pick up after this season’s cliffhanger finale. AMC indicated that the show attracted a considerable audience in the US and in the…

io9 Andrew Liptak

Incredible Robotic Water Strider Jumps Like the Real Thing

Researchers from South Korea have created a robotic insect that’s capable of jumping and landing on an aquatic surface, a unique mode of transportation found only in specialized animals. To reproduce this jumping ability in a robot, Je-Sung Koh and colleagues from Seoul National University studied the way water striders do it. The resulting bio-inspired…

io9 George Dvorsky

Robotic Rhythmic Gymnastics Should Be an Olympic Sport

If you thought the debate over giving robots weapons was heated, the day is coming when we’ll also have to decide if we’re cool with them competing against us at sports. If this rhythmic gymnastics bot is any indication, there may never again be a human on the Olympic podium if that happens. The robot…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Why We Should Welcome ‘Killer Robots’—Not Ban Them

The open letter signed by more than 12,000 prominent people calling for a ban on artificially intelligent killer robots, connected to arguments for a UN ban on the same, is misguided and perhaps even reckless. Wait, misguided? Reckless? Let me offer some context. I am a robotics researcher and have spent much of my career…

Artificial Intelligence Jai Galliott

Japanese Telecom Companies Are Having a Robot Showdown

Here in the US, telecom giants like Verizon and AT&T fight for their share of customer data plans. But Japan’s own telecom outfits are embroiled in an additional head-to-head: selling robots. Yesterday, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT)—Japan’s biggest carrier—announced that it’s launching a service that lets a small, talking robot interact with other smart objects…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin

Leading Experts Sign an Open Letter Calling For a Ban On AI Weapons

More than a thousand prominent thinkers and leading AI and robotics researchers have signed an open letter calling for a ban on “offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control.” The letter, which was put together by the Future of Life Institute, was recently presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires,…

io9 George Dvorsky

Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking Call for Ban on Autonomous Military Robots

There’s no question that the age of autonomous killing machines is upon us. But some very smart and very influential people would like to turn back the clock. Over 1,000 people from the worlds of tech, space travel, computing, and mathematics have signed an open letter calling for an end to the autonomous weapons arms…

Artificial Intelligence Matt Novak

Mechanical Wrist Will Take Robotic Surgery to Places As-Yet Inoperable

Robotic surgery has become a relatively commonplace, with 1.7 million robotic procedures occurring between 2007 and 2013. This new tiny robotic wrist, however, will take the procedure into the head, face and neck. The Engineer reports that this flexible wrist is the latest advance in needlescopic surgery, which uses tiny robotic components—typically needle-sized, hence the…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

These Tiny Little Robots Are Helping Us Understand the Science of Swarms

Have you met the Kilobot? It’s small, simple, inexpensive—not the most impressive robot, on its own. But the Kilobot wasn’t made to work alone, or even in twos or threes. No, where the Kilobot really thrives is in groups. Since 2010, the size of the group in which it cooperates has steadily grown, and with…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

This Robot Stacks Bricks Into Impossible-Looking Building Facades

Bricks are known for their strength and impenetrability—not necessarily for their light and airy look. But a Swiss firm has created just that, stacking bricks into a sculptural helix-like lattice that zig-zags across the front of a building. And they did it with the help of a robot. The architectural firm Gramazio Kohler used the…

Tech News Alissa Walker

The 5 Best Times Obama Met With Robots

Yesterday, President Obama made history by having a conversation via telepresence robot in the White House to mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans Disabilities Act. But it wasn’t the first time Obama has met with the artificially intelligent. July 2015 | Meets Alice Wong of Disability Visibility Project via BeamPro Looks like they could…

Tech News Alissa Walker

Botched Robotic Surgeries Have Been Linked to 144 Patient Deaths

An independent analysis of reports gathered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 2000 shows that robotic surgery isn’t as safe as some people might assume. Surgery involving robots, where a surgeon guides the steady and precise movements of a robotic arm, have increased dramatically in recent years. As reported in MIT Technology Review,…

io9 George Dvorsky

Robotic Surgery Has Been Connected to 144 U.S. Deaths Since 2000

All surgery carries risk, and that’s also true when it involves robots. A new study of U.S. Food and Drug Administration data reveals that a variety of malfunctions have been linked to 144 deaths during robotic surgery in the last 14 years. In the study, researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, MIT and Rush…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

This Robot Just Passed a Rudimentary Self-awareness Test

It’s nothing to get too excited or alarmed about, but a robot has passed a modified version of the classic King’s Wise Men Test. It’s another classic case of simulation rather than emulation, but the experiment shows how artificial self-awareness can be programmed into our technology. For the experiment, roboticists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s…

io9 George Dvorsky

This Robot Is Hitchhiking Across the US (Please Don’t Steal His Boots)

If you happen to see a robot on the side of the road this summer, don’t be afraid to pick him up. That’s just hitchBOT, a friendly hitch-hiking robot trying to make his (her? its?) way from Boston to San Francisco. Designed by Canadian researchers, hitchBOT is part art project, part social experiment. Can robots…

Tech News Matt Novak

Behold, a Real Hotel Staffed By Talking Androids and Robotic Dinosaurs

There is now a hotel in the world with a dinosaur concierge. He’s also a robot. He also speaks English. He wears a cute li’l bowtie. And his coworkers are a bunch of other robots. Welcome to Henn na Hotel, aka, “Weird Hotel.” This Friday, Japan’s Henn na Hotel (“henn na” means “weird” or “strange”…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin

This Transforming Lego Optimus Prime Must Be Bending the Laws of Physics

Half of me wants to believe that this amazing Lego version of Optimus Prime (the Michael Bay movie version) that can actually transform into a robot is legit. But the other half of me is having a hard time believing that Ralph Savelsberg didn’t just hire Industrial Light & Magic to help fake these photos…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Why Are Computers So Bad At Jokes?

That was the question a group of researchers—including The New Yorker’s Cartoon Editor, Bob Mankoff—asked in a study highlighted by Arxiv and MIT’s Technology Review. And really, asking why robots can’t tell jokes is a roundabout way of asking why humans find anything funny. What is funniness? Can it possibly be quantitative? And why is…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

A Look Back At McDonald’s Best Happy Meal Toys Ever: Changeables

The Happy Meal, and its included toy, is one of the more brilliant marketing schemes of the past 30+ years. It ensured that every child in the country was begging their parents to take them to McDonald’s, especially when in 1987 the chain introduced Changeables: its own line of transforming toys based on the restaurant’s…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Design Secrets of Ex Machina, This Year’s Boldest Science Fiction Movie

Ex Machina looks unlike any science fiction film you’ve seen lately. Its mostly subterranean location is opulent and claustrophobic—and then there’s Ava, the eerily beautiful robot. Check out an exclusive clip from the DVD’s special features, and our interview with the film’s production designer, Mark Digby. Wewere blown away by Ex Machina when we saw…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

AMC Renews Humans For A Second Season

Incredible Robotic Water Strider Jumps Like the Real Thing

Robotic Rhythmic Gymnastics Should Be an Olympic Sport

Why We Should Welcome ‘Killer Robots’—Not Ban Them

Japanese Telecom Companies Are Having a Robot Showdown

Leading Experts Sign an Open Letter Calling For a Ban On AI Weapons

Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking Call for Ban on Autonomous Military Robots

Mechanical Wrist Will Take Robotic Surgery to Places As-Yet Inoperable

These Tiny Little Robots Are Helping Us Understand the Science of Swarms

This Robot Stacks Bricks Into Impossible-Looking Building Facades

The 5 Best Times Obama Met With Robots

Botched Robotic Surgeries Have Been Linked to 144 Patient Deaths

Robotic Surgery Has Been Connected to 144 U.S. Deaths Since 2000

This Robot Just Passed a Rudimentary Self-awareness Test

This Robot Is Hitchhiking Across the US (Please Don’t Steal His Boots)

Behold, a Real Hotel Staffed By Talking Androids and Robotic Dinosaurs

This Transforming Lego Optimus Prime Must Be Bending the Laws of Physics

Why Are Computers So Bad At Jokes?

A Look Back At McDonald’s Best Happy Meal Toys Ever: Changeables

Design Secrets of Ex Machina, This Year’s Boldest Science Fiction Movie

LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 Quietly Hits a Record Low, Expanding Beyond the Millennium Falcon Deals for a Limited Time

Calls to Regulate Smart Glasses Are Officially Deafening

Amazon Clears Out the Chefman Indoor Pizza Oven at 50% Off, Pizza Stone and Peel Included

‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Will Return for Season 2

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

Shark FlexStyle Air Styling System Holds at 31% Off While Dyson Airwrap Returns to Full Price After the Spring Sale

Sonos Ace ANC Headphones Quietly Drop Again to a New Low Right After the AirPods Max 2 Launch

Could Dave Filoni’s ‘Star Wars’ Cameo Have an Important Role in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’?

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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