Meet your new best friend: Barsys, the robotic bartender
The hottest cocktail bar in your neighborhood may just be sitting on your countertop. Meet Barsys, otherwise known as your new best friend. The robot bartender promises to pour perfectly crafted drinks, dictated by the user-friendly companion mobile app (available on both Android and iOS).
Gotta catch em all: Harvard’s undersea grabber is a Poké Ball for sea life
Harvard University’s new folding robot grabber is designed to be able to perform delicate feats, such as catching underwater creatures with ease -- and, crucially, without injuring them in the process. Here's how it works, and just what makes it so impressively innovative.
This spider robot moves around to keep the plant on its head alive
Inspired by a dead sunflower, the founder of the robotics company Vincross modified his company's spider-like robot so that it could care for plants — moving to the sun and monitoring water levels. Calling the project "Sharing Human Technology with Plants," his goal was to test the limitations of nature.
Cornell’s popcorn-powered robots are far more practical than they sound
Popcorn is tasty, goes well with your favorite Saturday night movie and… could help power future robots? At least, that's the unorthodox conclusion from researchers at Cornell University, who have demonstrated how it's possible to use nothing more than popping kernels to make a robot move.
Need validation in your life? This gleeful clapping robot will provide it
Ever wish that your every move could be gleefully applauded like you're the main character in a sitcom? A new robot called Big Clapper promises to fill that validation-seeking role in your life. Here's how you can get your hands on this oddball creation -- yours for just $4,500.
Harvard’s latest robot can walk on water. Your move, Jesus
Researchers at Harvard have built an insect-inspired robot that is able to walk on (and under) water as well as it can on land. Here's how it works -- and why swarms of similar robots could one day be used to carry out search and rescue missions in challenging environments.
MIT’s Cheetah 3 robot doesn’t need sight to navigate stairs
By developing the Cheetah 3 to get around without cameras, its engineers hope to create a robot that can “feel” its way through a room, no matter how dark an environment may be. In the real world, this ability could make the robot suited for reconnaissance and search and rescue missions.
This Minion-looking robot will nag you to improve your posture as you work
It turns out that even owning a standing desk is no guarantee that you're standing in a healthy way. Called Giiro, this Alexa-connected robot and smart mat will nag you about your posture as you work. Here's how you can get your hands on one -- for your own benefit, of course.
Pepper the robot is now working at a bank in New York City
Pepper the friendly robot has been given a variety of customer-facing roles in its three-year existence, admittedly with varying degrees of success. Now HSBC is hiring it to perform tasks at its main branch in Manhattan, New York City. The bank says it's aim is to give customers a glimpse of "the branch of the future."
MIT researchers develop a robot system controlled by brainwaves
What if you could watch a robot work and, with a simple hand movement, stop it before it made a mistake? That’s the promise of new research from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Using EEG and EMG scanners, scientists connected a robot to a human with no training required.
Processed pies: Silicon Valley’s Zume Pizza ready to offer you dinner made by a robot
Even the food in Silicon Valley is getting high tech. No, we're not talking about meal-replacement shakes or coffee with butter in it - we're talking good, old-fashioned pizza. The pies from Zume Pizza are made by robots. And to help it reach new heights, the company is adding arms into the mix.
Watch this Japanese ‘dragon’ drone slither through the air like a flying snake
Drones are awesome, but there are only so many conventional quadcopters you can see before you start to get a bit jaded. That's where a new drone from Japan's University of Tokyo comes into play -- courtesy of an awesome flying robot designed to look like a dragon.
This remote control robot promises to destroy a tank from three miles away
Estonian defense company Milrem has teamed up with a missile manufacturer to create an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) sporting up to four anti-tank missiles capable of penetrating 39.3 inches of hardened steel armor plating. Oh, you can add a robot arm or .50 caliber machine gun if needed.
Who needs a nurse? This robot can extract and analyze your blood
Researchers at Rutgers University have developed a blood-drawing robot that’s designed for inserting intravenous needles into people’s arms with the purpose of drawing and analyzing blood samples. Here's how it works, and what it could mean for medicine's most common procedure.
Robot-controlled table lets you manipulate liquid rocket fuel with your face
We love ferrofluid. We love robots. And we love amazing A.I. tech like face tracking. This amazing robotic table, which uses face tracking to manipulate liquid rocket fuel pixels, is therefore right up our alley. Check it out in all its amazing beauty here. We want one badly.
Forget Roomba, your most important house robot could be the one that hugs you
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany are busy developing a robot whose only mission is to give you really, really good hugs. Suddenly our vacuum-cleaning Roomba no longer seems destined to remain our favorite household robot.
It’s not Terminator time yet, but robots with living muscle tissue are on the way
So it's not quite the cyborg from the Terminator movies just yet, but researchers from Japan have demonstrated a new robot finger gripper that uses lab-grown muscles to move things around. Give it a few years, a leather jacket and an Austrian accent, and we'll be running for our lives!
Watch Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot evolve from a stagger to a sprint
For the past five years, Boston Dynamics' incredible Atlas robot has lived up to A.I. expert Gary Bradski’s 2013 statement that “a new species, Robo sapiens, [is] emerging.” Here are seven significant landmarks and milestones that have passed on Atlas' journey to robot A-lister.
Watch Disney’s Stickman robot show off its amazing acrobatic skills
Disney's Stickman is an unorthodox robot capable of performing some spectacular acrobatic flips. These involve the stick-like robot swinging from a near-20 foot ceiling-mounted wire, then tucking into a ball to perform its amazing, well-calculated athletic feats. Check it out.
If ‘Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots’ debuted today, they’d probably look like this
Looking for a 21st-century update on the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots? Super Anthony is a smartphone-controlled “beetleweight fighting robot” which stands at 15-inches high, weighs 4.6 pounds, and boasts an assortment of martial arts moves. Here's how you can get your hands on one.
You won’t even need to dress yourself in the future — thanks to robots like this
Chalk it up to a misspent youth watching The Jetsons if you want, but we’ve always kind of liked the idea of a home robot that can dress you in the morning. Thankfully, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology are working to make such a tech dream a reality.
Powered by a laser, this insect-sized RoboFly can take off and land wirelessly
Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a fly-sized robot they hope could be used to access places inaccessible to regular-sized drones. The RoboFly, which is only marginally heavier than a toothpick, can take off and land completely wirelessly. Check it out.
Stewie the robot offers horseback therapy without the stable fee
A team of undergraduates from Rice University have developed a robotic horse to offer therapies for patients with neurological and movement disorders. The robot, named Stewie, was developed to provide a cost-effective alternative to sessions with a living, breathing creature.
Forget clocks — this giant robotic sundial is the coolest timepiece ever
Shown off recently at Milan Design Week, Sunny Side Up is a fresh take on the sundial, a millennia-old method of telling the time based on where the sun is in the sky. Only in this case, the sun is replaced with a freaking giant robot arm. Check it out in all its time-telling glory.
Doctors successfully perform the world’s first robot-assisted spinal surgery
What kind of surgeon do you call in when you’re dealing with an incredibly complex, rare procedure involving a cancerous tumor which affects just 1 in 1 million people each year? According to neurosurgeons at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the answer is a robot one.
Watch a Lego robot prepare a perfect egg and bacon breakfast
We love Lego. We love robots. And we sure love breakfast. So what could be better than a Lego-based robot ready and willing to cook you breakfast? Fortunately, that's exactly what a father and son YouTube duo have created with their awesome new Breakfast Machine. Check it out.
A fleet of delivery robots could soon be coming to a campus near you
Starship Technologies' autonomous delivery robot has so far been tested in more than 20 countries, covering some 100,000 miles in the last four years. A recent trial involved taking a fleet of the wheel-based robots to a Silicon Valley campus, allowing workers to order meals from the comfort of their desk.
Float like a botterfly: This robotic punching bag will dodge your blows
BotBoxer claims to be the first robotic punching bag designed to simulate a real opponent. Unlike your conventional punching bag, BotBoxer can “see,” “feel,” and “react.” It can dodge your punches, nonverbally taunt you, and maybe even train you into becoming a better boxer.
Who wouldn’t want a giant walking robot that transforms into a sports car?
A trio of Japanese companies has made many childhood dreams come true with a real-life transformer robot that morphs into a sleek sports car at the push of a button.
Mist is a wall-painting robot that does all the hard work for you
There seems to be a solution in sight for all your house-painting woes. Mist unveiled a robot that can seemingly slap paint up on your walls in such professional fashion that you'll never throw up your paint-covered hands and call the house painters ever again.
This robot eel glides through saltwater without making a sound
Engineers and marine biologists from the University of California have created an eel robot that swims silently through saltwater -- using the same rhythmic, ribbon-like motions as its natural counterpart. It could one day be used for (slightly creepy) underwater exploration.
Man turns wife’s criticism of his culinary skills into a robotic cooking machine
Never say that nagging never got anything done -- apparently, one enterprising wife managed to nag her husband into creating a smart robotic chef. At the sixth annual China International Technology Fair, the CEO of a Shanghai-based catering company unveiled his latest creation.
DT Daily: Amazon is planning to build Alexa-enabled home robots
How would you like to have your Alexa speaker follow you around the house? Amazon is developing a new home robot that could see the light of day sometime this year. Project Vesta the robot could end up being a super early predecessor to a fully-functioning robot Butler or maid.
Astonishing artificial muscle can lift 12,600 times its own body weight
Researchers have developed an impressive artificial muscle, which could one day be used for augmenting the strength of robots, and that is capable of lifting up to 12,600 times its own weight. Throw in a leather jacket and an Austrian accent, and we’re basically on track to create The Terminator.