This entertaining video shows two humanoid robots in a realistic boxing match.

No RoboGore, just two robots doing their best to win.

Filed under: robots, video, and battle

In our strangely detached world it can seem like a miracle to build something out of pieces and see it work.

The Navy's Office of Naval Research gave a bunch of robot model kits to students, and they took a month's worth of classes to explore the mathematics, physics and electronics of their new creations.

Then, in the climax of the course, they were able to use a US Navy test basin to check out their creations in action!

This seems like a really great way to get students interested in science.

Filed under: science and robots

Here, watch him mow the lawn while his family enjoys a normal day in the yard.

The video is quite a sight, even though the strange creature eventually trips and falls while trying to free the mower from the clutches of a small outbuilding.

Does this portend more flexible robots? Most lawn mowing robots are boxy and stay low to the ground. I think I might prefer the boxy type based on this one's struggles, but if we are to have a Jeeves who hands us tea and gives us good advice, this is the beginning.

But will the modern day robots give us the sound romantic advice Jeeves did? That might be an entirely new frontier ...

Filed under: robots and humanoid

Can we get robots to fight our wars?

Here's an interesting review of today's combat robot technology: Where it is, and where it's going.

The short answer is that it will be years, if not decades, before humans are replaced on the battlefield -- even in the high-tech US Army.

Filed under: robots, combat, and military