You can’t cover weird robots without throwing in a few amazing ones, and we’ve done just that in our latest feature. Above, you’ll catch a glimpse of the Hanako 2 dental robot and the dueling lightsaber bots. Continue reading to see all five.
1. Lightsaber Robots
Built by students at the Olin College of Engineering, this clever robot consists of a clamp, which hold the lock in place using a thumb-screw, and a puller, a solenoid-controlled grabber which yanks the loop of the lock to try to open it, and a stepper-motor which actually turns the knob and dials in the combinations.
3. SmartBird
Designed by Festo, the SmartBird is exactly as it sounds, an amazing bionic bird can take-off, fly, and land autonomously. Should you spot one in the sky, you’ll notice that its high-tech wings rival the real thing.
4. Rubik’s Cube Robot
A group of college students at the Swinburne University of Technology have built a robot — called Ruby — that is capable of solving a Rubik’s Cube in less than 11-seconds. Basically, it uses cameras to scan each face of the cube, collects the data, and then runs that information through a custom software algorithm.
5. Quadrocopter Pong
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich call it juggling, but we think these quadrocopters demonstrate what a real-life version of Pong played with robots would look like.
Bonus – Hanako 2 Dental Robot
Going to the dentist for your regular checkups is already something most people would rather pass on, but the super realistic Hanako 2 training robot wants to show that things really aren’t that bad.