Harry Porter's Collection of
Robot Videos

A page with links to over 60 videos, each showing a different interesting or unusual robot, showcasing the diversity of contemporary robotic and bionic technology.
This page created: January 2009

MIT's Nexi Robot

It is currently impossible to make a robotic face that is really human-like without it also looking weird or creepy. (See Eva, below.) This robot's face is an excellent, effective compromise.



Honda's Asimo




Akiba - Japanese Humanoid Female




Kismet - The Emotional Robot

This robot reflects research into which aspects of facial movement provide cues about human emotions.



Newlaunches FT - Small Feminine Walker

This robot is 14 inches tall and has 23 degrees of freedom. The goal was to produce a robot with a sexy swagger.



Automotive Manufacturing - Kuka Assembly Robot




Big Dog - Walking Quadruped from Boston Dyamics

Very impressive, dynamic behavior. This robot is very active with a high energy level coupled with graceful, animal-like movement. Try to download this video with a higher-speed Internet connection, so YouTube will send down a larger, non-jerky version of the video.



SARCOS - Exoskeleton for Soldiers




Shape-Shifting Swarm Robotics at CMU




Robots using Rat Brain Cells




Robots Inspired by Animals




Aiko - A Talking Head, With Pattern Recognition

This robot demonstrates more than just the ability to move; She/it can is also equiped with some voice and visual recognition capability.



Joey Chaos - A Talking Head (Delivering philosophy with piercings.)

His diatribe seems to be fixed and pre-programmed.



Jules - A Talking Head

This robot does well at replicating the lip movements while speaking, although it is clearly recognizable as non-human.



Eva - A Talking Head

It is currently impossible to mimic all the many facial muscles and complex movements in a human head. This robot demonstrates that if not done well, the result can be creepy or disturbing.



Snake Robot




Large 6 Legged Robotic Vehicle




Transformer - Humvee Bioloid




Hexapod Phoenix - 6 Legged Spider Manipulating a Box




Cockroach - Research at Case Western Reserve University




Cots-M Spy Robot (Military Hardware)




Mule - 6 Wheeled Army Vehicle




Crusher - 6 Wheeled Military Vehicle




Giant 2 Legged Walker, Armed & Carrying a Human




Walking Rhino-like Thing




Hubo FX-1 2 Legged Walking Chair




Albert HUBA - Walking Humanoid with Einstein-like Head




Fast Pick-and-Place Industrial Arm




Wall Climbing Wheeled Vehicle




Fast Pick-and-Place Industrial Arm




Fast Pick-and-Place Industrial Arm




Fast Pick-and-Place Industrial Arm




HyDRAS Arm, with Interesting Controlling Mechanism




Snake in Water




Humanoid, Remotely Controlled by Human




Inchworm with Muscle Wire




Artificial Muscle Material




Shaped Memory Wire - Artificial Muscle Material




FESTO - Bionic Hand with Hydraulic Actuators




Bionic Wire-Framed Hand




Cronos - Two Arms on a Workbench




DARPA's Bionic Hand




Mowgli - 2 Legged Jumping Robot




Jumping Robot - Air Powered




One-Legged Hopper from MIT


I saw this one and I remember how powerful and dangerous this thing seemed to be. They kept people safe from it. This was an early and impressive demonstration of dynamic balance.



Two Legged Dynamic Balancing Robot (It does a flip.)




Running Quadruped from CMU




MicroClipper Robot - Competing in a Maze Task




Four Legged Starfish Robot - Walking




Little Dog - Four Legged, Walking over Rough Terrain




HPI G-Dog - 4 Legged Walking Dog




Bionic Baby Seal




iRobot's Looj - A Gutter-Cleaning Robotic Product




iRobot's PackBot - A Treaded All-Terrain Robotic Product




iRobot's Roomba - A Vacuum Cleaning Robotic Product




FRC Microcontroller for FIRST Robotics Competition




Robotic Facial Expression Research - Takanishi Lab




Bicycle Riding Robot




NOVA - Cynthia Breazeal Discusses Robotics




Speaking Robot at MIT - With Unusual Fuzzy Behavior




LISA - A Female Companion

This video is a hoax.



Battle Robots in Action

Fictional, from the movie Terminator 3.



Warnings of a Dark Future: The Emergence of Machine Intelligence

by Harry H. Porter III, Ph.D.

What is the future of machines? Robots, genetic algorithms, artificial intelligence, viruses... where will all this lead? We are in the midst of creating a technology that--like the atomic bomb before it--may make the world vastly more dangerous than its inventors realize.

Click here to view the full paper
(or here if you prefer PDF)

About the Author

Harry H. Porter III, Ph.D.
Computer Science Department
Portland State University

Short Bio: click here
Harry's Website: www.cs.pdx.edu/~harry

About This Web Page

Before sending me e-mail, please read the following.

If you wish to point me toward videos that ought to be included, I might be interested. I am unable to include videos of all the many robotic projects that walk and move, but if a robot exhibits attributes or behavior not shown in the videos I have selected, or if it uses an interesting or novel technology, then I definitely want to add it.

There is a lot to say about the robots shown in these videos, but I am unfortunately too busy to read, thoughtfully consider and reply to every idea, question or opinion. I regretfully ask that you do not e-mail me your thoughts, questions or responses to these videos.

Instead, e-mail this site to your friends!

Click to e-mail this site to a friend

If you have technical issues when viewing this website, other than "The videos are slow to load," let me know.

Before sending me e-mail, please read the above.

Click to e-mail me