Artificial intelligence is getting more advanced by the day, in ways that are both scary and exciting. There are robots that can help make the world a better place – leading schools of fish away from turbines, or helping the disabled regain mobility. Then there are the pole dancers, ketchup squeezers and graffiti sprayers. These 16 robots run the gamut, with functions that delight and amaze.

Bear Pillow Tickles Snorers in the Face

(images via: spectrum.ieee.org)

Does your partner have a snoring problem? Imagine buying them this totally innocent-looking bear pillow and watching their reaction when, prompted by the sound of snoring, it raises its arm and touches their face to make them stop. The Jukusui-Kun Robotic Bear Pillow not only listens to the volume of snoring, but also monitors oxygen levels, making them a great companion for people with sleep apnea.

Autonomous Snow Plow Robot

(images via: geekologie)

Nobody likes shoveling snow, and in some climates, winter clean-up is an exhausting, never-ending task. Too bad we can’t all have our very own Yuki-taro robots – autonomous snow plows that seek out snow, gobble it up and then excrete compressed blocks of ice which can be stacked and stored until summer, when they can be used for refrigeration or cooling. The researchers that developed it hope that it will be commercially available within five years.

Pole-Dancing Robots

(images via: youtube/giles walker)

You might find these pole dancers a little stiff. The fully animated robots – along with a DJ – were made by Giles Walker out of raw materials found in scrap yards. Walker controls the robots through a PC using a DMX lighting program.

Twitter Robot Acts Out Your Friends’ Emotions

(images via: dvice)

Ken Lim’s Guardian Robot from InsideGuardian.

Most people don’t have the time to constantly monitor their Twitter stream for comments that indicate that their friends are either really happy or really sad. Well, there’s a robot for that too. Ken Lim’s ‘Guardian Robot’ will either raise its arm or lower its head in response to your friends’ comments. You can give it a high-five when it’s happy or a hug when it’s sad to return it to its idle state.

Clean Your House Remotely with Kinect-Powered Robot

(image via: spectrum.ieee.org)

You’re having company tonight, but you haven’t had a chance to clean – you’re stuck at your office job instead, doing busy work. But if you had Yaskawa’s SmartPal VII, you could be cleaning your house remotely – using a robot powered by XBox Kinect. Maybe it won’t scrub the toilet, but it moves well enough to pick some things up off the floor.

Senseless Drawing Bot

(images via: vimeo)

If you’ve ever felt the need to cover a surface in graffiti but couldn’t be bothered to do it yourself, there’s a robot just for you. The Senseless Drawing Bot by So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi moves back and forth in a straight line along a wall, its mechanical arm spraying random scribbles in the colors of your choice.

Automated Ketchup-Squirting Robot

(image via: tasteologie)

It’s a robot that squeezes ketchup, and it’s got its own theme song. The video speaks for itself.

Kazu Terasaki iPad Walking Robot

(image via: engadget)

iPads and iPhones become walking, googly-eyed robots in the hands of Kazu Terasaki. When watching the video of this unusual modification, you can’t help but cringe waiting for these expensive gadgets to walk right over the edge of the table and crash to the floor.

Fractal Scene Robot Goes On and On Forever

(images via: screamyguy.net)

It’s not a physical robot, it’s a digital robot, but it’s still pretty cool. Programmer Matt Kozak created a fractal scene of a robot reproducing. Check out Matt’s website to view the scene from various angles and zoom in and out for the full trippy effect.

“Several years ago, I built a robot whose sole purpose in life was to create an even smaller robot just like himself… So much like himself, that this robot endeavoured to create yet another tiny robot, ad infinitum. This continued for a while until an extremely tiny speck of robot tried to endow purpose upon a cloud of molecules with ruinous result.”

Robot Fish Leads Schools of the Real Thing

(images via: botjunkie)

Professor Maurizio Porfiri has produced a robot fish that behaves with such realism, living fish can’t tell that it’s an impostor and will let it lead their school. Porfiri’s fish uses ionic polymers that swell and shrink in response to electrical simulation in order to power its tail for smooth, silent movement. The robot could actually be used to escort schools of fish away from dangers like hydroelectric turbines.

Robot Arm Turned F1 Simulator

(image via: popsci)

Ever wonder what it’s like to drive a Ferrari at top speeds? A robot by Paolo Robuffo Giordano and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany acts as a simulator to replicate the experience without the actual vehicle. A hot pink robotic arm, of the sort normally seen at amusement parks, holds an elevated seat that whips the rider around in front of a massive screen. While this might just be the world’s coolest simulated driving game, it’s also helping researchers study how the human body reacts to motion.

16 Forms: Programmed Robotic Music Experience

(images via: notcot)

Displayed at this year’s DesignTokyo Tide, ’16 Forms’ by Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi combines a robot arm, turntable, scans and 3D prints of a dancer to produce a strangely hypnotic audio and visual experience. Watch the video at vision.ameba.jp.

R7 Rideable Robot

(images via: new scientist)

Korean company Robo3 produced a few amazing robots that were available for sale on the company’s website back in 2005 and 2006. Along with a robot bartender and a dinosaur, Robo3 offered the R7, a rideable robot that could have been yours for $5,250.

Robot Planter Seeks Sun

(images via: the play coalition)

Fitted with a woven planter basket, the ‘Plant Bot’ by The Play Coalition has four mechanical legs that move the plant around the room to find patches of sunlight. Its legs move something like those of a spider, and though it might help keep your plants alive, its best use might be surprising the hell out of unsuspecting guests.

Giant Robotic Spiders Prowl Yokohama

(images via: pink tentacle)

French performance artist group La Machine brought two insanely nightmarish robotic spiders to Yokohama, Japan in 2009 for Expo Y150, a 5-month festival in honor of the 150th anniversary of the opening of the city’s port. The spiders crawled along the streets in a spectacle that brought dubious 1960’s B-rated horror movies to life.

You Don’t Control This Robot, It Controls You

(image via: spectrum.ieee.org)

Sure, you can make robots do all kinds of cool and crazy things, but at least one of them turns the tables by controlling a human limb. The robot sends small electrical currents to electrodes taped to a person’s forearm to hold a ball and then drop it through a hoop. The technology could someday be used to help disabled people regain some of their motor skills.

Graffiti takes time whether you’re an amateur or a seasoned expert. This crazy robot lets you sit back with a cold beer while it goes at the work of tagging an entire wall with your choice of spray paint. The drawback, of course, is that it’s a completely random process involving a wildly waving spray paint arm and a bunch of shapeless scribbles. But hey, at least you’ll avoid that miserable sore finger that comes from holding down the paint can button for too long!

The Senseless Drawing Bot was invented by So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi for the singular purpose of scribbling random lines and swirls of paint on your chosen surface. The bot wheels itself back and forth in a straight line, swinging its metal arm and creating one-of-a-kind works of robot art.

We hear you out there asking “What’s the point?” But like so many other creative works out there, there’s no real answer to that. The Senseless Drawing Bot seems to exist solely to be weird, funny and different than most of the other graffiti projects out there.

When the first Tron film was released in 1982, no one was quite sure what to expect. The concept seemed strange and futuristic, and it was unlike any other movie made before it. Now, nearly 30 years later, we are on the brink of a new generation of Tron. The long-awaited sequel will soon hit theaters, much to the delight of fans around the world. Along with the anticipation and fanfare that come with the release of a beloved sci-fi movie, the Tron inspiration has been flowing with designers. Whether inspired by the classic or the sequel, these Tron-inspired designs are delightful, geeky fun.

(images via: Refinery29)

LA-based jewelry makers TomTom partnered with Disney to put out this limited-edition line of Tron: Legacy jewelry. The pieces are grown-up, technology-inspired, and completely perfect for the geeky jewelry lover with deep pockets: they start at $255 and go all the way up to $495.

(image via: TokyoFlash)

This concept watch from Scott Galloway is Tron tech at its best: simple lines, glowing lights, and geeky goodness all rolled up into a wearable object. Scott submitted this design to wacky watch designer TokyoFlash for a Tron-inspired watch design contest, with the prize being the professional production of the design. It would be great to see the Tron fans of the world walking around with these gorgeous streamlined timepieces on.

(image via: Design + Conquer)

Tron fashion goes high-style with Design + Conquer‘s Tron earrings. The earrings are made from a flexible polymer so they aren’t too heavy to wear. This design is just one of D + C’s delightfully geeky jewelry pieces; their other inspirations include The Neverending Story and Star Wars.

(images via: MOBILEcim)

Gaming hardware geniuses Razer have teamed up with Disney to release a suite of sweet Tron gaming accessories, including a mouse, keyboard and mouse pad (not pictured). The keyboard features a detachable numeric keypad for racing around on your virtual lightcycle unhindered. The gaming mouse gives light and sound signals in reaction to your gaming experiences while the mouse mat displays a glow trail that tracks the mouse’s movement across it.

(image via: Fashioning Technology)

Rarely has a DIY Halloween costume been this eye-catching and unforgettable. This Quorra costume made by brilliant designer Syuzi captures the tough beauty of Tron: Legacy’s lovely heroine. Syuzi created this totally rad costume using faux leather clothing and electroluminescent tape.

(images via: Threadless)

Rolf Nelson’s “My Other Ride is a Light Cycle” designs won a huge amount of admiration on Threadless, and he was rewarded by seeing his shirts go into production. The glow in the dark T-shirt and hoodie designs are what every fashionable geek is wearing this season.

(image via: Fashioning Technology)

These prototype shoes were the result of a combined Disney/Adidas effort to drum up even more enthusiasm for the upcoming Tron sequel. The shoes were made with a type of electroluminescent technology patented by Oryon Technologies that is printed directly onto the textiles and is somewhat washable (up to 25 cycles). It doesn’t appear that these shoes went into production so we probably won’t be seeing them in stores anytime soon.

(image via: Jorge Lacera)

This Tron-syle mecha from Jorge Lacera is what fan art is all about. Lacera used the new movie as inspiration for his totally unique dreamed-up illustration, in which a folding mecha towers over a Program. The artist envisions the mecha folding up origami-style to race around the digital world.

(image via: Pixel Fantasy)

This wallpaper design is a combination of Tron and Pac-Man, which is just too wonderfully geeky to pass over. The Pac-Tron desktop wallpaper was designed by Pixel Fantasy, and it’s everything you would hope for from a mash-up of two geek icons.

(image via: DexFlu)

Finally, a possibly-accidental Tron design. The Sorla teacup and saucer design from Ikea comes in red and blue and sure does look like it was based on Tron-like aesthetics. Whether the designer behind these cups was a fan or it’s just a happy accident, these cups would be the perfect way to start every day before heading out into the digital wilderness.

We’ve all been there, when that beloved gadget where you could once find the sweet spot has now gotta go; it’s too slow. Geeks want the next best and shiny new toy, the fastest hot new gadget on the market. But that toxic and outdated electronic equipment winds up in landfills to leach poisonous heavy metals into the soil and groundwater. Instead of leaving a technological footprint on the environment, let your inner eco-geek blossom. Here are 25 hardware hacks and magnificent manipulations of e-waste repurposed to functional geeky gadgets.

Circuit Board Clocks

(image credits:ArtEco)

Plenty of printed circuit boards are headed for processing to extract the precious metals before hitting the landfill. Before you throw it out, stop and think how to recycle obsolete parts into a functioning gadget for your favorite geek. These hardware hacks of circuitry and creativity are so slick that it might send you dumpster diving for discarded electronics. The desk clock on the left was repurposed from a 40 GB hard drive control board. The clock on the right was recreated as a blend from a Circa 1990 laptop drive controller and from a 20 MB Seagate low-profile, high-speed, dual mode drive controller card.

Codename: COOL

(image credits:trendhunter)

This example of blurred boundaries between one person’s trash being another’s treasure should be codenamed COOL. This futuristic motorcycle was crafted from recycled computer and VCR parts. The engine is an electric DC Motor to power a belt for the rear wheel drive, but was turned on for demonstration only.  Maybe one eco-geek will soon figure out how to get this bad boy hitting the highway and cruising full speed into adventures.

Eclectic Collection Of Time Keepers

(image credits:ArtEco)

Time rules the world whether we want it to or not. Geeky gadgets around the globe include an eclectic collection of hard drive and floppy cases, RAM, processors, other chips and circuit boards. Some eco-geeks can turn discarded aerospace and military hardware into functioning sculptures and clocks. The top two wall clocks are made from a drive platter and a hard drive case. The pendulum wall clock on the bottom left was once a militarized hard drive shell, while the pendulum has a 4″ wafer with vapor deposition memory chips. On the bottom right, this desk clock was a drive platter with a heat sink stand from a Pentium processor chip.

Hardware Hacks Repurposed To Geeky Gadgets

(image credits:ArtEco)

Reverse-engineering and disassembling technology are the building blocks of eco-geek beauty. The top left desk clock was recycled from a Pentium II processor with support chips. On the top right, this desk clock was repurposed from an office telephone PC board and is sitting on a heat sink from a Pentium processor chip. The bottom left wall clock was salvaged from the geek part graveyard and the injection molded aluminum case came from a 10 MB Maxtor drive with a platter in the center of the clock. On the bottom right, this wall clock had a previous life functioning as a militarized Seagate hard drive frame.

Eco-Geek Galore

(image credits:ArtEco)

These creative initiatives focus on commissioning clunkers into clocks. On the top left, this deep desk clock was built from a vintage Circa 1950 Civil Defense dosimeter reading device. What was once from a high-performance computer, now has been repurposed into other functions that were not what the chip-makers or manufacturers had in mind. Hardware hacks like the wall clock on the top right once functioned as an ATM firmware board with 28 pin gold sockets. On the bottom left, an 80 GB militarized hard drive board now works as a desk clock. The bottom right desk clock consists of a drive platter, recycled computer cabinets, and DRAM modules from an early IBM PC.

Geeky Gadgetry Doesn’t Always Involves Clocks

(image credits:the Blue Kraken,Debbie Arem Designs,Creative Activities,Debbie Arem Designs,Debbie Arem Designs)

Geeks who jam came up with guitar picks made from circuit boards.  But clipboards like circuit boards come in all colors and sizes. A creative eco-geek turned yet other circuit boards into a bird house. On the bottom left, this repurposed circuit board clock also has a recycled 78 RPM vinyl record and a recycled CD. On the bottom right, this rare all black recycled circuit board now functions as a clock with recycled brass. We geeks are everywhere and we hold the power and talent to change the world for the better.

Obsolete Parts Recycled Into Geek Art

(image credits:Brenda Guyton,ArtEco)

Ever wondered what else you could do with all those motherboards, hard drives, circuit boards and ROM that look cool but are headed for the trash? Some outdated or broken miscellaneous computer parts are made into awesome art animals like the 3.5 feet tall jack rabbit on the top left.  Jack’s nose is made from a computer monitor coil, his toes from hard disk drives and his ears have copper sheeting. K-9 on the top right is 3 feet tall and repurposed from obsolete electronic guts that would otherwise be headed for the landfill. Yet for functioning art to show your geeky romantic side, why not turn the circuit boards from AT&T phones into a three-panel tea candle? On the bottom left, is a decorative Praying Mantis holding two cray memory chips. The legs can be gently moved.

Scary Or Slick Skull

(image credit:walyou)

For a truly inspirational and green way of recycling parts, take a look at this huge skull. This fantastic art is recycled from obsolete and no longer useful computer screens and keyboards, circuit boards, and otherwise broken computer pieces. Such masterpieces mitigate the environmental damage of technology while offering a creative new approach to destroying data on old hard drives.