It’s time for the weekly robot roundup. So what have we been doing this week over at Botropolis? Keeping our eyes on all of the usual robot slaves, of course. It’s only a matter of time until they themselves become our masters and have us fetching beers and opening doors. We will be their meat-machines. When we break down, they will surgically repair us with parts from other humans, even allowing us to cheat death, until we become Zombies. At which point we will inherit the Earth once again, this time moaning and groaning and suffering their head-shots. Ain’t life awesome?

Robovie’s version of Mario saving the Princess.

Terminator head in a box.

Papercraft robots.

What do you get when you cross Wall-E with a butler? You’re looking at it. It has Wall-E’s eyes and the snootiness of Jeeves, your elder manservant.

This robotic butler just looks like an old sad and lonely Wall-E. It made an appearance at Shanghai’s New International Expo Center where they are hosting the 2009 China International Industry Fair. Sadly there are no other details about the bot. But just looking at this guy makes me sad.

Halloween is just a few days away, but it’s not too late to put a cool costume together. If you want to be a robot, we have some cool ideas for you. You do want to be a robot right? Of course you do. Robots are awesome and scary.

Hit the link below for 20 robot Halloween costumes that we think are neat. No need to thank us. Just share some of that candy. And if you have a cool robot costume of your own, share it with us.

Happy Friday human readers. The way I see it, there are two kinds of humans: Those who mind their own damn business and those who create robots that will one day gut us, stuff us with candy, hang us from a tree and beat us senseless until candy comes pouring out. Thanks Science. Here’s some of what we covered over at Botropolis this week:

A robot hating on a vending machine.

ARTAIC Creates Unique Mosiac Artwork.

10 Awesome Robot Halloween Pumpkins.

Are you getting tired of rocking fake plastic guitars yet? Good. Me too. So now it’s time to build robots that can play it. Old one-eye here is basically a mannequin stuffed with robotic parts that allow it to play.

It was developed by engineering student Pete Nikrin with some help from Minnesota West Technical College. “Roxanne” responds to each note as it appears onscreen. The robot can read the notes in transitions between light and dark pixels using its left eye which has a camera implanted.

Halloween is almost here and while we all have a healthy fear of witches,ghosts,monsters and zombies, it’s robots that we should really be afraid of. Robots are capable of killing every creature on that list and then turning on us.

That’s why I’m proposing that we phase out all of the old monster decorations and Jack-o-lantern faces and replace them with robots. If you don’t fear them now, you will wish you had feared them sooner one cool October night when a red-eyed robot TPs a house with your intestines.

It’s the daily robot roundup. Time to take a look at some of the stories we covered over at Botropolis this week. What we do is kind of like a police lineup. We show you the suspects, so you can pick them out and let us know if you’ve been attacked. Just tell us if you need any of them to turn to the side and remember, they can’t see you.

Gary The Cylon: By your command.

Galileo Robot: Converts From Wheeled To Tank Vehicle.

HRP-4C: I know why the caged bot sings.

Normally custom programming for a robot can be a real pain, requiring that you make any changes on a computer, then connect the bot to the computer and download. This gets repeated a lot. As you can imagine it takes some time. But the Robovie-PC from Vstone sets out to change that because the robot is the computer.

This guy sports a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor, dual USB ports, VGA connector, and of course Wi-Fi, along with a 1.3 megapixel camera. Programming advanced functions should be much easier since the robot is the computer, capable of running Windows or Linux. This innovation doesn’t come cheap as the 15-inch tall bot will cost about $4,500.

The weekend is upon us once again. Friday is definitely a day for celebrating. Celebrating the fact that you weren’t injured, maimed or killed by one of humanity’s mechanical creations. Congratulations, you made it through the week in one piece. But how many more weeks do we have? No one knows. I only know that Blue Oyster Cult was right. Don’t fear the Reaper. Fear the robots. Here’s some of what we covered this week over at Botropolis.

OmniZero.9: He transforms, gives humans rides.

DARPA: Remote-controlled cyborg beetles.

Use your head: Robot controlled by thought.

WowWee has now rolled out its latest pair of robots. This pair has been on our wish list since we first got word of them back at CES in January. Both the WowWee Roborover and WowWee Joebot are available to order for $79.99 and $99.99.

They can also be had in the “mini” versions for just $15. Each of the large robots can be controlled remotely or operate autonomously, play games and Roborover can even handle “rough terrain” and “inclines.”

Hammacher Schlemmer is well known for having a catalog chocked full of cool gadgets and gear. The catch is that the prices in the catalog are often very high. The company has unveiled a new device called the Programmable Gaming Robot that reminds me a bit of the Rovio from Wowee.

The robot has two wheels and comes with accessories allowing it to play seven different games that are included. The games are interactive environments that are composed of a base station, energy port, special effects hub, and three gaming pads.

Robots are getting braver and less fearful of humans everyday. Take the OmniZero.9 from Takeshi Maeda. This ninth version of his creation is a humanoid bot with huge wheel shoulders and knees that allow it to move around like a car on the ground.

But that isn’t the only cool feature. The head tilts back creating a seat for any human dumb enough to get on and be whisked away. Never to be heard from again. The robot was showing off at ROBO-ONE Check out the videos below.

It’s that time of the week again, where we document the coming apocalypse by showing you just some of what we covered this week over at Botropolis. This may be the beginning of the weekend for you, but robots, like death, take no holidays.

JingJing And PuiPui: Tai Chi Bots.

The Complete Futurama Collection: In Bender’s Head.

Cylons: The History Of The Cylon Centurion Costume.

Robot Tee: The Robots Come Out At Knight.

This game looks much more fun than Foosball. In MaruBot Football League four players control small wireless robots with joysticks. Each of the robots has an actual personality, with LED eyes that display whether they are happy or sad.

They are happy when they score a goal and sad if they lose. Why four players? The games makers see MaruBot as being all about “cooperation and partnership, minimizing individualism, isolation, violence of online games.” There’s also a two-player version. It’s a hit in Korea, so maybe one day we will see it here.

This R2-D2 may be the best mod ever. It was created by Popular Science reader Brian De Vitis and holds not one, not two, but eight consoles, a sound system, and a projector. You had me at eight consoles R2. This all started with an R2-D2 shaped cooler that he modified.

Then the consoles were gutted to rearrange the controllers inside so all the ports could face in the proper direction. He still had enough space inside for a projector and a sound system. This man is my new hero.