It’s Friday. That means it’s time to take a look at the week that was in robotics news. We saw all of the usual suspects over at Botropolis this week. Those that can kill us, those that can’t kill us but want to, those that clean up after us and those who plan to clean up after the last of us are dead. Here’s just some of what we covered this week.

DustCar Garbage Robot: He’s no Wall-E, but it’s a start.

RX-64: Servos that break bones.

KASPAR: Helping Kids With Autism.

Robot Sheep shearing: Do androids dream of shearing electric sheep?

The Fukitorimushia floor-cleaning robot wipes instead of vacuums, like an inchworm with a cylon eye. Designed by Panasonic, the little robot is wrapped in a nanocloth sleeve, which collects dust and debris as the robot crawls, worm-style, across your floor.

Yes, what we have here is the swiffer evolved. Its also has sensors to seek out dirt, so it will focus on problem areas first, then move on the assorted crumbs. Nothing on price or availability yet.

Swine flu got ya down? Robots will make it better. Take off your surgical mask, kick your feet up and have a look at some of what we covered this week over at Botropolis. Our future metal masters have had a busy week.

Snackbot- Beware robots bearing snacks.

Homeless?- Have a robot Beg for you.

More than meets the eye- Nike Transformers.

I know that you can hardly wait for the Terminator Salvation movie to hit. So here’s something to tide you over until opening day. Titan Books just released the Terminator concept art of the Moto-Terminator. That’s where a Terminator is riding a motorcycle, or is the cycle, or transforms into a cycle. Or whatever. Either way it isn’t good for John Conner.

It’s the Ducati Hypermotard. When the Terminator fuses with the bike, it be an all new killing machine with the familiar red eyes.

It’s Friday. You know what that means. It’s time for our weekly robot roundup. It’s been a busy week over at Botropolis, as usual. Robots don’t take a break and neither do we. Rest assured, we will still be reporting on their exploits even as the bunker burns around us and cold metal fingers tighten around our necks. Until that day, we shall document their rise to power, fearing them, preparing, and checking out cool robot toys that distract us.

Two new Segway bots: A Bomb-Defusing, Riot-Controlling, Firefighting duo.

Loki: A robot named after the Norse god.

We love it when a plan comes together: The Robot A-Team.

Conspiracy: Robot Spotted Reading The Bible In Bulls Logo.

It’s time for our weekly roundup of everything robot. Another Easter has come and gone without a robot attack. For this we are thankful. It looked like this might be the year that cyborg bunnies finally made their move and started churning real peeps into Easter peeps. But nope. Nothing. Here’s some of what we covered this week over at Botropolis.

Puff The Magic Robot Dragon: He’s quick with a joke or to put out your smoke.

Tweenbots: The adorable cardboard robot experiment.

Doctor Who: K9 is back.

This Puff Robotic Fire Fighter looks like a toy thanks to the stickers. But it’s a bit more sophisticated than that. In panic mode it’s just like a human with a fight or flight instinct. Which comes in handy as this guy is a firefighter.

Puff puts out rather than starts fires. He Scans his Head to find the Flames, then heads towards the Flame and blows it out. If he fails to blow out the Fire within 2 tries the “PANIC” mode kicks in and he backs away to save himself.

e-readers aren’t for everybody. Some people like enjoy a novel while turning actual physical pages. That’s where this invention comes in handy. Especially if you aren’t able to turn pages yourself. Book Time managed to get itself a Robot of the Year award over in Japan.

It holds down books and magazines and automatically flips pages and keeps them from flapping in the breeze. We aren’t sure if this it’s voice activated or not, but it should be. It would be great for the disabled as well as the lazy.

It’s that time of the week again where we take a look at all of the things that will lead to Terminator hunter killers. They can’t be bargained with, they can’t be reasoned with, but they can be captured by our robot blog for posterity. So that one day in the far future, when the human rebellion finally gathers together enough pieces to re-assemble a computer and a rough internet, they can see how it all began.

CB2 Child Robot: A face only a robot mother could love.

MechRC: Your face on a robot.

NSFW: Women who prefer robots.

Vintage Toys: The God-Jesus bot.

Did a robot swallow that guy? Is this the next part of our evolution, where our legs are replaced by robots? Could be. In which case this is an evolutionary mullet. Business suit on top, partying robot on the bottom.

It’s actually for amputees. They will be the first to be assimilated by this contraption, trading in their crutches for this strikingly scary wearable commuter named the Chariot. The Exmovere Chariot makes it so that you are basically one half Segway. It’s all self-balancing and hands-free, making it easy for the disabled to get around and do normal things.

The Chariot has a maximum speed of 12 miles per hour and the upright design ensures that the wearer can communicate and interact just like any normal person.

[Botropolis]

South Korean telecom company KTF just announced a cleaning robot that can be controlled by a 3G cellphone. The Roomba can’t do that, now can it? The robot is called the CW100 and is the result of a collaboration with Microbot.

It’s a “smart” vacuum, like the Roomba. It can be controlled by phone, which the Roomba can’t, unless modded to do so. It uses an onboard video camera to send live images to the mobile phone, so if you see an untidy spot, the user can remotely control it using the keypad and clean it up.

You couldn’t be more ready to see some Autobots and Decepticons rumble. You have all the cool toys, including the much sought after Transformer shoes. Now you need to get your hands on this phone from LG.

It’s a limited-edition version of the Versa handset, and has the Decepticon logo on one side and transformers art along with the movie title on the back.

It’s been a busy week in robotics and we’ve been busy documenting humanity’s eventual downfall over at Botropolis. The road to Judgment day is not just paved with cold steel hands clutching human hearts. They will ingratiate themselves into our lives with cute Pixar movies, geeky robot toys and medical advancements that only advance their own agenda. Here’s just some of what we covered this week:

Doctor Who: Robot sighting on set.

Girl-On-Droid Action: Chicks dig Astromech droids.

Robots and Golf: i-SOBOT becomes a Golf Celebrity Spokesperson.

Flying over Mars: NASA’s Ares UAV.

Silly Japan. You are just inviting the wrath of future robot-things with your antics… Perhaps you like having all of your buildings come down around you. Maybe you don’t mind being flame-broiled by robot breath. All I can say is, you brought it on yourself. Having said that, we do really think this freakish robot baby thing in the streets of Roppongi is pretty frakkin awesome.

“Giant Torayan” is a seven meter tall fire-breathing baby-faced harbinger of death. It’s also the work of artist Kenji Yanobe, who clearly has issues that should never ever be explored by any therapist. Ever. It’s a win/win. We get to see all this cool stuff from Japan, they pay the price later at the hands of a vengeful bot or five-hundred.

As usual, we covered our share of robots over at Botropolis. Some cute, some creepy. They sure aren’t quiet about their presence or their impending killing of us, which is why we have so much to bring your way. Here’s just some of what we covered this week:

Primordial Duel T-Shirt: Robots and monsters battle on a T-shirt.

Carebot: This nurse-bot for the elderly seems awfully controlling…

1/8 Scale ASIMO Action Figure: You can haz Asimo too.

Cardboard robot hits the street: The End Is Near

Robot scratching a cow’s itch: A little lower please.

Cindy Crawford: Robot hygiene.

NSFW: Worst Robot Sword Fight Ever