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.

If you are reading this then I have to assume that robots have not killed you yet. Let’s all take a moment to thank our maker that we haven’t yet been crushed by a robot arm or shot by one of DARPAs mutant creations. Thank god a garment folding bot didn’t fold your shirt with YOU in it. Yes, we are all very lucky to be alive. Make the most of it meatbags. It can’t last forever. It’s time to take a look at some of the robot news we covered this week over at Botropolis.

DIY Robot Mask: With iPhone Display.

God Hands: This can’t lead to anything good.

Guy builds Master-Slave Suit: Enslave them before they enslave us.

While you were busy back-to-school shopping, robots have been busy colonizing our world. As usual. We’re so glad that your kid has some new pencils, a fly laptop, a new haircut and a trapper keeper, but that ain’t gonna save us from our future. You need to be putting little Timmy into a John Conner bootcamp so he can learn the fine art of killing things with no souls. Well, you can lead a human to water, but you can’t make him think. Here’s some of what we covered over at Botropolis this week:

Simon: A deceptively cute harbinger of doom.

MIT’s Robot Fish: The seas shall run red with blood. Yours and mine.

Robots Kissing: The revolution won’t be televised, but robot kissing will.

Phasma Insect Robot: A swarm of robot locusts will soon block out the sun.

It’s that time of the week again, dear human readers, where we take a gander at the monstrosities that man creates. We covered a wide variety of robots this week over at Botropolis. Some toys,some robots in movies, some real life ancestors of the Terminator, even some Michael Jackson robot news. Here’s some of what we covered.

DARPA: World’s First Free-Flying Nano Bot.

Cyborgs: Brain-Machine Interfaces.

Robot Prostitutes: It’s The Future.

Movies: War Of The Worlds: Goliath Trailer.

Here’s a much better way to get rich than the metal detecting sandals and it will take just as long to amass your wealth. Why wear sandals when a robot can do it for you? ThunderBird 007 is the latest version of Let’s Make Robots user Gareth’s metal detector robots.

It’s a great little bot. And when you think about it, robots should search for treasure and earn their own keep and pay for their own parts. The TB-007 features a metal detecting wand, wireless camera and a laser pointer to point out it’s finds. It could get really fun if you run into another guy controlling his own bot and have to have your robots fight for the treasure.

What could be better than getting robots to interpret the world of social networking for us? Why should we do all the work? That’s what robots are for. This cute little guy just sits on your desk and while he may not reply to your tweets, he understands the emotions of your friend’s tweets and whether they are happy or sad.

If he finds a “happy” tweet, the Guardian Robot raises its head and arm in triumph. It holds the pose until you give it a “high five”. (By hitting the switch in its hand.) Then the robot passes the high five on to your buddy via a reply Tweet.

On one hand, you can be saved from certain death in a disaster situation, on the other, a robot must swallow you in order to get you to safety. So do I lay there bleeding or let a robot eat me? Decisions. I think I’ll lay there for awhile, because I don’t know if it has teeth or not.

If you are going to convince people to be rescued by robots, maybe your video should not be titled “Human body shredding machine in Japan”. You know? Drag me, lift me up and throw me, even grab me by the scruff of the neck and carry me to safety, but I ain’t gettin’ in your belly.

We aren’t sure whether the apocalypse will come in the form of giant transforming bots battling each other or Roombas communicating with each other and coordinating their attack, but one thing is for sure. We will remain ever watchful. For now, if your roomba acts strange in any way, smash it like Mario smashing a Goomba. Here’s some of what we covered this week over at Botropolis.

Next Generation Roomba: It’s hungry.

iCub Learns Objects: This creepy kid bot is growing fast.

Jaemi HUBO hits the treadmill: Eye of the Tiger baby.

In between planning our demise and testing cycles and such, robots like to hit the gym just like you. And while this guy may not be fast, he’s working on it. So very soon, running won’t help any of us.

The video shows the Jaemi HUBO robot walking on a treadmill with no problems at all. We aren’t sure if he can run right now or not, but god help us all, they are working out like Rocky. Probably watching a montage of human carnage in their heads.

When the apocalypse comes. Not if, but when, you are going to want a reliable light. Your home will have no power by which to defend yourself from robots or zombies. You’ll want the Time Your Light concept.

It gets its power mechanically, working like a windup doll. Just give it a twist and you have light. But is this just a timer with a light or a light with a timer? We just hope it doesn’t tick and give you away with typical wind up noise.

The United Robot Parcel Service may be just around the corner. As cities get more crowded, it will be more difficult for UPS and the Postal service to get around in their trucks full of packages. So what do you do? You make like rats and crocodiles and take to the sewers. Well, not you. Robots.

It will be robots who traverse the highways and bi-ways of human waste. The Urban Mole is a capsule that travels through underground pipes to transport packages like groceries, signed documents or even your Amazon order. It will free up our streets and roads making traffic less congested and speed up deliveries.

Robots will likely inherit the Earth. Why do you think we have the space program? We like to pretend that it’s all about exploration, but really it’s because we know that it’s either leave willingly or be evicted. So onward to Mars, where we will create more metal killers and have to run all over again. Silly humans. Here’s some of what we covered this week over at Botropolis.

WWII: With Terminator.

Cyborgs: Cornell Enslaves Tobacco Hornworms.

DIY: Pocket Drunken Robots.

Flesh eating zombies have been a staple of horror films for decades. An announcement last week of a new autonomous robot called EATR developed with funding from DARPA was rumored to be powered by human flesh among other things.

The company behind the EATR robot, Cyclone Power Technologies, has issued a statement denying that EATR uses dead humans to make power. The EATR robot is powered by a biomass engine and is designed for long-range, long-endurance missions without needing conventional refueling.

I know this is a hoax, exactly what the ultimate motive of the hoax is I am curious to find out. A company called Moon Publicity has issued a press release today claiming to have new technology that will allow companies to write advertising on the moon.

The ads would be written by robots using what the company called shadow shaping technology that amounts to rovers with grooved wheels making lines. The company says that the ads will be viewable from anywhere on Earth forever.

Like the Terminator, robot news just doesn’t stop. As usual, we have you covered over at Botropolis. Everything robot, all the time. And yes, the deeper we delve into the seedy underworld of robotics and robots in our culture, the more fearful fascinated we become. It’s clear that robots are our ultimate destruction friends and ultimate salvation. Seriously, I have nightmares every night. I have the shakes. I welcome them with open arms and embrace their master plan. Below are some of the things we covered this week.

*edited by the Robot Editorial Guild. Streamlining your words since 2009. Streamlining your thoughts soon after.