​SAFFiR, the US Navy's experimental firefighting robot, may be in for some competition. That's because researchers at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have successfully tested a new-and-improved version of the WALK-MAN humanoid robot, which is designed to support firefighters.

Flippy, a burger-flipping robot, has begun work at a restaurant in Pasadena, Los Angeles. Flippy can handle 12 burgers at once.

The Caliburger chain can’t keep burger flippers employed — they quit too often, it says. So the plan is to try something new: A robot that has been programmed to flip hamburgers all day long. Named Flippy, the $100,000 machine is capable of flipping as many as 2,000 burgers a day. As of Monday, a human at Caliburger's restaurant here is making the burger patties and seasoning them, and then placing them in a tray for the robot. Flippy then pulls them out, places them on the griddle, monitors their temperature, flips them and then takes them off the griddle to cool. They then get placed by a human into buns for customers.

The robotic Segway Loomo hoverboard is here to give you a lift, assuming you can afford it.

A flashing, howling robot that protects crops from wild animals is going into mass production. By Tae-jun Kang, Alistair Coleman.

Like an episode out of "Black Mirror," Walmart has filed a patent for autonomous robotic bees, technically called pollination drones, that could potentially pollinate crops just like real bees. The drones would carry pollen from one plant to another, using sensors and cameras to detect the locations of the crops.

R2-D2 and BB-8 are the droids that NASA is looking for — "astromechs" that can help repair spaceships on the fly, a NASA robotics engineer says.

Automation is changing the face of nearly every industry in the world, but the construction industry may lead the way for robots. The Associated Press reports on the intersection between tech and construction, with new startups unleashing a wave of innovation in robots, drones, and software. A big part of the reason is that construction companies can’t find workers. But robots don’t mind getting dirty.

Automation vs. artisanship: Why bricklayers aren't worried about robot overlords, for now.

It's equal parts impressive and terrifying.

Ten years ago, Amazon introduced the Kindle and established the appeal of reading on a digital device. Four years ago, Jeff Bezos and company rolled out the Echo, prompting millions of people to start talking to a computer.

Boston Dynamics’ robots look more natural and more amazing with each video, and today the company posted two more clips to its YouTube channel showing the latest progress of its Atlas and SpotMini robots. The clips don’t reveal much we haven’t seen before, but they both show how naturally these robots are able to move around. In one video, Atlas, the humanoid robot, goes for a jog in a grassy yard that appears to be sloped here and there.

Researchers are developing little robots able to interact within animal societies such as honeybees. They believe that creating mixed societies of animal and robots can be a new way to protect many endangered species and the environment. The 20th of May has been declared World Bee Day by the United Nations. Bees and wild pollinators are crucial to ecosystem biodiversity and food security, and they have been used as bioindicators of environmental pollution for decades.

Machines powered by self-learning algorithms and internet connections are displacing humans from all kinds of jobs, from driving to legal discovery to acting in movies. Will there be any work left for us to do? Economics says yes. Will it be awful or will it be nice? That is up to us.

Some experts predict the food service industry will be heavily automated by 2025.

Do you enjoy the sensation of petting a cat or dog, but hate the unconditional love and the fact that they have heads and limbs? Japanese company Yukai Engineering has unveiled the solution to this classic conundrum with Qoobo: a soft, round cushion with a robotic tail that reacts to strokes, just as a loving pet would.

Sophia the robot was given the gift of legal personhood. Her reward? An eternity working in marketing

Smart weed-killing robots are here and could soon reduce the need for herbicides and genetically modified crops.

Creator, a new restaurant in San Francisco, is home to the world’s first entirely robot-made burger. It costs $6–and it’s actually really good.

Darrell West shares the results of an online survey that asked Americans what they think about the future of robots.