Can a Robotic Have too Many Legs? Can Atlas Be taught Soccer's Rabona Kick?

Video Friday is your weekly collection of superior robotics movies, collected by your pals at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We additionally put up a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics occasions for the subsequent few months. Please ship us your occasions for inclusion.

ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNA

RSS 2026: 13–17 July 2026, SYDNEY

Summer time Faculty on Multi-Robotic Techniques: 29 July–4 August 2026, PRAGUE

Actuate 2026: 18–19 August 2026, SAN FRANCISCO

Take pleasure in as we speak’s movies!

What’s the proper variety of legs for a robotic? Two? 4? No, the reply is clearly all of them. All the legs.

[ Argus ]

Sigh, yet one more talent that I as a soccer-playing human ought to have however a robotic has as an alternative: the rabona.

[ Boston Dynamics ]

Robots are quickly turning into a part of our on a regular basis lives, from drones and industrial machines to dwelling assistants and humanoid robots. As their presence continues to develop, an essential query arises: How can we select the proper robotic—not solely by way of efficiency and price but additionally by way of sustainability? This video introduces the Eco‑Rating for Robots, a brand new method to evaluating the environmental influence of robotic techniques. Simply as eco-labels assist shoppers make knowledgeable selections in different industries, the Robotics Eco‑Label supplies a transparent and clear method to assess how sustainable a robotic actually is.

[ Robotics EcoLabel ]

Thanks, Bram!

Uh oh, five-fingered arms.

[ Agility ]

Robotic manipulation has come a great distance because the Nineteen Nineties. We’ve gone from the two-ball paddle juggling robotic to AthenaZero, who can juggle barehanded utilizing onboard imaginative and prescient suggestions. By transferring away from task-specific passive end-effectors corresponding to cups or paddles and utilizing multifingered arms, it could actually transition between a variety of patterns together with cascade, half-shower, tennis, bathe, and field.

There must be a robotic circus present already.

[ Robotics and AI Institute ]

Zero legs. One hat. $13K.

[ Astribot ]

From its elegant design to the superior know-how powering each step, Luna is greater than a machine—it’s a leap into the long run.

[ LimX Dynamics ]

Thanks, Jinyan!

You bought a quadrotor in my quadruped! No, you bought a quadruped in my quadrotor!

[ MARS Laboratory ]

A human hand, a robotic’s arm—collectively tracing circles of belief and precision. No missteps. No hesitation. Simply pure, algorithmic grace.

[ UBTECH ]

Low-gravity planetary exploration with a quadruped simply seems to be like enjoyable.

[ Autonomous Robots Lab ]

Right here it’s, that robotic Kool-Support that everybody appears to be consuming. Together with me!

[ Generalist ]

Don’t shoot Mini Pupper!

[ MangDang ]

We present right here the ARISTO (Anthropomorphic, Robotic, Built-in-Sensing, Tendon-Operated) Hand. Developed in collaboration with Sony Group Company, this analysis platform is engineered to deal with the advanced necessities of manipulating small, skinny, and fragile objects.

[ University of Texas Human Centered Robotics Lab ]

Okay, however did you actually need to name it the T800?

[ EngineAI ]

Moby reveals what helpful cellular manipulation seems to be like in the true world: choosing up, carrying, and putting adaptable payloads. The video reveals payload dealing with throughout rising crate masses, together with a 50.3-pound load, whereas sustaining steadiness, management, and mobility. That is the sort of functionality that issues exterior the lab—transferring actual objects, in actual areas, with sensible reliability.

[ Noble Machines ]

What does it take to make a robotic look human? Harvard SEAS college students Hailey Block, Henry Tavistock, and Evan Crowley created “Hole Minds,” a pair of animatronic heads able to talking, blinking, monitoring motion, and displaying lifelike facial expressions.

[ Harvard University ]

The longevity right here is spectacular, however the apparent query right here is why the heck you’d ever do that job with a bipedal humanoid robotic. It additionally doesn’t appear to have any error restoration, which is clearly fixable, however highlights the truth that actual people are versatile and humanoid robots usually are not.

[ Figure ]

Kacper Nowicki, CEO and cofounder of Nomagic, lately sat down for a deep dive into the “humanoid vs. purpose-built” debate throughout a panel dialogue on the Internet Summit in Vancouver 2026.