We don’t get the chance to see many snakebots. There’s the Japanese M-Tran, a shape shifting robot, but that hardly counts as a snakebot. Anna Konda, however, is very much a snakebot. Despite looking and acting very similarly to a penis, Anna is really a firefighter.

Anna has 20 joints, each with 33 degrees of freedom, giving it an extensive range of movement. What makes Anna such a stalwart firefighter is not only does it shoot water, it’s powered by water. Each joint module contains hydraulic valves and cylinders capable of handling up to 1450 PSI of water pressure. The downside is, Anna will never go wireless. Fire hoses aren’t wireless, are they?

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No one likes doing yard work. It’s tedious and leaves those awful grass stains on your clothes. So, why not build a robot that enjoys cutting the grass as much as you enjoy building robots? Robotshop.se is providing all the essentials needed to build your very own autonomous mowing robot.  A complete lawnbot kit comes with everything you need for around $700, making it one of the most expensive lawnmowers you’ve ever owned. At least it’ll be one of your own making, bringing with it a whole new feeling of self-accomplishment and a nice looking lawn to boot.

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The practical uses for unmanned aerial vehicles are proving limitless. Once used for espionage and photography, these airborne spy bots just fell victim to a role reversal: they’ve gone from spy to medic. Well, while they don’t exactly heal wounds out on the battlefield, they do provide air transport for supplies needed in dire situations. Think of them as carrier bots.

The South African National Health Laboratory Service has been testing prototype UAVs designed to transport testing materials and medical supplies to communities that are too much of a burden for ground delivery.  These robotic carrier pigeons are pre-programmed using GPS and microelectronic gyroscopes to guide them to their destination and can even handle themselves in windy conditions. After all, a little turbulence never hurt any blood mid-transit.

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Sure, watching the most impressive athletes in the world sprint a 500M is probably the most entertaining thing you’ve see in a long while, save for these racing robots from the the annual Robot Athletic Meet in Tokyo’s Akihabara district.

Check out the robot on the left. He’s playing for keeps. It might appear as if it’s falling over due to his unstable infrastructure but, in actuality, it is ready to bulldoze Mr. Goody-two-shoes over on the right. And don’t think he won’t be able to topple him over, either. He’s got those bitchin’ tonfas on his robot arms. Could he be a ninja robot? Inconceivable.

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Editor’s Note: The one on the right looks like Ryan.

Happen to be in the New York City area? Then check out the robots on display at the City Foundry, 365 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. These robot sculptures were created by Gordon Bennett out of a mixture of random objects found which are both old and new. These aren’t robotic bartenders trying to get you drunk so they can take advantage of you. No, they’re more on par with the felt robots, they just sit there and look pretty.

Bennett is even willing to sell some of the robot sculptures, if you give him an offer he can’t refuse. The sculptures are going from anywhere between $750 to $6000. That’s a lot for an old battery tester with legs.

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Remember that R/C Tortoise and the Swashbot, from the folks at Crabfu? They’re still hard at it, coming up with some awesome new robots. The latest on the line is the Putter Bot, a remote-controlled golfing robot. Actually, make that putting robot as I doubt this little guy is capable of a long drive without a driver. Getting through the rough wouldn’t be too hard though, with the two servos this thing has for powering the tracks.

In any case, this bot is sticking to mini-putt, which we all know is more fun than regular golf anyways. No business deals to be made, just all fun and games. That is, until someone loses an eye or this robot loses its light.

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Sometime in March, Blizzard filed a class action lawsuit against Michael Donnelly, the creator of the MMO Glider program, which performs key tasks in the game automatically, such as fighting and looting. Well, Blizzard “pwned” the shit out of the software bot’s creator, claiming it infringes the company’s copyright and potentially damages the game.

Donnelly says his tool does not infringe Blizzard’s copyright because his software makes no copy of the WoW game client software. However, Blizzard has said the tool infringes copyright because it copies the game into RAM in order to avoid detection by anti-cheat software. Well, the judge sided with Blizzard, claiming that copying the game into RAM is an unauthorized copy. Epic fail.

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This spider robot looks a lot scarier than it really is. In fact, it might save your life. The Ellos RescueBot is designed to reach untraversable areas where humans can’t squeeze their meager two legs into, sort of like the Amoeba Bot. The damage resistant robot is a perfect example of Asimov’s laws of robotics. It saves you without getting hurt.

Its main standout feature is 10 lifting arms on its bottom. When it reaches its target, the legs extend, closing around the subject in need of some spider saving. Spiderman might just have met his match. (more…)