Press and Public Media

2020

• IEEE Spectrum – Video Friday: Robots Help Keep Medical Staff Safe at COVID-19 Hospital Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos 
• IEEE Spectrum – Video Friday: How Roboticists (and Robots) Have Been Working from Home

2019

• IEEE Spectrum – Video Friday: Video Friday: Misty Robotics Begins Shipping Its Programmable Personal Robot

2018

• The Wall Street Journal: Robot Design Goes Back to Nature– featuring RHex
• IEEE Spectrum – Automation: Video Friday: Roboy, AI Ethics, and Big Clapper
• The Georgetowner: Kids Flock to Science and Engineering Expo in D.C.

2017

• IEEE Spectrum – Automation: Video Friday: Backflipping Atlas, Cozmo Lost, and MantaDroid Aquatic Robot
• IEEE Spectrum – Automation: Video Friday: Robots With Airbags, Drone vs. Drone, and MIT’s Jumping Cube

2016

• IEEE Spectrum – Automation: Video Friday: LEGO Drone Kits, Robots in the Desert, and Pepper Learns New Tricks
• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: Ghost Robotics’ Minitaur Quadruped Conquers Stairs, Doors, and Fences and Is Somehow Affordable
• IEEE Spectrum – Automation: Video Friday: Walking the XDog, Muscle-Powered BioBots, and Rollin’ Justin Will Clean Your Kitchen 
• IEEE Spectrum – Automation: Video Friday: Robot Dance Contest, 500 Drones Flying and Steady Humanoid

2015

• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: University of Pennsylvania Unleashes Robot Jerboa Upon the World
• Make – Rockstar Robots: Boston Dynamics’ Crazy-Legged RHex 5/27/15 – featuring Leaping with RHex
• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: Video Friday 1/23/15 – featuring RHex Paints

2014

• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: Video Friday 12/5/14 – featuring RHex Visits RAIR
• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: Video Friday 11/21/14 – featuring RHex: a desert research remote sensing platform
• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: Video Friday: RHex Pronking, … – featuring XRL pronking
• Slate: The Military Is Funding the Creation of Adorable Robots
• Penn Current: Y-Prize-winning robot acquaints students with STEM fields
• Penn News: Robotics at the University of Pennsylvania
• Technical.ly Philly: Philly Robotics Expo: 460 students visit Penn’s robots, learn to build their own

2013

• The Daily Pennsylvanian: A robot learns to ice skate – featuring XRL
• The Y Prize encourages anyone to submit ideas for how to use X-RHex.
  • Fast Company: Do you have a product idea for an all-terrain robot inspired by a cockroach?
  • Technical.ly Philly: Y-Prize Competition: tell Penn how it should use its robots
  • Red Orbit: Penn Engineering’s GRASP Lab and Wharton’s Mack Institute Take the Y-Prize Global
• Unmanned Daily News: RHex can leave others in the dust
• The Daily Pennsylvanian: We know what you engineered last summer… – featuring XRL
• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: Video Friday: … RHex Plays Fetch … – featuring the Rainy Day video.
• More excitement about RHex, and in particular the parkour behaviors introduced at ICRA 2013:
  • Wall Street Journal News Hub: All-Terrain Robot, or Overexcited Puppy? – Live interview with Aaron Johnson
  • The Associated Press: Penn researchers strive for a more athletic robot – Article including quotes by Prof. Koditschek (syndicated in many newspapers).
  • The Associated Press: Univ. of Pennsylvania’s Jumping, Climbing Robot – Video including interview with Aaron Johnson (syndicated in many newspapers).
  • Telegraph: The flipping hexapod robot that can climb stairs and jump obstacles – Alternate version of the AP video with additional quotes by Prof. Koditschek.
  • CNN.com What’s Next Blog: Met RHex – the curvy-legged, leaping robot
  • Technical.ly Philly: Soldier of the Future: this Penn robot can jump and climb
  • BuzzFeed: 8 Robots That Will Haunt Your Soul
• RHex the Parkour Robot video released. Here are some highlighted stories about it:
  • UPenn: A Robot That Jumps, Flips, and Does Pull-ups – Official press release
  • IEEE Spectrum – Automation: RHex Does Parkour All Over UPenn – Including an interview with Aaron Johnson
  • Computerworld: Researchers build jumping, flipping, hand-standing robot – Including an interview with Aaron Johnson
  • The Atlantic: Hardcore Parkour (With Robots)
  • Slate: “Parkour Robot” Jumps Around, Other Robots Roll Eyes
  • Fast Company – Co.EXIST Blog: This Versatile Robot Can Climb Just About Anywhere
  • Gizmag: RHex robot shows off Parkour moves – Also covering XRL in general and terrain identification
  • Kotaku: Super-Cute Robot Performs Adorable Parkour – Along with Gawker Media sites Gizmodo and io9
  • Engadget: RHex robot uses leaping ability to do ‘Parkour’
  • CNET: Leaping parkour robot is cute and a little creepy
  • Boing Boing: Acrobatic robot with parkour moves
• Mashable: Jumping, Swimming, Climbing Robot Will Blow You Away — Collection of clips including leaping, reactive behaviors, as well as Boston Dynamics and Aqua versions of RHex.
• At ICRA 2013, several videos of RHex leaping were released:
  • IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: This Robot’s Acrobatic Leaps Are the Coolest Thing You’ll See Today
  • Gizmodo: Does This Acrobatic Robot Have Olympic Aspirations?
  • Dvice: Meet RHex, the parkour robot
  • Engadget: X-RHex Lite robot leaps across gaps in a single bound
  • Phys.org:The RHex takes a leap at robotics conference
  • Vsauce: Mind Blow #64
  • The Engineer: A series of leaps for robot-kind
  • Gizmag: Acrobatic XRL robot takes cliffs and valleys in its stride
  • Nikkei: Video
  • imgur: This Robot Does Some High Jumps — now turned into a GIF, posted on several sites 1,2.

2012

• The Mechanical Animal:Video about Temple University biologist Tonia Hsieh featuring some gorgeous shots of XRL.
• The Daily Pennsylvanian: Engineering lab develops bug-like robots
• The Naked Scientist – Interview with Aaron Johnson on tails.
• A new tail for XRL was introduced at CLAWAR 2012:
  • IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: XRL Hexapod Robot Gets a Tail, Learns to Use It
  • Wired – Danger Room: Robot Uses Its Tail To Land On Its Feet, Just Like A Cat
  • Phys.org: XRL robot uses tail for easy landing on springy feet
  • Engadget: X-RHex Lite robot grows a tail, always lands on its feet
  • Huffington Post – UK: Robots With Tails Can Right Themselves In Mid-Air

2011

• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: XRHex was one of the top 10 videos of the month.
• IEEE Spectrum – Automaton: Running Hexapod Gets Fancy New Tunable Legs — Article on EduBot with tunable compliant legs
• Singularity Hub: This Robot Can Learn To Run Anywhere, Just Try and Stop It! — Article on a variety of RHex robots
• Fast Company: Meet the Half-Wheeled Military Insect Bot of Your Nightmares: X.RHex — Article on XRHex

Edubot

• EduBot Hexapod Breaks New Ground In Robot Mobility, Geeky Gadgets
• Running Hexapod Gets Fancy New Tunable Legs, IEEE Spectrum Automation Blog

2009

• Discovery News: article on Sandbot?’s use by our Georgia Tech colleagues
• Scientific American: Walkabout: Teaching robots to travel on land and sand — Article on Sandbot?

Sandbot

• SandBot appeared in Daily Pennsylvania, April 29, 2009
• SandBot appeared in IEEE Spectrum, April 1, 2009
• SandBot project is featured on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, March 6, 2009.
• SandBot project is featured on NPR’s ScienceFriday, March 6, 2009.
• Breaking Science (BBC, audio), Epsiode 19
• A robot walks, sinks, and swims in granular media, Physics Today, Feb 19, 2009.

RISE

• Cutting-Edge Robots Show Off in Japan, MIT Technology Review, May 2009
• Beaver-tailed robot mimics tree-climbing insects, CNet News Military Tech, May 2009
• RiSE Robot Climbs Poles Like Some Sort of Ferocious Animal, Gizmodo, May 2009
• Boston Dynamics-designed RiSE V3 robot climbs poles, haunts dreams, Engadget, May 2009
• RiSE Version 3 climbing robot, Boing Boing, May 2009
• RiSE V3 Scrambles Up Telephone Poles Faster Than Ever, Bot Junkie, May 2009
• Video Friday: RiSE Walks, Runs, Bot Junkie, May 2009

2008

RISE

• RiSE Climbing Robot from Boston Dynamics, robots.net, August 2008
• RiSE climbing robot MAKE: Blog, August 2008

Edubot

• ‘Rocky’ robot may climb museum steps, The Daily Pennsylvanian, March 7, 2008 PDF version

RHex

• 6×6 All-Terrain Vehicle, Prototype This! on Discovery Channel, Nov, 2008

2007

• The Daily Pennsylvanian: Stair-climbing robots introduce young engineers to Penn — Article on EduBot being used in the classroom

Edubot

• Second nature to robots, The Journal Gazette, February 26, 2007 PDF version
• We’re going the way of the robot, Newsday, February 20, 2007 PDF version
• Woof, woof; click, click, The Daily Pennsylvanian, February 15, 2007 PDF version
• Stair-climbing robots introduce young engineers to Penn, The Daily Pennsylvanian, February 9, 2007PDF version

RHex

• We’re going the way of the robot, Newsday, February, 2007 (PDF Version Δ)
• Stair-climbing robots introduce young engineers to Penn, The Daily Pennsylvanian, February, 2007 (PDF Version Δ)

2006

• RISE Robot: Six-Legged BIODYNOTICS Runaway, Technovelgy.com, March 2006
• RiSE: Tree-Climbing Robot, Gizmodo, March 2006
• New hunt is on for robot top dog, New Scientist, April 24, 2006 PDF version

RHex

• Their robotics STEM from love of science, Philadelphia Daily News, June, 2006 (PDF Version Δ)
• New hunt is on for robot top dog, New Scientist, Apr, 2006 (PDF Version Δ)

2005

• Biologically inspired robot can walk, run, climb walls, and more, The Tartan Online, November 2005
• Robert Full: Secrets of movement, from geckos and roaches, TED Talks, Feb, 2005

2003

• Army call-up for rats, robots and reptiles: The US government is ploughing money into unconventional projects to toughen its defences against terrorism, Financial Times, June, 2003 (PDF Version Δ)
• A Bug’s Life for Robots, Economist.com, Mar, 2003 (PDF Version Δ)

2002

• Lowly Roach Inspires High-Tech Robotics, CNN, Sep, 2002
• Eurobots – Robotic Niches in Europeans’ Sights, Armed Forces Journal International, Jan, 2002
• Robot Locomotion Video, National Geographic, Science Times, July, 2002
• Why 6-Legged Bots Rule, Wired.com, Nov, 2002
• Trade Secrets of the 6-Legged Set, The Newyork Times, April, 2002
• The TED Conference: 3 Days in the Future, The Newyork Times, Feb, 2002
• Robert Full: How engineers learn from evolution, TED Talks, Feb, 2002

2001

• Robots take a clue from Nature, Unmanned Systems, Dec, 2001
• World of Wildlife III – Locomotion, PBS (U.K.), Partridge Films, Aug, 2001
• Cool Robot of the Week Award, NASA Space Telerobotics Program, May, 2001

2000

• Interview with Peter Jennings, television appearance on ABC World News with Peter Jennings, Apr 15, 2000
• radio interview on Scout II and RHex 0, radio interview on Science in Action in BBC World Service, July 8–9, 2000
• Live TV interview from Place des Arts, with RHex and Scout II, television appearance on This morning live in Montreal Global TV, Aug 8, 2000
• RHex and Scout II, television appearance on Discover Channel Canada, Sep 28–29, 2000
• Biobots, Discover Magazine, Sep, 2000
• Building a better Robot, McGill Reporter, Jul, 2000
• Better Than Nature Made It, Science Magazine, Apr, 2000
• RHex, a new six-legged robot, In Focus, Spring, 2000