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