They say that Michelangelo saw a masterpiece in every block of stone. Some of these creative minds see a robot in a pile of household junk.  More precisely – a junk robot, or junkbot as they’re called.  Little metal creations made from discarded appliances.

• Don’t miss: Inspiration: Robotics and Steampunk Ray Gun Gallery

With sensitivity and imagination, these craftsmen have taken e-waste recycling to an art form. Instead of the trash can these robo figures can be placed on your mantelpiece. It takes a little understanding of electronics and little skill with the soldering iron. Beyond that, it’s all creative inspiration.

Miniature Motorcycles

These may not lap around the circuit but they have been fashioned from one. The sculptor has put together little motorcycle models from transistors and other electronic parts.  Capacitors as handlebar mirrors…that’s an example of the careful detailing that has gone into these miniature bikes. These look ready to burn some rubber.

“Batteries not Included” Robots

Made from parts of old kitchen appliances, cell phones, computer parts, video game controllers and other throwaways, some of them can even blink back at you with their little red eyes. You almost wish they could come alive.

Sidewalk Sculptures
Let’s scale up and visit this auto parts shop in Moscow. These life size robots will make you pause just before you step into the shop. All made from old and used car parts, they look like they belong on the sidewalk. For these you might have to drop the soldering iron or the welder torch.

Even More Circuitry Art:

Trash to treasure sounds like a nice name and an eco-age art form. Check out some of the recycle art we have covered before. And do your bit for the environment.

• Inspiration: Robotics and Steampunk Ray Gun Gallery
• New Uses for Old Electronics
• Incredible Circuitry Art with Spare Parts

Spiderman isn’t the only one who can climb walls anymore: Crawling its way out of a robotics lab comes Spidey’s robot alter ego. Not exactly in android form yet, the robotic contraption is more of a study in motion planning but is still a cool concept. The university’s robotics lab defines the demonstration as a “cable suspended robot capable of maneuvering from one stance space to another by clinging to new contact points.”

More Climbing Robots:

• Don’t Miss: Top 5 Outstanding Wall Climbing Robots

For now, we have only the video above to go on. It appears that the robot has four ‘limbs’ outfitted with grapplers. Simply speaking, the robot is suspended from a cable. A program controls the path the robot has to take. The actual motion is through the four grapplers which shoot out and adhere to surfaces. The robot is able to swivel and maneuver using its four limbs. The look may not remind you of our arachnid superhero, but the theory certainly does. It definitely is a work in progress.

• Don’t miss our entire showcase of robotics projects we have showcased.
• Incredible Jumping, Balancing, and Climbing Robots

It’s certainly true that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.  Just take a look at these incredible works of art which have risen from the scrap piles, fashioned out of odds and ends. Some might call it junk art, but looking at the whole gallery of mechanical bots, we think the creative retro-vision is awe inspiring. It is not only the detailing on these mechanical guys but the fact that they were compiled completely of ‘junk’ and obsolete items.

Each robot is a sculpture…made from outdated (but vintage) stuff.  That’s why each piece stands unique in this collection of robotic scrap art.

From robots that look like the forefathers of C3PO to more sensuous robot shapes; we end with a small gallery of steampunk ray guns.  See all of our steampunk posts.

Don’t miss out on our impressive robotics tech we posted a little while back and check out these inspirational posts:

• Epic Collection of Sci-Fi Ray Guns
• Make a Steampunk Atomic Disruptor Raygun
• Incredible Circuitry Art with Spare Parts

• Build an Epic Mobile Bar Robot

The chief factor in its design is the weight of the steel drum plus the volume of the beer inside. What’s required are some heavy duty motors attached to the wheels of a lawnmower. The chassis is an improvised furniture dolly strong enough to bear all that weight including the batteries. The trick behind opening and closing of the beer tap is a solenoid which acts like an electro-magnetic valve. A CO2 canister for the froth and a steel keg complete the setup. A Micromatic tap draws the pressurized beer from the keg.

The KegBot is brought alive using electronics like speed controllers and a radio receiver. The video shows how the whole assembly is put together with a few more nuts and bolts. The only thing the video might not help you with is sending out invitations for the beer binge.

Liked this cool robot project? Maybe a few more of our robot projects will send your spirits soaring.

• Build an Epic Mobile Bar
• MIT’s Speedy Motorized Shopping Cart
• Wiimote Controlled Lawn Mower

Technology is slowly blurring the borders between fact and fiction. It was just some 25 years back that we sat awe-inspired, watching the robotic pyrotechnics of a Terminator. In these years, the science of robotics has bustled ahead.

From nanobots that invade our tissues to perform medical miracles to unmanned robot vehicles ply on battlefronts, the applications (some still on the drawing boards) are mind boggling. We are still far away from the liquid poly-alloyed shape shifter of T2-Judgement Day, but we are quite close to the efficiency of Star Wars’ R2-D2.

The potpourri of ideas can be seen around the world in robotic events like the RoboCup. The goal is to win a robots v/s humans soccer match by the mid 21st century. Robotics is a sub-culture- drawing from students, hobbyists to cutting edge researchers. It’s cool to be into robotics. Head below to get the big picture about the rise of the robots.

The pictures showcase the global fascination with robotics. From the United States, across Europe, Japan, and into China. Robots are evolving to deal from handling day to day tasks to highly specialized anti-terrorism operations. And yes, the last picture, believe it or not is a humanoid robot.

Humanoid robot KOBIAN can express seven programmed emotions by using its entire body including facial expressions.

Humanoid robots compete in a soccer match during RoboCup 2009

Robots await the start of a soccer match during RoboCup 2009 in Graz, Austria

A technician adjusts a robot during a robot show at the Nankang World Trade Center in Taipei, Taiwan

A hyper rescue robot "T-53 Enryu", developed by Japanese robot venture Tmsuk to remove debris, during a demonstration at Kitakyushu city, Western Japan

Cooking robot "Okonomiyaki Robot" can demonstrate the whole process of okonomiyaki cooking and serve it on a plate and asks you to choose the types of sauces and other condiments to go with it.

Honda demonstrates its new brain-machine interface, with a subject using his thoughts alone to control the ASIMO robot.

U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade are taught how to use a robot to search for improvised explosive devices.

The "Be-Robot" seen here, designed and made in Taiwan, is 9cm tall and can walk, kick and perform push-ups. It is awaiting verification by Guinness World Records as the world's smallest humanoid robot.

A prototype of the X-47B Navy Unmannded Combat Air System (UCAS). It was built to demonstrate the first-ever aircraft-carrier-based autonomous launches and recoveries.

The HRP-4C humanoid robot "Miim" presents a wedding dress by Japanese designer Yumi Katsura during the 2009 Yumi Katsura Paris Grand Collection fashion show in Osaka, Japan.

Maybe robots one day will be sold off the shelf like automobiles. Till that day, why not try your hand with our cool robotics projects. Its fun, it’s challenging and it’s the future.

Little is known about this fantastic project, but the video really speaks for itself.  Obviously it’s not as smooth as the movie, it’s still an impressive engineering build.  It uses a bunch of servo motors to accomplish the complex transformations.  We covered an incredible robot battle at the link below:

See all of our robotics hacks, especially Incredible Robot Battle Video

This one eyed engineer has built himself a tiny wireless camera which fits into his empty eye socket.  He calls it the Eyeborg Project.  A news interview of the inventor is above and another discussion is below.  If this isn’t weird enough, another guy embeded a rare earth magnet into his pointer finger which actually allows him to sense magnetic fields.  Even better, MIT engineers invented another fantastic sixth sense.

In this cool project, learn to use a simple robot to manipulate its 3D mirror image constructed in Maya. For the physical robot, he uses 3 servos and a PicAxe 28X1 micro-controller.  Each time the robot moves on its axes, movement is communicated to the virtual robot in the program. Maya allows the virtual robot to interpret the input signals from the physical eye robot and mimic its movements.

We covered similar 3D interfaced robots using the Arduino in our Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web also using Maya as well as 3d Studio Max.

This hack requires two essential basics:

• An understanding of the high end 3D Modeling software, AutoDesk Maya.
• And a knowledge of robotics.

This cool hack is still in a testing phase according to its originator. Follow his post on Picaxeforum and see the 3D animated eye robot in action in the video above.

Don’t miss our other robotics posts too.

The giant robotic spiders (Yes, it’s a couple), have been ‘engineered’ by the French performance art group La Machine. The spiders are far away from the shores of France as they prepare to be the attractions of Expo Y150, a 5-month festival in Yokohama.

The event is still a few days away but the two 12-meter (40-ft) tall, 37-ton arachnids are already drawing the crowds. They are fully mobile and as the video shows, it’s shooting steam and water from its mouth and rear end. Water cannons, fog machines, lights and live music complete the Hollywood style FX effect. The effect deepens as the day turns into night.

Check our more photos of the 40 foot monsters at La Machine and Flickr.

• Build a motion activated spy camera
• Don’t miss out on our collection of spy hacks and robots for more stealthy fun.
• Build a net launching gun