Robot Videos: Robotic Hands-ish, Drone Swarms, More

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends on IEEE Spectrum robotics. We are also publishing a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

World Robot Summit: October 10-12, 2025, OSAKA, JAPAN

IROS 2025: October 19-25, 2025, HANGZHOU, CHINA

Enjoy today’s videos!

There are two things I really like about this Boston Dynamics pliers video. First, build a pincer while keeping in mind that the robot will inevitably fall on it, as I see a lot of very delicate five-fingered hands on humanoids and am very skeptical of their robustness. And second, understand that not only is a five-fingered hand most likely useless for the vast majority of tasks, but robot hands also should not be constrained by the range of motion of a human hand.

[ Boston Dynamics ]

Yes, okay, it’s a fancy looking robot, but I still don’t know what useful and practical things it can DO reliably, cost-effectively and safely.

– YouTubeyoutu.be

[ Figure ]

Life on Earth has evolved in constant relationship with gravity, but we rarely consider how much it shapes living systems until we imagine a place without it. In MycoGravity, pink oyster mushrooms grow in a custom-made bioreactor mounted on a KUKA robotic arm. Inspired by NASA’s random positioning machines, the robot’s programmed movement simulates altered gravity. Over time, sculptural mushrooms emerge, shaped by their environment without stable gravitational direction.

[ MycoGravity ]

A new technological advancement gives robotic systems a natural feeling of touch, without additional skins or sensors. Using advanced force sensing and deep learning, this robot can sense where you touch, recognize symbols, and even use virtual buttons, paving the way for more natural and flexible human-robot interaction.

[ Science Robotics ]

Thanks Maged!

The creator of Mini Pupper presents Hey Santa, which can be yours for less than $60.

[ Kickstarter campaign]

I think humanoid robotics companies are starting to realize that they’re going to have to differentiate themselves in some way.

[ DEEP Robotics ]

Drone swarm performances – synchronized, expressive aerial displays set to music – have emerged as a captivating application of modern robotics. However, designing fluid and safe choreographies remains a complex task requiring expert knowledge. We introduce SwarmGPT, a language-based choreographer that leverages the reasoning power of large language models (LLMs) to streamline drone performance design.

[ SwarmGPT ]

Dr. Mark Draelos, assistant professor of robotics and ophthalmology, received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award for a project to improve the way delicate microsurgeries are performed by enlarging tissue to a size that allows surgeons to “walk through the retina” in virtual reality and operate on tissue as if they were “raking leaves.”

[ University of Michigan ]

The complex workings of the most sophisticated laboratory on Mars are revealed in Episode 4 of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin series, titled “Sample Processing.”

[ European Space Agency ]

There is a market for used industrial robots right now, and I’m wondering what’s next. Used humanoids, anyone?

[ Kuka ]

On October 2, 2025, the 10th edition of the conference “Can we build Baymax?” Workshop Part 10: What can we build today? & BYOB (Bring Your Own Baymax) was held in Seoul, Korea. To celebrate the 10th anniversary, Baymax delivered a special message from its character designer, Jin Kim.

[ Baymax ]

I share this only to state that iRobot has gone further with its product names: meet the “Roomba® Max 705 Combo Robot + AutoWash™ Dock”.

[ iRobot ]

Daniel Piedrahita, Navigation Team Lead, discusses his team’s recent work to rebuild Digit’s navigation stack, including a significant upgrade to foostep path planning.

[ Agility Robotics ]

Lots of ICRA@40 videos have just been released, and here are a few of my favorites.

[ ICRA@40 ]