Robot Videos: Mars Helicopters, Rope-Driven Dog, More

Friday video is your weekly selection of impressive robotics videos, collected by your friends in Spectrum ieee robotics. We also publish a weekly calendar for the next robotics events for the coming months. Please Send us your events for inclusion.

RO-MAN 2025: August 25-29, 2025, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Clawar 2025: 5-7 September 2025, Shenzhen, China

News 2025: 23-24 September 2025, San Francisco

Corl 2025: September 27-30 2025, Seoul

IEEE HUMANOIDIDS: September 30 to October 2, 2025, Seoul

World Robots Summit: October 10-12, 2025, Osaka, Japan

IROS 2025: 19-25 October 2025, Hangzhou, China

Take advantage of today’s videos!

Aerovironment revealed Skyfall – a future potential mission concept for new generation Mars helicopters has developed with the NASA jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) to help open the way for human landing on Mars thanks to an autonomous air exploration.

The concept is strongly focused on the rapid supply of an affordable and technically mature solution for an enlarged March exploration which would be ready to be launched by 2028. Skyfall is designed to deploy six scout helicopters on Mars, where they would explore many sites selected by NASA and industry as the main landing sites for the first American Martian astronauts. During the exploration of the region, each helicopter can operate independently, radiating high resolution surface imagery and ground radar data to the earth to analyze, helping to guarantee that crew vehicles to make safe landings in areas with maximum quantities of water, ice and other resources.

The concept would be the first to use the “Skyfall maneuver” – an innovative and innovative landing, descent and landing technique by which the six Rotorcraft are deployed from their entrance capsule during its descent through the Martian atmosphere. By piloting the helicopters to the surface of March under their own power, Skyfall would eliminate the need for an landing platform – by tradition, one of the most expensive, complex and risky elements of any Mars mission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqaupq3_xrs

[ AeroVironment ]

By far, the best part of videos like these is to watch the expressions on the faces of students when their robots succeed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6ychxkn5nk

[ RaiLab ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Siuwjwkjdgs

[ Fourier ]

Top performer of her class! Less than two weeks after its last outing, Magiclab unveils another breakthrough – Magicdog -W, the quadruped robot with wheels. Cyber-flex, dominate all terrains!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_uakh6swyc

[ MagicLab ]

Inspired by the remarkable capacity of the octopus to wrap and grasp of precision, this study introduces a gentle actuator inspired by the void and inspired by origami which imitates such versatility thanks to an auto-replied design and high flexion angles. Its 3D -folded 3D printed structure allows compact and modular robotics with an improved entry force – ideal for manipulating objects of different shapes and sizes using an octopus type suction synergy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

[ Paper ] via [ IEEE Transactions on Robots ]

Thank you, Bram!

Is it a plane? Is it a helicopter? Yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5x8potn0ii

[ Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory, City University of Hong Kong ]

You don’t need a wrist rotation as long as you have the right pliers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhnc3y_ykks

[ Nature Machine Intelligence ]

ICRA 2026 will be in Vienna next June!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMPA5MQLQWS

[ ICRA 2026 ]

Boing, Boing, Boing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNV2BWECS9U

[ Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory, City University of Hong Kong ]

Robotera unveils L7: Complete two -generation size robot with powerful mobility and dignified manipulation!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muu3bqo9rki

[ ROBOTERA ]

Meet Ubtech New Gen of Industrial Humanoid Robot – Walker S2 makes several peak breakthroughs! Walker S2 is the first humanoid robot in the world to make a 3 -minute autonomous battery exchange and 24/7 continuous operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnryo2uasws

[ UBTECH ]

Armstrong Dex is a double -arm hydraulic robot on a human scale developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (Kaeri) for a disaster response. It can perform vertical pull-ups and handle loads at more than 50 kilograms, demonstrating force beyond human capacities. However, environments in the event of a disaster also require a rapid and precise agility and movement. This test assessed Armstrong Dex’s capacity to throw a bottle of 500 millililitra (0.5 kg) water in a target container. Experience has evaluated high speed coordination, control of the trajectory and the precision of the final point, which are key attributes to operate in dynamic rescue scenarios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFJJOE8TO5A

[ KAERI ]

It is not a humanoid robot, it is a data acquisition platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrgeroghkhy

[ PNDbotics ]

Careful feature on this drone to move the battery from front to back to compensate for the movement of the arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_IOYWADB9S

[ Paper ] via [ Drones journal ]

As residential buildings become larger and more advanced, the request for seamless and secure construction delivery continues to grow. In high -end apartments and living establishments for modern seniors where currents cannot access the upper floors, robots like Flashbot Max become essential. In this healthcare residence for the elderly featured, Flashbot Max completes 80 to 100 deliveries per day, navigating perfectly on elevators, informing the residents on arrival and returning to its charging station after each delivery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

[ Pudu Robotics ]

“How to shake trees with air manipulators.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3u9kidbam4

[ GRVC ]

We see a future where to see a cottage in a hospital delivering supplies is as normal as seeing a tractor in a field. Look at our CEO Brad bring sharing what the robots should feel in the world.

[ Cobot ]

Presenting the engineering arts user interface for robot roles, it is now easy to configure a robot to behave exactly as you wish. We give a quick overview of the personalization of languages, personality, knowledge and capacities. All this is done without code. Just simple LLM prompts, drop -down list selections and certain switches to activate the features you need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDPS5THWY8U

[ Engineered Arts ]

Unlike most quadrupeds, Cara does not use any gear or chicken. Instead, its joints are driven by the rope through Capstan discs. Capstan discs offer several advantages: zero backlash, high torque transparency, low inertia, low cost and silent operation. These qualities make it an ideal speed reducer for robotics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S9TJRZ01FO

[ CARA ]