Automata step, hop, leap, drive and fly from science fiction into reality
ROBOTS come in all shapes and sizes. Their academic makers draw inspiration from elephants, termites and dragonflies alike. Commercial manufacturers seek to find the right form for their function—such as the deep-pan-pizza shape of the floor cleaning Roomba—while dealing with the constraints required by industrial safety. But those designed to explore the possibilities of working with and among people, be it as rescue workers, butlers or care-home helpers, have a tendency to be person shaped, with arms and heads, if not always with legs. The mechanical menagerie below is the full roster of robots featured in our special report here; the complete lineup in a single graphic is here. And see how a robotic cheetah fares in a race among the world's speed record holders here.