Donald Duck was forever doing battle with dehumanising technology, from robot butlers to mechanical barbers.
Its CEO says he hopes that the rides are a Trojan horse for greater understanding about robot technology.
Vecna is working on other potential applications for the robot technology - including helping move heavy patients in hospital.
Of the 70, 000 prostate removals done this year, only 6, 000 or so used the new robot technology, but that is up threefold in a year, Intuitive estimates.
"Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their music, " said Professor Gil Weinberg, director of Georgia Tech's Center for Music Technology and the robot's creator.
ENGADGET: Georgia Tech's Shimi robot wants to rock with you all night, rock the night away
Today, it takes the form of a cartoon-like dog named Rity, developed at the Robot Intelligence Technology (RIT) Laboratory, at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Robot and instant communications technology capitalize on our habitual sharing of self, Turkle is saying, at cost to the healthier ways of connecting.
While researching this series on the domestic origins of technology, I discovered the Magimix by Robot-Coupe.
And, despite Superbot's impressive morphing abilities, Shen said DARPA's vision of a liquid-like robot was still a long way beyond existing technology.
The current model of robo-fly is tethered to a small, off-board power source but Dr Ma says the next step will be to miniaturise the other bits of technology that will be needed to create a "fully wireless flying robot".
BBC: Robotic insect: World's smallest flying robot takes off
Projects which have already been supported by the University Challenge and Science Enterprise Challenge include a sewer robot - resembling a giant, jointed brush - developed by Durham Pipeline Technology, set up by Durham University.
Turgeman said there was an emerging market for people who want to make things, a movement back to craft culture that takes advantage of modern technology -- sometimes referred to as the maker movement (hence the name of the robot).
"Each individual robot is pretty dumb, " said Simon Garnier from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, lead researcher on the study.
The first of those took place last July, when Abderrahmane Kheddar, director of the CNRS-AIST joint robotics laboratory at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan, and his team used FMRI to allow someone to control a robot located thousands of miles away using only their thoughts.
The Robot Hall of Fame induction is sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University, the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Science Center, the Pittsburgh Technology Council and RoboBusiness.
FORBES: C-3PO Would Pick Wall-E For Robot Hall of Fame - Cast Your Vote Online
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