Drone shows, such as the ones shown above, are a new and rapidly evolving sector of the entertainment industry.

The team behind RoboThespian, a life-sized humanoid robot designed for human interaction in a public environment, have launched a new YouTube channel: Robot’s World. The robot is very much real and enjoys a bit of profanity in its first episode about the confusion between AI and robots.

Amsterdam-based photographer Wanda Tuerlinckx feels inspired by the slow style of classic photography. So influenced, in fact, you can find her observing all her subjects through an old-fashioned lens, an authentic 19^th century ‘camera obscura’ (Latin for “dark chamber”).

Initially, she began by taking portraits of people. Now she concentrates her artistic endeavours photographing robots, cleverly juxtaposing these unlikely high/low tech companions, to create visually stunning black and white images.

SPARKED: A Live Interaction Between Humans and Quadcopters won the 2016 New York City Drone Film Festival (NYCDFF) Featuring Drones category.

NYCDFF is the world’s first event exclusively dedicated to celebrating the art of drone cinematography. The festival offers an international platform for filmmakers from every corner of the globe to exhibit their work in front of industry professionals and the drone cinema fan community. 

Cinemagoers have long been fascinated by fictional robots, but they’re not usually realistic — until now. Thanks to technological advancements, some of the classic movie robots are now a realistic possibility. If you make some allowances for their limited artificial intelligence, we’re pretty close to making fiction a reality. Let’s look at some of the iconic movie robots that could now be possible thanks to current robotic technologies …

Drones, lights and nature combine in Drone Courtship, a short movie about a magical encounter between two flying robots set in a forest of centennial trees. A collaboration between Atelier D. Schlaepfer and Flyability, and filmed without special effects, the movie shows how robots can transform onscreen into living creatures.

Beautiful short documentary by The Atlantic about amputee drummer Jason Barnes and Georgia Tech professor of music technology Gil Weinberg that explores “how robotics and artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the way that music is created and performed.”

It may be low budget, but sci-fi adventure Robot Overlords is an action-packed feast full of technical prowess. Learn about the tech and VFX that made these robots so convincing on the silver screen.

A glimpse behind the scenes of sci-fi blockbuster Ex Machina, with visual effects supervisor Andrew Whitehurst.

In this video lecture, Massimiliano Zecca from the Healthcare Technology and Head of the Healthcare Technology group at Loughborough University discusses emotional robotics, musical robotics and wearable bio-instrumentation. He centers his research on robotic systems and technologies that assist those in need due to advanced age or illness.

Baymax, the lovable, inflatable robot star of Disney’s recent hit, Big Hero 6, is far from a movie fantasy. With their soft cushiony bodies, robots like Baymax have very real prospects as future care-givers, space-travellers and more. Robohub’s Helmut Hauser spoke to the man who inspired Baymax – Chris Atkeson, Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University – about the hard science behind soft robotics.

The personalisation of healthcare devices has been a growing trend in the maker-sphere. From gold-plated hearing aids, neon walking sticks, and sparkling blade prosthetics to 3D printed arm casts, people with disabilities are no longer waiting for health services to catch up – they are dragging their medical devices into the future on their own.

What do you get when you cross hundreds of drones with an indoor football stadium equipped with GPS?  Quite possibly the world’s largest drone entertainment show the world has yet to see. 

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks with Hunter Lloyd, who is a Professor of Robotics at Montana State University and a comedian. Hunter performs a comedy act for all ages with partner Looney, a NAO Humanoid Robot from Aldebaran Robotics. Lloyd discusses making people laugh with his robot partner, why he does it, and how what he’s learned as a comedian relates to robotics.

NEW: Transcript below.
In this episode, Ron Vanderkley speaks with Mythbusters‘ Grant Imahara, and Richard McKenna from The Creature Technology Company about robotics in the film, television and theatre industries.