Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next two months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. It's not always clear whether Boston Dynamics' robots are operating autonomously or being controlled by a human, but it's definitely clear in this video of a presentation and demo by Marc Raibert: At the end, the human driving Atlas accidentally walks the robot off the stage. We developed a mobile robot that rolls by active deformation of the soft outer shell.

Who cares about a nuanced discussion comparing the necessity for big data-driven surveillance and the importance of privacy and strong encryption? What kind of puny, pencil-necked geek spends time pondering the relative pros and cons of logic-based artificial intelligence and statistical AI? If you're a red-blooded, testosterone-pumping tech fan who likes your gear served up with a thick-crusted slice of pro wrestling pageantry, the only confrontation that matters this year is the one pitting Californian robotics company MegaBots against Japanese robotics company Suidobashi in a totally awesome robot duel that's been years in the making. Set to finally take place this August (an announcement made this week), the date is the culmination of thousands of hours both companies have spent building giant human-driven mech robots -- you know, like those things out of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. Now they're going to do what any self-respecting big kid would do when playing with kickass action figures: bash them against each other until a clear victor has emerged.

Megabots, the makers of the 12,000 pound Mark III robot suit, are about to fulfill the dreams of anime nerds everywhere, and validate the entire premise of Kickstarter while they're at it. It's been almost two years since the indie robot construction company gathered the funding needed to challenge Japanese robotics startup Suidobashi to a giant robot duel -- but in August, after several delays, the fight will finally happen.