"These are definitely the droids you're looking for," insists MassRobotics about its Robot Block Party this weekend, in that way that people who make robots like to pretend they won't eventually rise up and subjugate all of humanity. In reality, it's pretty cool that kids and adults alike will get to experience robotics up close and personal when more than 30 different companies and universities take to the Seaport with drones, autonomous vehicles, collaborative robots, humanoids, robot dogs, flying bionic birds, and all sorts of other mechanical beings available for first-hand viewing. Part of RoboBoston, a two-day affair that also features a STEM Field Trip Day and a Robotics and AI Technical Career Fair -- both on Friday -- the Robot Block Party will mark the fifth time the robots have taken over. Er, the Seaport, that is. "The world looks to our cluster for innovations and advances in robotics. RoboBoston is a chance to celebrate, recognize and share our robust community," said Tom Ryden, executive director of MassRobotics.

The 2017 Silicon Valley Robot Block Party set a new high for attendance with over 1000 robot fans plus investors, exhibitors and media. "Robotics has emerged as one of the most important technologies in the 21st century impacting on almost every part of society from self-driving cars, to improved outcomes in medicine, to taking care of our aging parents to teaching our next generation of engineers and scientists," says John Dulchinos, VP Strategic Capabilities, Jabil. Silicon Valley has become one of the leading areas for the advancement and commercialization of robotics technologies." It would be hard to pick a star of the show when watching the smiles on children's faces throughout the day. There were big robots, small robots, mobile robots, robot arms, humanoid robots, toy robots, robots you could ride on or in and even robot insects.

The fundamental technology behind the da Vinci Surgical System was originally developed at SRI International, and it's not like they've been sitting around building thumb-twiddling robots since then. This is Taurus, a little manipulator robot that was unveiled to the public for the first time at the National Robotics Week Robot Block Party at Stanford's VAIL automotive research lab. When I say Taurus is little, it's because the robot was specifically designed to fold itself into a box shape that's a mere 14" wide and 5" tall [36 cm wide and 13 cm tall]. It needs to be so compact because of what its job is: Taurus is meant to be shoved into small spaces in vehicles to detect and defeat vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. It doesn't have wheels or legs or anything like that; instead, it's intended to be mounted directly onto the robotic arm of a Talon or a PackBot, which is an innovative way to go.