I met my first South Korean robots as I checked into the Henn na Hotel in Seoul at the end of a 21-hour journey from the U.S.: two plane flights and a bleary-eyed ride on the transit rail. Behind the front desk stood two gleaming white androids, with big round heads framing green digital eyes and thin green smiles. I headed for the androids. The robot clerk on the right came alive to greet me -- first in English, then in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, in quick succession. "Welcome to the Henn na Hotel!" it said in a chirpy female voice. It was eerily humanoid yet inhuman, with hands that looked like white-fingered gloves and thin black mechanical joints for elbows. Its cartoony face was drawn for friendliness. Its slender arms occasionally swept outward in a welcoming gesture.

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. After spending 35 hours researching and testing seven of the best kits for learning robotics, we found the Lego Boost to be the best kit for most beginners. With its Lego-based design, built-in sensors, and the most expansive set of options for creativity and personalization, it was the most fun to build with. And the streamlined tablet app's user-friendly instructions and super-simple programming made it the easiest to learn of any of the kits we tried.

South Korean robotics company Robotis and the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) announced the TurtleBot 3 at ROSCon last year in Seoul. We got to see a wide variety of prototypes, but Robotis was still in the middle of figuring out exactly what TurtleBot 3 was going to look like and what hardware it would include. The company told us at the time that they wanted the robot to be as open, modular, and customizable as possible, and we've been waiting excitedly to see what they came up with. Today, Robotis is finally ready to share the brand-new TurtleBot 3 with the world. And, surprise, there are actually two TurtleBot 3 models: Burger and Waffle, so named because that's kind of what each of them looks like, if you're willing to stretch your imagination a bit: A few weeks ago, Robotis shipped us test units of the two models, and after putting them together and playing a bit with them, we've got an in-depth review for you along with all the info about price and availability.

Welcome to the fifth edition of our annual Robot Gift Guide! This year, we bring you a dozen robots that we think will make fantastic holiday gifts. Just as we've done in the past (for a quick trip through recent robotics history, check out the 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 editions), this year's selection includes mostly new products released in 2016 but also some items from previous years that we still like. We tested many of these bots ourselves, and you might have seen our in-depth reviews here on the blog. And while we provide prices and links to places where you can buy these items, we're not endorsing any in particular, and a little bit of searching may result in better deals (all prices are in U.S. dollars).

Thousands of TurtleBots are out in the world right now, providing a (mostly) straightforward and (mostly) affordable way to get started with ROS. They're (mostly) portable and (mostly) extendable, allowing you (with a limited amount of inconvenience) to modify the robot to keep up with your needs. TurtleBot 2 is a great platform (I certainly love mine), but its size and cost usually restrict it to people who already have some ROS experience, and know that a TurtleBot is something worth investing in. For people who want to get started with ROS but aren't prepared to make as much of an investment, there just aren't a lot of options with the same kind of community and support that you get with TurtleBot. At ROSCon this past weekend, the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) and South Korean robot maker ROBOTIS are tackling these problems by announcing a shiny new version of TurtleBot: TurtleBot 3. TB3 is small enough to fit into a backpack, and with a single-board computer instead of a netbook and just two Dynamixel motors driving a pair of wheels, it's both simpler than previous TurtleBots and significantly cheaper.