Baxter the robot can beat you at Connect Four

Sometimes a robot would just like to play a nice, quiet game of Connect Four, rather than languishing on a busy factory floor.

On Sunday at Robotronica, a robotics event in Brisbane, Baxter the robot went head to head with kids of all ages, wielding the little yellow and red disks with its mechanical hand. The android even frowned when it lost, which was often.

A video posted by Nicole Netto (@mystique25) on Aug 23, 2015 at 2:57am PDT

Created by the Boston company Rethink Robotics, Baxter is built to be easily programmable and to safely work alongside humans. It's also equipped with sensors that let it perceive the world around it, and spring joints so it can move its limbs flexibly. Due to all these characteristics, the Baxter at Robotronica is normally used for research and teaching at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Read more...