Nowadays robots are taking the world of sports by storm, from the six-legged skier to the ping pong ace and the expert curler.

Mini Cheetah, a four-legged robot, was trained up by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley’s Hybrid Robotics Lab.

The robot can handle a range of thrown and kicked shots from humans. It can squat, jump, sidestep and dive to stop shots. It can save 87.5 per cent of shots taken on goal, compared to the average for human keepers of around 69 per cent.

Google’s ping-pong robot arm recently completed an epic 340-shot rally (对打) with a human. The arm plays “cooperatively” to get a good rally going, but according to Google its skills could be built up to match the level of a serious human competitor.

Researchers wanted to train it up in a simulation so it could play with humans in the real world. China’s badminton bot

In China, researchers have created a robot called the Robomintoner that can play badminton against human competitors.

The machine looks a bit like a lawnmower (割草机), but it firmly grips its badminton racket just like any human player would. It also gets sufficient power into the shuttlecock using a swift flicking motion, and zips around the court on four wheels.

Also in China, experts from the Shanghai JiaoTong University created a skiing robot that can control its own descent down a snowy slope. The machine stands with two legs on each ski and grips ski poles with its middle legs, which it can manoeuvre (操纵) to control direction.

The robot can stay upright, turn and avoid crashing to people. It is also capable of skiing at more than 30 feet per second across a 1, 300-foot course on an 18-degree slope.

Backpacks are convenient. They can hold your books, your lunch, and a change of clothes, leaving your hands free to do other things. Someday, if you don’t mind carrying a heavy load, your backpack might also power your MP3 player, keep your cell phone running, and maybe even light your way home.

Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., have invented a backpack that makes electricity from energy produced while its wearer walks.

The backpack’s electricity-creating powers depend on springs used to hang a cloth pack from its metal frame. The frame sits against the wearer’s back, and the whole pack moves up and down as the person walks. A mechanism with gears(传动装置) collects energy from this motion and transfers it to an electrical generator.

Surprisingly, the researchers found, people walk differently when they wear the springy packs. As a result, wearers use less energy than when carrying regular backpacks. Also, the way the new packs ride on wearers’ backs makes them more comfortable than standard packs.

The backpack could be especially useful for soldiers, scientists, mountaineers, and emergency workers who typically carry heavy backpacks. These people often rely on global positioning system(GPS) receivers, night-vision goggles(夜视镜), and other battery-powered devices to get around and do their work. Because the pack can make its own electricity, users don’t need to give up space in their packs to lots of extra batteries.

For the rest of us, power-generating backpacks could make it possible to walk, play video games, watch TV, and listen to music, all at the same time. Electricity-generating packs aren’t on the market yet, but if you do get one eventually, just make sure to look both ways before crossing the street!

Perhaps it is time for farmers to put their feet up now because robots are used to inspect crops, dig up weeds, and even have become shepherds, too. Commercial growing fields are astronomically huge and take thousands of many hours to operate. One prime example is one of Australia’s most isolated cattle stations, Suplejack Downs in the Northern Territory, extending across 4,000 square kilometers, taking over 13 hours to reach by car from the nearest major town — Alice Springs.

The extreme isolation of these massive farms leaves them often unattended, and monitored only once or twice a year, which means if the livestock (家畜) falls ill or requires assistance, it can be a long time for farmers to discover.

However, robots are coming to the rescue. Robots are currently under a two-year trial in Wales which will train “farmbots” to herd, monitor the health of livestock, and make sure there is enough pasture (牧草地) for them to graze on. The robots are equipped with many sensors to identify conditions of the environment, cattle and food, using thermal and vision sensors that detect changes in body temperature.

During the trials, the robot algorithms and mechanics will be fine-tuned to make it better suited to ailing livestock and ensure it safely navigates around potential hazards including trees, mud, swamps, and hills.

“We want to improve the quality of animal health and make it easier for farmers to maintain large landscapes where animals roam free,” says Salah Sukkarieh of the University of Sydney, who will carry out trials on several farms in central New South Wales.

The robots are not limited to herding and monitoring livestock. They have been created to count individual fruit, inspect crops, and even pull weeds.

Many robots are equipped with high-tech sensors and complex learning algorithms to avoid injuring humans as they work side by side. The robots also learn the most efficient and safest passages, and allow engineers and farmers to analyze and better optimize (优化) the performances and tasks of the robot, as well as provide a live stream giving real-time feedback on exactly what is happening on the farms.

Of course, some worry lies in replacing agricultural workers. However, it is farmers that are pushing for the advancements due to ever-increasing labor vacancies (空缺), making it difficult to maintain large-scale operations.

The robots have provided major benefits to farmers in various ways, from hunting and pulling weeds to monitoring the condition of every single fruit. Future farms will likely experience a greater deal of autonomy as robots take up more and more farm work efficiently.