Humanoids, showoffs and other machines ready to do our dirty work

If you've developed a not-so-irrational fear of losing work opportunities to robots, you'd probably mistake RoboUniverse as a job fair. And you wouldn't be too far off. It's the first year for the three-day expo, which wraps up the New York portion of its tour today. The event was organized as a buyer/seller conference to show off progressive technology in the service robotics industry. We're a sucker for any event advertising "robots," so we decided to swing by to see what was bubbling up from industry, capturing a few photos along the way.

While there was no overarching theme, STEM education and lightweight designs (many using 3D-printing for industrial applications) were definitely highlights. BlueWorkforce's spidery Ragnar Robot breaks away from proscribed anatomy by offering an easily customizable framework for industrial automation. EZ-Robot, NewBotic Corporation and c-Link (just to name a few) are helping to weave an understanding of the field into the next generation of potential coders and engineers. But don't worry, aside from OSHbot sauntering up and asking if I needed help finding anything (albeit hardware store items), the event was still staffed by humans.