Some do indeed look fearsome, with visible weapons like spikes or saws or hammers. None of the machines look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in ''The Terminator'' or even like humans at all. Some of the machines are run by humans using remote control devices others are true, autonomous robots, programmed for different tactics. Some robot competitions involve machines that are designed for specific tasks and include only transistors and diodes. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration sponsors robot competitions for children, as does the BattleBots organization. Robots compete in volleyball, soccer, hockey, obstacle courses, maze running and other events. ''Robot Riots: The Good Guide to Bad Bots'' lists almost 60 robot competitions. One thing is certain: making robots compete against one another is irresistible to their builders.
It makes you think that at the very least, fighting robots are not going to go away. But make the number 20 years and think of what happened with personal computers between 19.
‘Dickinson’: The Apple TV+ series is a literary superheroine’s origin story that’s dead serious about its subject yet unserious about itself.‘Inside’: Written and shot in a single room, Bo Burnham’s comedy special, streaming on Netflix, turns the spotlight on internet life mid-pandemic.
Here are some of the highlights selected by The Times’s TV critics: Television this year offered ingenuity, humor, defiance and hope.