A humanoid, a wheeled rover and a dog-like robot are trying to push a giant inflatable ball up a ramp. It sounds like an unusual science fiction comedy, yet at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it offered a compelling glimpse of how robots could soon work together in the real world.
I watched this robotic team at FOS Future Lab presented by Randox, an area dedicated to technologies that could transform how we live and work. The wider festival celebrated speed, engineering and extraordinary cars, while Future Lab looked at what might be waiting around the next bend.
Its robotics exhibits ranged from humanoids that could walk, run and manipulate objects to quadrupeds and mobile rovers built for difficult terrain. Some could dance, do Kung Fu or play hide-and-seek. One robotic arm was even programmed to play Jenga, a game capable of exposing the shaky hands of many humans.
The demonstrations were entertaining, but they carried a serious message. Robots are becoming more capable, approachable and easier to put to work.
Teaching Everyone To Speak Robot
Sheffield-based OLO Robotics, chaired by Raspberry Pi co-founder Liz Upton, has developed a cloud platform that lets people program robots through a web browser using plain English.
Robot programming has traditionally required specialist knowledge of software frameworks, hardware and robotics. Many organizations understand how a robot could help them, yet lack the expertise to turn that idea into a working application.
OLO wants to remove that barrier. Users can begin with a simulated robot in the cloud, test an application and transfer the same code to a physical machine. AI-assisted tools convert natural-language instructions into readable JavaScript or Python, allowing users to inspect and edit the results.
This visibility is essential when machines are operating in warehouses, laboratories or hospitals. The system combines the accessibility of generative AI with the transparency and control required in physical environments.
At Goodwood, OLO brought together an impressive collection of machines. The Unitree G1 is a compact humanoid built for agile movement and dexterous manipulation. The DEEP Robotics LYNX M20 combines wheels and legs, allowing it to roll across suitable ground and tackle more difficult terrain. Fiction Lab’s Leo Rover combines mobility, autonomy and sensing technologies to explore places that may be inaccessible or dangerous for humans.
Watching each machine move was impressive. Seeing different types coordinate their actions was far more revealing.
The ball-pushing demonstration illustrated where robotics is heading. Mixed teams of machines can contribute different physical abilities. A humanoid may work well in environments designed for the human body. A wheeled robot can travel quickly across level surfaces. A quadruped can negotiate stairs, debris and uneven ground.
OLO provides a common layer through which these machines can be programmed and coordinated. Organizations could select the right robot for each task and manage the resulting fleet through one environment, reducing dependence on a single manufacturer or robot design.
It also gives people who understand the work a more active role in automation. Warehouse managers, laboratory technicians and engineers often have the clearest view of where robots could create value. Accessible programming tools allow them to turn that knowledge into practical applications.
Robots With Personality
Enchanted Tools offered a very different vision with its Mirokaï robots.
Designed in Paris, the Mirokaï have expressive fox-like ears, animated faces and bodies that move on omnidirectional ball-wheel bases. They look more like digital characters from an animated film than conventional industrial machines.
This design helps them avoid the uncanny valley, the discomfort people can experience when a robot looks almost human, yet feels strangely wrong. The Mirokaï make no attempt to pass as people. Their movements, expressions and personalities make them approachable in their own way.
I found myself wanting to interact with them immediately. That reaction highlights an overlooked part of robot design. Technical excellence achieves little if people distrust the machine or feel uncomfortable around it.
The Mirokaï are intended for hospitals, nursing homes, airports and other human-centered environments. They can carry items, navigate autonomously, communicate in multiple languages and use animated expressions to signal what they are doing. Their wheeled bases also provide stability and energy efficiency.
Their early applications show how personality can create practical value. A Mirokaï has worked as a concierge at Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport. Another has engaged elderly people experiencing cognitive decline through conversation, music and games. At the Montpellier Cancer Institute, a Mirokaï has accompanied children into radiotherapy rooms, where human companions cannot remain during treatment.
A fox-eared robot may sound whimsical, yet reducing a child’s anxiety during cancer treatment is an entirely serious outcome.
Such uses also raise questions about emotional attachment. If children, elderly patients or vulnerable people form relationships with robots, designers must be clear about what these machines are. Privacy, consent and human oversight will need to develop alongside their social capabilities.
Giving Machines A Sense Of Touch
Edinburgh-based TouchLab demonstrated another crucial piece of the robotics puzzle: electronic skin that lets machines feel physical contact.
Its ultra-thin sensors, some as fine as a human hair, wrap around robotic hands and measure pressure in three dimensions. At Goodwood, visitors could wear a haptic glove, control a robotic hand remotely and feel what it touched in real time.
Cameras and AI systems can help robots recognize objects, map environments and avoid obstacles. However, many everyday tasks also depend on touch. Humans instinctively adjust their grip when holding a glass, picking up fruit or handling something fragile. We sense when an object starts to slip and respond before dropping it.
Robots need similar feedback to operate safely in uncontrolled environments. Electronic skin could help a machine distinguish between securing an object and crushing it. It could support delicate manufacturing, safer patient care and precise work where cameras provide an incomplete view.
The technology also creates possibilities for remote operation. A specialist could manipulate objects from another location and physically feel what the robot touches. Applications could include hazardous maintenance, disaster response, healthcare and exploration of inaccessible environments.
From Spectacle To Useful Work
Robotics attracts attention through machines dancing, fighting, sprinting and performing acrobatics. These displays demonstrate remarkable engineering, but commercial value will come from less glamorous achievements: moving equipment reliably, inspecting infrastructure, delivering supplies, assisting patients and performing repetitive tasks without constant supervision.
The exhibits at Goodwood showed several parts of that future coming together. OLO is making robots easier to program and coordinate. Enchanted Tools is exploring how character and thoughtful design can encourage human acceptance. TouchLab is giving robots the physical feedback needed to interact safely with the world.
The spectacle of robots pushing a ball up a ramp represented something much bigger. Different machines were perceiving their environment, coordinating their movements and contributing according to their abilities.
We are moving toward a world where robots take many forms, use shared software and work alongside people in factories, hospitals, airports, care homes and laboratories. Their success will depend on intelligence, reliability, accessibility and how people feel when these machines roll or walk into the room.
The robots at the Future Lab offered an entertaining preview of that future. The robot revolution is leaving the laboratory and beginning to find its place in everyday life.
