Patrick Tresset's robot Paul-IX was designed to draw like a human. GIF by Beckett Mufson via
Robots have captured the imaginations of storytellers for centuries, from Asimov's I, Robot to TARS in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, to tales of Hephaestus' bronze sentinel from Ancient Greek mythology. In 2014, we saw dozens of sculptors, engineers, programmers, and installation artists realize their creative visions through androids, automatons, and mechanical arms. While some made us fear the robo-pocalypse and others came unsettlingly close to crossing the uncanny valley, some of the year's most impressive creativity was powered by robotics.
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This is the Year in Robots:+ Last month we wondered whether [Patrick Tresset's drawing robot](http:// http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/this-robot-draws-like-a-human) could make art that comments on the human condition.+ Filmmaker Kevin Margo brought a trio of construction robots to life through cutting-edge motion capture and ray tracing techniques.
Peter William Holden's choreographed robots tap danced their way through the Merge Festival in London. Images by Medial Mirage / Matthias Möller
+ One robotic performance group impressed us with its tap dancing skills, while another participated in [an elegant ballet](http:// http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/robots-and-choreography-abound-in-this-update-to-a-ballet-masterpiece).+ We explored the Tate Modern at night through the eyes of museum-going robots.
+ We got our faces stolen by these human-mimicking robots and our [whispers replicated by this one](http:// http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/the-illusion-of-life-machine-can-mimic-human-whispers).+ A [nontraditional robotic chef](http:// http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/could-this-digital-cooking-machine-replace-chefs-completely) prepared us dinner back in June.
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