The Quirky Side of Robotics: Exploring ADAM, MarsWalker, and MarsCat

Robots are everywhere these days, from the factory floor to the living room, but the ones that really grab attention are the oddballs. The strange, surprising, and sometimes delightfully impractical machines that make you stop and think about where they fit into our lives. Today's blog looks at three unusual takes on robotics that do exactly that.

1. ADAM – Richtech Robotics

Created by Richtech Robotics, a Las Vegas, NV company focused on service robots, ADAM is a humanoid robot that works as a bartender, barista, or "any-drink-you-can-think-of" maker. It mixes, pours, and serves beverages while interacting with customers, with the idea that over time, its AI will let it move and respond more like a human, eventually becoming a true bartender listening to you complain about your problems. The company pitches ADAM as both a labor-saver and a customer experience upgrade, rolling it out in Walmart's One Kitchen food courts across the U.S.

While ADAM might be an answer to the nationwide staffing shortage across the hospitality and retail industries, it's not an answer for faster service. ADAM is slow. Watching it serve, every step is deliberate and excruciating: grab the cup, pour the liquid, stir without spilling. And that would be fine if you're at a trade show demo, but I can't imagine waiting in a Starbucks line while it carefully makes 20 lattes ahead of mine. Novelty will carry it once or twice, but drink-making is as much about speed, creativity, and technique as it is about precision. Bartenders and baristas spend years perfecting flavor ratios and honing their craft. If humans can turn out disappointing cocktails, how much confidence should we have in a robot following a recipe database?

And I'm curious how ADAM is actually trained on recipes, and can it go beyond just executing them? I'd love to see how it handles something finicky like a dry, extra dirty martini, or whether it can invent new cocktails the way skilled bartenders do. Richtech's other robot, Scorpion, left me skeptical: the drink came pre-mixed through a spout, and the robot just gently swirled it with ice. That's not mixology, that's vending. You can watch Scorpion in the video below.

Still, Richtech is betting big. ADAM's already serving coffee and boba in Rockford, IL, with a rollout planned at 240 One Kitchen locations nationwide. Whether people stick around after the novelty wears off or head back to human bartenders for speed and creativity remains to be seen.

2. MarsWalker — Eufy

Eufy's MarsWalker is basically a robo-lift for Eufy's robot vacuums, letting them climb stairs so users don’t have to carry their vacuum from floor to floor. Instead of docking it upstairs or hauling it back down when it's done, the MarsWalker positions itself on the floor, opens a compartment, and waits for the robovac to slide in.

Once secured, it unfolds four legs that act more like a cat's tail for balance instead of for walking on. With the legs extended upward, the carrier literally glides the vacuum up the stairs. I initially wondered if it would scuff up hardwood or laminate, but it uses rubber suction pads that cling to the edges of each step, so it just slides smoothly along.

It's a clever solution, and surprisingly fun to watch. The only downside is that this doesn't make it so that the vacuum can actually clean the stairs—so for now, that chore stays on the "maybe someday" list for robots.

3. MarsCat — Elephant Robotics

Next up is MarsCat from Elephant Robotics. MarsCat bills itself as a "bionic pet cat" that, unfortunately, is not fluffy, but rather sleek and mechanical. I’ll admit, I was expecting something closer to a childhood toy cat that purred and meowed. Instead, MarsCat is hairless, as robots tend to be.

While watching a review video of MarsCat, I was initially weirded out, but then surprised by how long I kept watching. MarsCat is clunky and awkward in spots, collapsing itself on the floor or wagging its tail like a dog instead of a cat. And yet, the reviewer was petting it, talking to it, coaxing it along like a real animal. That's exactly what Elephant Robotics is aiming for: MarsCat is fully autonomous, reacts to touch and voice, and develops a personality over time. Its "personality engine" shifts along six traits (enthusiastic, aloof, energetic, lazy, social, shy) depending on how you interact with it. In Elephant Robotics' promo video for the robotic pet, they mention that "it may even knock over spices", which made me laugh. 

On the tech side, MarsCat has 16 motorized joints for movement, touch and distance sensors, a camera, microphones, and a Raspberry Pi 3B brain. It recognizes objects and toys, responds to petting on its head or chin, and has OLED eyes that change expression. A full charge takes about three hours and gives two to five hours of runtime, depending on how active it is. It’s also programmable, so students or developers can tweak its behavior or add new ones.

It still feels a bit like a work in progress—sometimes more robot than cat—but I can see the draw. If you catch yourself watching someone else pet and talk to a robot on YouTube, maybe that says something about the potential of these machines, quirks and all. Honestly, this is a great option for people who aren't able to have pets, but right now, the price is a bit steep at $2,000.