1. Teach An Old Bot New Tricks

Domestic robots like the iRobot Roomba are handy enough, but sometimes we want more. In addition to being practical, why can’t they sing, shoot pellets, or even navigate highways? Well, thanks to some friendly hackers, these household bots can.

After this summer’s release of Wall-E, we may be dreaming of trash-compacting droids inadvertently saving the world. Unfortunately, most of the robots we invite into our homes are still pretty predictable little things—they vacuum our floors, play with our kids, and baffle our pets. In the hands of hackers, though—who get a kick out of modifying our electronic toys and vacuums—these old domestic bots can learn a lot of new tricks. Roombas, WowWees, Aibos: all of them are ripe for reassembly by robotics fans with technical know-how. A sense of humor doesn’t hurt either.

Well, until they can compact our trash into perfect squares while making Wall-E doe eyes in our direction, check out some of the cool things these hacked consumer robots can do.