The computer scientist Christoph Salge is trying to circumvent the need for rules that guide robots’ behavior. His strategy: Give them a goal of making us more powerful.

Small robots can be found at all levels from STEM toys for kids all the way through to complex hacker projects. Somewhere along that line between easy enough for anyone to build and interesting eno… ...

The robot even has a laser. With these–and a few other handy extras–combined, the 23-year-old made a super cool fighting robot, hence the name Nerf Tank.