BigDog

Humanoid looking robots are boring. They rarely display life-like properties. Shapeless ugly robots are definitively much more attractive because they give a better sense of autonomy and adaptation. BigDog, developped by Boston Dynamics, is powered by a pleasantly annoying gasoline engine that drives 4 articulated legs articulated. It can handle many types of terrain and conditions as demonstrated by the video:

In addition, I find Dario Floreano‘s work on bio-inspired bots using self-assembling, self-organising capabilities (such as the MicroFlyer) very inspiring for the design of pleasant “intelligent” environments.