T2, the Tea Bot, gets us one step closer to that. Using a laser-cut frame, an ESP8266, and a servo motor, the T2 brews your tea for exactly the right amount of time.

Designed by Shashwat Batish, ALANA is a life-size robot with movable arms powered by custom servo motors, capable of lifting 500 grams at full extension.

He then swapped out the servo for a small stepper motor. The motor was easy enough to spin when powered down, but didn’t have quite enough torque to turn the knob.