machine

Diggers and machines carve through the forest floor, paving over wetland to surface the road which will cut through a protected area.

A provisional order for 10,000 machines was placed at the time, but the deal was scrapped after Dyson failed to win regulatory approval.

The machines fell when they clashed – and one of them was even taken off the field in a stretcher by their human handler who was keen to keep the joke going.

Their branch in the Georgetown neighbourhood of Washington DC has all the classic signs of the hip coffee shop - exposed vents, bare brick walls, barista coffee machine.

If they’re in a hurry, Hill said, they’ll go into a batting cage and catch hundreds of balls thrown by a pitching machine.