Demonstrated at the conference the prototypes showed how swarm robots can independently divide up tasks, with no central program controlling them. They skitter around, communicating as they encounter each other via the same kind of infrared technology used in mobile phones.

Red and green lights on the robot were used to show which task they had chosen. After a short while, the group autonomously divided itself - 80% red and 20% green.

The swarm can cope with disruption too. If a handful of the "green" robots are removed from the arena, the remainder will redistribute themselves again into the 80/20 split.

Scientists say this flexibility gives swarm robotics an edge over traditional approaches for far-flung missions.

"You might have some complex robot that is sent to Mars, has a technical problem, and then the mission is basically over," said Klaus-Peter Zauner, the leader of the Southampton swarm robot project.

AirJelly is a remote radio-controlled airborne jellyfish with a central electric drive unit and an intelligent adaptive mechanism.

AirJelly consists of a helium-filled ballonett with a diameter of 1.35 meters. This yields a filling volume of 1.3 cubic meters of helium. Since one cubic meter of helium provides buoyancy to lift approximately one kilogram, the total weight of AirJelly, comprising its ballonett and all ancillary components, must amount to no more than 1.3 kilograms.

AirJelly houses two lithium-ion polymer accumulator batteries rated at 8 V and 400 mA, which can be completely charged in half an hour and are AirJelly's sole source of power. A connected central electric drive unit transmits the force to a bevel gear wheel and then to eight spur gears in sequence. These gears power eight shafts, each of which activates a crank; these in turn move the jellyfish's eight tentacles. Each tentacle is designed as a structure with Fin Ray Effect - a construction derived from the functional anatomy of a fish's fin. The actual structure consists of two alternating tension and pressure flanks movably connected by ribs. If a flank is subjected to pressure, the geometrical structure automatically bendsin the direction of the applied force. Together, the tentacles produce a peristaltic forward motion similar to that of their biological model.

The happiest place on Earth (Disneyland, not Las Vegas during CES) just got a little happier this week, thanks to a new exhibit called the Muppet Mobile Laboratory that roams the park and delights visitors with inane banter and sprays of water. Probably having nothing to do with the fact that the human costumed characters like to videotape themselves in suggestive poses while still in uniform, Disney decided to eschew flesh and bone for metal and silicon when it tasked the Imagineering studio with whipping up California Adventure's newest residents, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his always chipper, possibly speed-addicted friend Beaker. The two wacky companions approach groups of visitors in their remotely-controlled, cartoonish rocket ship, and thanks to operators monitoring embedded cameras, microphones, and speakers, are able to to carry on eerily-realistic conversations that incorporate actual traits of the audience members.

The three types of bots will join forces to create a swarmanoid and perform various jobs. The footbots will transport objects on the ground level, while handbots with specialized climbing and grappling features take to the walls. Some eyebots equipped with visual sensors will operate attached to the ceiling, overseeing the action below and feeding information to their robotic colleagues; others will fly.

"The long-term vision is to build robots that, like humanoid robots, are supposed to live in human-made environments," Dorigo said. "But instead of the anthropomorphic vision of humans in robots, we want to take the swarm approach."

The swarmanoid's footbot design will be based on the swarm-bot architecture. But the scientists decided the bots would be more practical if different models were customized for particular jobs.

"Why try to solve problems using a single type when you can have robots that are specialized for specific tasks?" he said. To demonstrate the swarmanoid's abilities, the team wants to create a swarmanoid that can tidy a bedroom, as well as remove an object from a shelf and bring it to a humanoid.

So when will we be able to swap out the ink cartridges in our home printers and print out our own robot? How close are we to being able to print out a robot on a flat sheet of paper, fold along the dotted lines and have it move under its own power?

"Such a capability is somewhat years away and it is difficult to predict how soon. Someone is going to be the first to make such robots and I am not sure if it is not already being investigated," Dr. Bar-Cohen said.

If under development, it is certainly being done behind closed doors and under a tight veil of secrecy to gain an edge on the competition.

And when printable robots do become available there will likely be an open source community to help you design and program your origami robot. Creating the design for the robot requires not only some knowledge of paper folding techniques but also the ability to engineer paper forms capable of locomotion once the power, control and drive elements are printed onto it. If the creation just lies on its back and moves its legs in the air, it is not much of a robot.

From what we gather from a trail of liberally translated links is that this radio-controlled bot, which is being developed at Japan's Chuo University, uses 6 legs to propel itself across the water like the ones MIT and Carnegie Mellon have been developing for a while. The outer legs are made of buoyant resin to keep it afloat, while the middle legs provide the driving force. Eventually the developers are hoping it will be able to move flawlessly from the water onto land, making it a valuable tool for aquatic rescues, especially when equipped with a camera. Even if it never gets that far, the videos on the source link suggest it would make a pretty killer pool toy.

IRobot Inc. Chief Executive Colin Angle said one group of soldiers even named its robot "Scooby Doo" and grieved when it was blown up after completing 35 successful missions defusing improvised explosive devices.

"Please fix Scooby Doo because he saved my life," a soldier told repair technicians, according to Angle's account at last week's Future in Review technology conference.

The company, which is best known for "Roomba," the robotic vacuum cleaner, and "Scooba," the floor-mopping robot, envisions a machine that would instill similar feelings in civilians.

***

Angle did not hesitate when asked if he thinks the bond soldiers have formed with his robots is normal.

"I think it's very rational," he said. "(Scooby Doo) was someone, something, that was doing a great service for them and thus when they brought it back, it was viewed not just as a loss of a machine gun or a piece of body armor or a helmet. It was a loss of a contributing member of the team."

With more joints and flexibility of movement, Asimo can now also grip and carry a tray of drinks, placing it safely on a table.

Demonstrating its latest tricks through video footage, Honda showed the 4.25-foot-tall Asimo addressing a mock visitor by name and showing her to a conference room, all the while maintaining a steady and natural distance from the guest.

"Welcome, Sato-san," Asimo said, bowing deeply as per standard Japanese etiquette.

By preprogramming the guest's name, meeting room and other data in an IC (integrated circuit) tag to be worn by the visitor upon arrival, an office worker can remotely send commands to Asimo, which in turn would pick up the commands through a built-in IC tag reader.

T-Rot has two cameras which help it recognize both people and objects - like bottles, glasses and refrigerators - and see their position in three dimensions. It also has the capability of listening to customers and responding with appropriate conversational comments.

In order to correctly apply force to different objects, T-Rot has special skin developed by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. This allows T-Rot to apply the correct pressure in a handshake with a person, or in holding a delicate glass. T-Rot can even pick up eggs without breaking them.

The most important function is the robot's capacity to recognize things by its sense of touch. Since helper robots live with humans all the time, security is crucial. For that reason, synthetic skin which detects the texture of things like human skin is essential. The skin developed by a team led by Gang Dae-im and Kim Jong-ho from the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science has polyamide film and three-axis sensors that can detect vertical pressure and horizontal sliding. It is capable of recognizing the weight of objects with a less than 10 g margin of error when it holds a 100 g object.

"It would seem that science fiction is slowly turning into science fact in an 'Internet of Things' based on ubiquitous network connectivity," said the report.

"Today, in the 2000s, we are heading into a new era of ubiquity, where the 'users' of the internet will be counted in billions and where humans may become the minority as generators and receivers of traffic."

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, robotics and nanotechnology will make processing power increasingly available in smaller and smaller packages so that networked computing dissolves into the fabric of things around us.

The result could mean remote controls embedded in clothing, cars that alert their driver when they have developed a fault, managers who check on workers through the RFID devices embedded in their phones, and bags that remind their owners that they have forgotten something.

1. Guidance and escorting - enon is suited for reception duties or explaining of exhibits, as it can detect when people stand in front of it and can provide a variety resourceful information such as product details, in addition to escorting guests to designations. Aside from its voice function, through its touch panel LCD monitor enon can also offer a multitude of user-friendly information through visual images. This monitor can also be utilized to administer questionnaires and through interconnection to a server can be used to accumulate guest information.

2. Transport of objects - enon can carry parcels an internal storage compartment in its torso and deliver them to a designated location. Through network interconnection, users can call for enon to come from a remote location and have goods delivered to a specified designation.

3. Security patrolling - enon is capable of regularly patrolling facilities following a pre-set route, and by using a network has the ability to transmit images of stipulated locations to a remote surveillance station. enon can also respond flexibly or to users' spontaneous requests through a network, such as directing enon to view specific sites.

And they add that there is no need to stop at simply imitating the functions of human skin.

"It will be possible in the near future to make an electronic skin that has functions that human skin lacks," the researchers write in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Future artificial skins could incorporate sensors not only for pressure and temperature, but also for light, humidity, strain or sound, they add.

Philips poses the following scenario: "Imagine a networked home, in which the Smart Companion is connected to the home PC and the Internet. A user says "Dimi, what will the weather be like tomorrow?" The Smart Companion initiates a search on the Internet for the latest information, retrieves it, processes it, and communicates it by voice to the user, all within seconds" A smidge more advanced than the average Robosapien then. Plus, the Smart Companion also recognises faces, and can nod smugly.

The auto giant has set up a division to make the company a powerhouse in the potentially lucrative sector of robots for household use.

In 2010, the automaker intends to start selling next-generation household robots to help people receive visitors, raise children and provide nursing care for sick and elderly patients, company officials said.