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Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a new series of robots that are simple enough for almost anyone to build with off-the-shelf parts, but are sophisticated machines that wirelessly connect to the Internet.

The robots can take many forms, from a three-wheeled model with a mounted camera to a flower loaded with infrared sensors. They can be easily customized and their ability to wirelessly link to the Internet allows users to control and monitor their robots’ actions from any Internet-connected computer in the world.

The new tools that make this possible are a single piece of hardware and a set of "recipes" that people follow to build their ’bots. Both are part of the Telepresence Robot Kit (TeRK) developed by Associate Professor of Robotics Illah Nourbakhsh and members of his Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab. Their goal is to make highly capable robots accessible and affordable for college and pre-college students, as well as anyone interested in robots.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/cmu-cmu042407.php

Future micro-scale machine parts will need to be made with devices that use tiny, agile ‘fingers’ that can grip, lift and do the assembly work in a controlled, coordinated way.

Engineers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed and demonstrated a one-square centimetre device they call the ‘micromanipulator station’ that accomplishes this goal.

‘We think this will be useful in the microfactories of the future,’ said Laxman Saggere, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, who developed the device with graduate student Sandeep Krishnan.

Source: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/298616/Tiny+fingers+build+micro+machines.htm

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and NASA Ames will release in March a $200 robot which will transform your digital cameras into powerful image-makers without your help.

Attached to almost any model of digital cameras, the Gigapan robot platform will take continuous snapshots of a place or an event. Then the software provided by the research team will produce a panoramic image built from all these snapshots. And these images will be zoomable. This means you'll have the best of two worlds, big panoramas and startling details.

This GigaPan platform has been developed at Carnegie Mellon University by Illah Nourbakhsh, an associate professor of robotics with the help of the NASA Ames Intelligent Robot Group. This project is part of the Global Connection Project.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=478

Scientists have created a way to control a robot with signals from a human brain.
By generating the proper brainwaves—picked up by a cap with electrodes that sense the signals and reflect a person's instructions—scientists can instruct a humanoid robot to move to specific locations and pick up certain objects (see video).

The commands are limited to moving forward, picking up one of two objects and bringing it to one of two locations. The researchers have achieved 94 percent accuracy between the thought commands and the robot's movements.

"This is really a proof-of-concept demonstration," said Rajesh Rao, a researcher from the University of Washington who leads the project. "It suggests that one day we might be able to use semi-autonomous robots for such jobs as helping disabled people or performing routine tasks in a person's home."

Source: http://www.livescience.com/technology/061215_humanoid_robot.html

Technology that lets a human "inhabit" the body of a distant robot for remote exploration is being tested in Germany.

The robot sits on top of a wheeled platform and has an extendable arm that it uses to manipulate objects. An operator moves the robot around by simply walking or using a foot pedal and can see out of twin cameras positioned on the robot's head after donning a head-mounted display.
The controller's wrist is also connected to a touch sensitive (haptic) interface that controls the robot's arm. Furthermore, a wearable glove provides control over a three-fingered hand at the end of the robot's arm.

Force-feedback gives the operator a sense of the robot's physical interactions with its surroundings – by providing resistance to the user if the robot is pushing up against or grasping something, for example. Meanwhile, microphones relay surrounding noises to a pair of headphones.

Source: http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10635-robot-with-human-soul-explores-remotely.html