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Bot Vid: Robo Cheetah Boston Dynamics is behind many of the most astonishing robot advances at the moment, and its latest tech is splashed all over the web this week beacuse it's extra impressive: The robotics firm has pushed its cheetah-like robot quadruped up to a mind-boggling 18 miles an hour, a record for legged bots. It's a DARPA-funded project, like many BD efforts, to improve mobility and speed of ground robots for tasks like mine and IED detection.

Oribital gestures, child-like androids, robotic spacecraft--it's all in our robotic roundup.

Flying Dinosaur Bot There's a big debate about how modern bird evolved from flying dinosaurs, and another about how those dinosaurs learned to fly: Did they gradually get better at gliding like a flying squirrel, or did they run-flap along the ground giving them better hunting speed and the ability to easily leap onto perches?

The Hull Bug, inspired by hermit crabs, will swim alongside warships and keep their hulls sparkling clean.

The little boats are used for ocean monitoring, but could be used for much more soon, thanks to the company's new hire, former astronaut and Googler Ed Lu.

Dr. R.E

The end of the Space Shuttle era is slightly depressing. NASA won't be flying its own astronauts into space for a while, either, putting a further damper on the good PR that comes from the visually and intellectually stimulating space program, which encourages students of engineering and science.

Get your delicious, piping hot robo-cookies here! A robot: Your plastic pal who's fun to be with! Okay, so the future that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy predicted is still far off, but it's coming closer every week: HRP-4C gynoid sings on camera We've seen HPR-4C several times already, but she's always worth revisiting as her skills advance--if only because she's one of the few android (technically a gynoid) that's really venturing into Uncanny Valley, with movements and other attributes that seem human. HRP-4C is the best preview out there of the kind of realistic robots we're likely to encounter fairly soon. Here she is singing as part of this year's Japan Robot Association Jisso Protec 2011 show

Instead of finding ways for our track-tethered trains to go faster, we could just eliminate the track altogether. Friction--it's a real bother, especially for trains.

Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh | Photograph by Bill Cramer Manuela Veloso Professor of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh Veloso, 53, a professor of computer science and member of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, is turning robots from joystick-operated poles on wheels into "CoBots" -- intelligent companions that can navigate and move. "CoBots can accompany you to a particular place, give you a tour, do tasks, or stand in for you as telepresence. It seems like science fiction, but it's not

Photograph by Jason Grow/Wonderful Machine Timothy Gifford and Anjana Bhat Movia Robotics CEO and University of Connecticut Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Movia Robotics and UCONN Hartford and Storrs, Connecticut Movia Robotics CEO Gifford, 48, and Bhat, 34, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, use robots to help autistic children develop social and physical skills.

Photograph by Jason Grow/Wonderful Machine Timothy Gifford and Anjana Bhat Movia Robotics CEO and University of Connecticut Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Movia Robotics and UCONN Hartford and Storrs, Connecticut Movia Robotics CEO Gifford, 48, and Bhat, 34, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, use robots to help autistic children develop social and physical skills.

When inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen launched his FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition two decades ago, he hoped to turn engineering into a contact sport and engineering students into superstars. Judging by the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) held recently in New York City--which included waving mascots, bleachers filled with screaming fans, and dozens of robots throwing down--he has succeeded

PAL Robotics has been working on its REEM-x lineup of wheeled humanoid robots for some time. Now it's just revealed its newest edition, simply called REEM, which is its first commercial offering.

How would you feel if you met Danish Professor Henrik Scharfe and then moments later were introduced to another Henrik Scharfe, this time an almost identical android? A new Geminoid bot makes this possible