Every once in a while, somebody envisions a robot that feels plucked from a science-fiction movie or novel. Take this undersea robot concept from the Fraunhofer Institute, for example.

Believe it or not, this robot is designed to work independently and underwater. As you can see, the apparatus has four propellers for stabilization, and some arms too.I’m not certain what sort of projects that they have in mind for them, but deep sea exploration would be a good job, if it wasn’t for the pressures of deep water.

Many other blogs have compared its look to a certain robot that Neo wakes up to in The Matrix. Considering that these robots are programmed to act independently, how long will it be before they build more of themselves, and invade like the machines in The Matrix? The movie of that would be a combination of I, Robot and the 1977 William Shatner classic Kingdom of the Spiders.

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All of this has happened before and all of it will happen again. Man created the Cylons to serve them. And the Shadow Caddy does that in a very automatic and eerie fashion … if automatically follows you on the fairway. Course, it probably won’t tell you you’re better off with the five iron over the 1 Wood …

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When the word ‘robot’ is mentioned, most people would think of huge, warring machines that are able to level a city in no time with its array of missiles and lasers. Well, here’s some news – not all robots are marauding technological monsters who love nothing better than wipe out an entire city for no good reason. There are some small and cute ones like the Robo-Q Tiny R/C Robot which are fully walking models, they are also equipped with fully autonomous modes in order to prevent bumping into obstacles as well as chase after the included soccer ball. For folks who are control freaks, you’ll be pleased to know these $39.99 robots will come with a remote. Bear in mind this imported toy comes with an all-Japanese manual, but you ought to figure out how to insert the AA batteries, don’t you?

Some of you might remember about two years ago when we reported on the Child-robot with Biomimetic Body, aka the CB2. The CB2 is a robotic toddler that is programmed with AI to make it act like a baby.

Apparently, two years of cognitive development have been good for the robo-tyke. It has been developing social skills by recording facial expressions with its eye cameras, and it can match them with physical sensations of its own.

There have even been reports that the CB2 has learned to walk by observing humans doing it. That is all my sources say about that, and I would like to know if any interim period of crawling for the CB2 was required before it learned to walk.

The developers hope that it will not take long before CB2 learns how to talk, presumably by listening to other people. At what point will the CB2 start school? Should it be home-schooled, or entered into public school? Man, the other kids will be merciless to him…it.

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I’m sure that all of you have heard of Asimo, Honda’s robot that moves with surprising grace. It would appear that Honda Research Institute are working together to make the human mind work together with this artificial body.

Yes, Honda has finally created the world’s first Brain Machine Interface. All a user needs to do is sit with some skull cap interface on, and (electroencephalography) EEG and NIRS (near-infrared spectroscopy) sensors can detect your thoughts and transmit them into action for Asimo.

I watched Honda’s video of this new science. They really hyped it up by introducing a world where we can open our trunk with a thought, or turn on our heater when it gets too cold. I have a video of it after the jump if you would like to see it for yourself.

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A while ago, I reported on the Oboe, a concept robot that does nothing but stand and record the experiences of someone you love with its fancy spherical hard drive. I remember thinking that someone should make a robot that should assist the elderly now, and not just preserve their memories for later.

Someone has apparently heard my wishes and created the ApriAttenda robot, which is intended to assist the elderly. This little one-meter tall robot has the astromech droid appearance of R2D2, but with the arms of C3PO.

Its arms are versatile, and can open doors and refrigerators, as well as handle things that senior citizens might not be able to lift anymore. You have to wonder if you are looking at an age where the elderly are being cared for by robots.

Of course, why stop with having robots take care of the elderly? I mean, couldn’t these guys be nanny-bots as well? Is it possible that these robot arms could gently lift and cuddle newborn babies? I don’t know if I would want to offer my children to this ApriAttenda for their care.

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If you are going to build a robot that looks human, why not make it into a fashion model? This is exactly what Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology did when they unveiled the HRP-4C.

As you can see, it is 5 foot tall, weighs about 95 pounds, but I don’t know her bust/waist/hips measurements. They made her to look lifelike, and I thought she was real at first glance. She reminds me of Faith from the Mirror’s Edge video game.

It would appear that this HRP-4C is going to have a test run as it is going on the runway during Tokyo’s five-day fashion show. I wonder how it will walk with a book on its head.

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Imagine a world where robots tend our gardens, helping us grow fresh food while we sit there and do nothing but enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of our labors.

It would appear that students and researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have created robots that can tend tomato plants. The plants are equipped with soil sensors and they can network with the robots, allowing them to communicate when they need water or nutrients.

No human is required for this robo-gardening operation. The robots have watering pumps and arms that can gently pick cherry tomatoes.

The goal of this project is, of course, to “develop a fully autonomous greenhouse”, so there are robots and plants that are connected together by computation and communication.

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