“Someone must be using them, I guess. Otherwise, why would Naval Sea Systems Command buy another $26 million worth of iRobot’s explosive-disposal machines? But I’ve never met a bomb squad technician who actually bothered with one of the things. Too flimsy, they all say. Too hard to operate.”

“To international observers, The Pirate Bay’s defiant immunity from copyright lawyers is somewhat baffling. But in Sweden, the site is more than just an electronic speak-easy: It’s the flagship of a national file-sharing movement that’s generating an intense national debate, and has even spawned a pro-piracy political party making a credible bid for seats in the Swedish parliament.”

“Photojournalist Quinn Norton provides an overview of the recent Combots tournament with stellar images of the action in an extended photo essay. In a pictorial sidebar packed with images taken in the pits, contributor P3 offers an intimate visual portrait of the people and robots behind the scenes.”

Let me say that again: Holy crap — it’s a Robotic Mule that never falls down! Let’s kick it! (links to video)

“For the first time, signals generated by a living cell have resulted in the locomotion of a six-legged robot, report Soichiro Tsuda and Yukio-Pegio Gunji from Kobe University in Japan and Klaus-Peter Zauner from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom.”