Video: the year in robots

• 08:35 30 December 2008 by Tom Simonite
• Video: This robot has a tangle of rats neurons in place of control software, it's biological "brain" even allows it to avoid obstacles. It was developed at Reading University, UK.

  Video: Swarms of robots that use electromagnetic forces to cling together are being developed with the goal of enabling them to take on almost any shape, at Carnegie Mellon University, US.

  Video: This human-like robot head can spookily mimic a person's facial expressions in realtime. The roboticists at Bristol University, UK, say the work will help make robots easier to connect with.

  Video: These cyborg insects have been turned into living robots - electronics controls their behaviour by interfacing with their nerves. The research is funded by the US defence research agency Darpa, which imagines future cyborg spies.

  Video: After two weeks locked in a room together, these "singing" robots evolved a secret language all of their own. Their creator at the University of Plymouth, UK, hopes that they will help him to compose music that no human could.

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