Modular robots are made of small, independent components that can be replicated and combined in different ways

http://www.nytimes.com//intera.....aphic.html

The military wants soldiers who can withstand anything - even the worst and most debilitating wartime injuries. Now Darpa, the Pentagon’s far-out research team, is trying to make traumatic injuries more like minor scrapes, patched up to be good as new. Or better.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroo.....me-wounds/

An international debate is needed on the use of autonomous military robots, a leading academic has said.

Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield said that a push toward more robotic technology used in warfare would put civilian life at grave risk.

Technology capable of distinguishing friend from foe reliably was at least 50 years away, he added.

However, he said that for the first time, US forces mentioned resolving such ethical concerns in their plans.

"Robots that can decide where to kill, who to kill and when to kill is high on all the military agendas," Professor Sharkey said at a meeting in London.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/tec.....182003.stm

An invasion led by artificially intelligent machines. Conscious computers. A smartphone virus so smart that it can start mimicking you. You might think that such scenarios are laughably futuristic, but some of the world's leading artificial intelligence (AI) researchers are concerned enough about the potential impact of advances in AI that they have been discussing the risks over the past year. Now they have revealed their conclusions.

http://www.newscientist.com/ar.....appen.html

Micro robots are being developed in many research centers, but this is the first time we’ve been able to create one that can crawl through the body,

http://www.ats.org/site/News2?....._ctrl=1261

http://www.technologyreview.co.....ing/23023/

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), who demoed a realistic-looking robot Einsteinat the TED Conference last February, have now gone a step farther, infusing the robot with the ability to improve its own expressions through learning.

http://www.technologyreview.co.....ors/23825/

Police release a swarm of robot-moths to sniff out a distant drug stash. Rescue robot-bees dodge through earthquake rubble to find survivors.

http://www.physorg.com/news166.....68461.html

 The latest technologies could soon be built into everyday gadgets to smooth our interactions with them. In car alarms that jolt sleepy drivers awake, satnavs that sense our frustration in a traffic jam and offer alternative routes, and monitors that diagnose depression from body language are all in the pipeline. Prepare for the era of emotionally aware gadgets.

http://www.newscientist.com/ar.....?full=true

http://www.newscientist.com/ar.....gence.html

http://www.technologyreview.co.....ing/22946/

http://www.newscientist.com/ar.....ubble.html

A science-savvy robot called Adam has successfully developed and tested its first scientific hypothesis, all without human intervention.

http://www.livescience.com/tec.....ntist.html