Whoa! This 5-inch Gundam robot soldier from the house of Bandai might have been made just to please the eyes of the crazy fellows. The Gundam figurine in pure platinum (pt10000) weighs 1.4kg. And yes, the price tag reads US $250,000. The pricey robot soldier will be on display at Baselworld, in Basel Switzerland next month. Anyway, I am least interested.

The military will begin using an explosive-sniffing robot that will allow soldiers to better detect roadside bombs. iRobot is fulfilling its first order of 100 Packbots for the US military. These robots are equipped with the new ICx Fido explosive detectors. Well, roadside bombs have led to 70 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq. At present, soldiers are using 5,000 robots in Iraq and Afghanistan to detect mines and dig out roadside and car bombs. iRobot has given out 385 robots last year, compared to 252 in 2005. Bill Thomasmeyer, head of the National Center for Defense Robotics has said that the government will pay out about $1.7 billion on ground-based military robots between fiscal 2006 and 2012. The Fido, which is an updated version of Packbot rocks rubber treads, lights, video cameras, obstacle-hurdling flippers and jointed manipulator arms to disable or destroy bombs. Each unit is priced at $165,000.

When people around you seem to be changing when it comes to helping you in some task, you usually feel that there should have been someone to take care of you in times of need. Check out these two Robotic mates known as RoboBoyfriend and RoboticGirlfriend. You will be allowed to change the stature and facial expressions of these robotic friends according to your taste. You will also be able to set them to ‘Let’s Talk’ mode to hear about their feelings. They come equipped with a calendar that allows them to book restaurants and tickets for every key event such as your birthday. Further they can also connect to your set-top box to make sure that your favorite shows are recorded. Both these robotic friends are available for £449.95.

Swedish Medical Center has achieved a major breakthrough in medical field by employing a four armed robot to perform prostate surgery. Termed as the da Vinci Prostatectomy, this procedure is a new and less-invasive approach to prostate removal. An estimated 230,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year among the US male population. The da Vinci Surgical System can be looked upon as a boon to help the surgeons perform even complex surgeries with greater precision while speeding patient recovery. The four-armed da Vinci robot is the upgraded successor to the previously used three-armed da Vinci robot, which gives more control to the surgeons.

The 2007 Underwater Robot Convention at Tokyo has unveiled a line of 80 water-friendly gadgets at Tatsumi International swimming pool. This aquatic robot line-up introduced four categories- Aqua-bio robot, Underwater robot with cables, Autonomous underwater robot and Radio-controlled submarine. The underwater robot convention was an ultimate experience for all robot lovers worldwide who saw them in action. Among 80 robots, the top five were Robotic snake- II, Robotic Flipper, Robotic Snake, Q Diver and Robotic Submarine. Robotic Snake-II: It is developed by University of Tokyo with rubber casing with speed upto 46cms per second in water. Robotic Flipper: Flipper robot is equipped with hands to cut water in butterfly style like professional swimmers and is developed by Tokyo Institute of Technology. It can also swim underwater. Robotic Snake: Brother of robotic snake-II is also developed by University of Tokyo and is 86 cms long. It is equipped with built-in micro processor to control its movement, an altitude sensor and a regulator. This robotic snake is especially designed to examine narrow and dangerous places for divers. Q Diver: This Q Diver robot is specifically designed to explore unknown mysteries of sea in depth and is controlled by a remote control. To explore the mysteries of sea this sea explorer robot will soon get cameras and robotic arms. Robotic Submarine: This high speed robot works with the help of a remote control and one can easily control its speed and directions to enable it to reach desired location. But it is also noteworthy that the designs of these water machines were prepared by Tokyo’s school children.

Pentagon’s DARPA is sniffing the proposal of a shape-shifting chemical robot or the ChemBot made from soft, flexible materials. The morphing robot could break itself into parts, get through the openings much smaller than its own static dimensions, and then reform itself to the original shape to perform a military task. The prototype they are anticipating is a soft robot that can move through a 1-centimeter opening and then go back to its original dimensions in under 15 seconds.

The new robot that touts to become world’s smallest is now unveiled. I don’t know how it will help users because its technical specifications are not yet announced but the video that show this tiny robot in action makes this PicoBot look pretty cool.

Steam engine robot got one more entrant to their family R2-D2 after recently launched R2-Steam too (R2-S2). The detailed specification of this R2-S2 is not yet unveiled but, I can surely help you to show some crazy videos of this newly launched steam engine robot and its predecessors in action to calculate the power yourself that is applied on these steam engines.

Just a look at this electronic R2-D2 robot is sufficient to wake up the child in you. Your most precious childhood dream is now a reality, and the R2-D2 is now a remote operated robot which can sway at your command. The R2-D2 Action Figure is fully controllable via the lightsaber remote included with it. It features authentic R2-D2 sounds, turning head movement and a red LED eye. The infrared controlled droid runs on button batteries and is a fully licensed Star Wars collectable. The R2-D2 robot is available at ThinkGeek for $29.99, but be sure to grab it fast as the supply is limited.

To assist human living in numerous ways MIT researchers, have unveiled an avant-garde robot model called Domo that was previously only imagined in science fiction. This assistive machine has springs in its arms, hands and neck and can easily pick and place objects on shelves. The remarkable feature of this assistive robot is its human-looking ‘eyeballs’, connected to 12 computers that also enables this human- shaped robot to recognize objects. It can sense human touch and one can also experience lively shake hands with this human- friendly robot.