Battle of the Robots

ZDNet reports this weekend at San Francisco State University at RoboGames, 650 participants compete in a number of categories, from combat to sumo. For each event, Robots must have different specialties, which take time for their builders to learn and hone. Robots for the soccer event, for instance, have standard hardware--four Sony Aibo robot dogs--and require more programming skills than those for the combat events, which need more mechanical know-how. By combining both sets of skills, robots can be programmed to react to completely new situations and physically respond.