The machines, viewed at a recent ‘Robotics Rodeo’ at an Army training school, protect soldiers, don’t panic under fire, are never distracted, and use an unblinking digital eye that automatically detects even the smallest motion. Great NY Times graphics and story.

A 2004 Congressional directive requiring the military to replace a third of its fleet of logistics vehicles with robots by the middle of the next decade is stimulating the prizes and buzz for autonomous convoy vehicles and soldier-following AGVs. CMU received $2 million as this year’s 1st prize winner to navigate a 60-mile course in a simulated city in under six hours. Read NY Times story.