Boba Fett robot look-a-like

Nasa has recruited a construction crew with a difference to work on the assembly of the International Space Station - they're all robots. Dubbed robonauts, the maintenance droids have four fingers and an opposable thumb, which enables them to carry out routine assembly.

The remote-controlled, human-sized robots - one looking remarkably like Star Wars' Boba Fett is pictured below - can lift a 9.5kg weight in 1G and is dextrous enough to tie a shoelace.

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The prospect of robotic security guards suddenly looms large as a series of projects come to fruition. And like Robocop's ED-209, some will be armed and dangerous.
Pitikhate Sooraksa, of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand, has built a prototype Roboguard, which consists of a video camera and a handgun. Roboguard can be controlled over the lnternet from anywhere in the world. A laser is mounted on the gun for targeting, then the operator can order the robot to shoot. Roboguard also works in an automatic mode in which it uses IR sensors to track movement. Sooraksa hopes to sell the robot to the Thai Army: 'We think the decision to fire should always be a human decision. Otherwise, it could kill people,' he told New Scientist.

The US Army is investigating the potential of robotic security, albeit a less lethal kind. Cybermotion is in the process of supplying $500,000 worth of CyberGuard indoor patrolling robots in the first production order for robots ever from the US military. The lnternet offers the possibility of more advanced robotic security. Belgium's Periphere, which offers Web-based security systems, is developing a commercial robot guard. It moves to a location when an alarm is set off and provides visual information over the Web.