Japanese robotic scientists set up their service robot "Eraser" on June 30, 2009 on the eve of the "RoboCup," the world's largest robotic event, hosting 408 teams with 2,300 scientists and students, in Graz, Austria. Gerald Steinbauer, organizer of the event, said that the aim is for the engineers to build robots by 2050 which will be able to beat the world champion football team. (DIETER NAGL/AFP/Getty Images) #

In this April 3, 2009 photo, a robotic tail fin, whose actions are dictated by microprocessors housed in an attached Tupperware container, is seen in professor John Long's Vassar College science lab in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Long is among a small group of researchers worldwide building robots that can do things like shimmy through water or slither up shores to aid the study biology and evolution. They believe the practice is likely to grow as technological advances allow robots to mimic biological actions far better than before. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) #

U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade are taught how to use a robot to search for improvised explosive devices during training lesson at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan's Helmand province Tuesday June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

Visitors gather to admire a robotic woman on display at a science and technology exhibition in Beijing on May 20, 2009. China is rapidly increasing its spending on research and development with funding growing by an annual average annual of 18 percent over the past five years. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

A robotic arm is used to produce a silicon wafer in a specially-lit clean room at the Texas Instruments semiconductor fabrication plant in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, June 16, 2009. (Jason Janik/Bloomberg News) #

Brazilian computing engineering student Gabriel Francischini, 20, makes some adjustments to a robot invented to play football, before the 2009 RoboCup, at FEI engineering university in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, on June 26, 2009. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

At Beverly Hospital in Bevberly, Massachusetts, Dr. Timothy Liesching visits with a patient in via robot on June 29th, 2009. Dr. Liesching himself is working from the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, some 20 miles west. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff) #

A visitor stands in front of science-fiction film replica heads at the exhibition "Robots - From Motion to Emotion" at the Museum fuer Gestaltung (museum of design) in Zurich, Switzerland on June 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann) #

Japan's robot venture ZMP displays 1/10-scale platforms for automobile research and development called "RoboCar Z" during a press conference in Tokyo on June 9, 2009. The small vehicles with many sensors were made for research and development of autonomic driving, safety and energy-saving technology and for education of engineers. (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images) #

A group of students of robotics setup a football robot on June 30, 2009 on the eve of the "RoboCup" the world largest robotic event, in Graz, Austria. (DIETER NAGL/AFP/Getty Images) #

Cooking robot "Okonomiyaki Robot" pours the ingredients for okonomiyaki (Japanese flour cake) over a heated cooking pan during its demonstration at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, June 9, 2009. The Okonomiyaki Robot, developed by Osaka-based robot system integrator Toyo Riki Co., can demonstrate the whole process of okonomiyaki cooking as stirring the ingredients in a bowl, pouring them on the heated cooking pan, turning the okonomiyaki over with spatulas and serves it on a plate and asking you what types of sauces and other condiments to go with it by using both arms. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) #

Competitors and their humanoid robots prepare for the start of a soccer match in the RoboCup 2009 in Graz, Austria on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger) #

Humanoid robots compete in a soccer match during RoboCup 2009 on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger) #

Rescue workers operate a hyper rescue robot "T-53 Enryu", developed by Japanese robot venture Tmsuk to remove debris, during a demonstration at Kitakyushu city in Fukuoka prefecture, western Japan on July 3, 2009. Kitakyushu Fire Department deployed the 2.8-meter tall, three-ton robot which can be operated manually by a person aboard it as well as by remote control to lift heavy objects with its two arms. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

A U.S. army de-mining robot with explosives approaches a suspected improvised explosive device (IED) on the road near Combat Operation Outpost (COP) Conlon in the mountains of Wardak Province, Afghanistan, July 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov) #

Robots await the start of a soccer match during RoboCup 2009 in Graz, Austria on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger) #

A prototype of the X-47B Navy Unmannded Combat Air System (UCAS) sits on diplay at Naval Air Station Pax River Webster Field Annex in St. Inigoes, Maryland, on August 10, 2009. The X-47B, made by Northrop Grumman Corporation, was built to demonstrate the first-ever aircraft-carrier-based autonomous launches and recoveries. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) #

Humanoid robot KOBIAN displays a surprised expression during a demonstration at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, June 23, 2009. KOBIAN which can express seven programmed emotions by using its entire body including facial expressions has been developed by researchers at Waseda's Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, led by Atsuo Takanashi and robot manufacturer Tmsuk, based in Kitakyushu, southern Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) #

Youngsters prepare their robots for performance during the RoboCup 2009 on July 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger) #

In this picture taken on July 28, 2009 a participant tests his robot at the Campus Party, the world's biggest on-line electronic entertainment festival in Valencia, Spain. (DIEGO TUSON/AFP/Getty Images) #

A "cybernetic human" HRP-4C, designed to look like an average Japanese woman, walks in front of journalists during a demonstration in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, Monday, March 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) #

The HRP-4C humanoid robot "Miim" presents a wedding dress by Japanese designer Yumi Katsura during the 2009 Yumi Katsura Paris Grand Collection fashion show in Osaka, western Japan, July 22, 2009. (REUTERS/Toru Hanai) #

An Iraqi soldier walks past a remote operated bomb disposable robot unit at the Besmaya Combat training center on the outskirts of the capital Baghdad, on July 05, 2009. The Iraqi-run Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) School trains some 900 Iraqi Army EOD technicians per year. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images) #

In the lower center of this photograph, mounted on the blue platform, is the head of a silkmoth, including its brain and antennae, with electrodes linking the brain to the vehicle during an experiment at a laboratory in Tokyo on June 9, 2009. Japanese scientists at the Tokyo University's Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology found that motor commands sent to the vehicle in response to odour stimuli could be translated into signals to steer the machine in real time, in an experiment toward creating insect-machine hybrids. Potential future scernarios might include law enforcement technicians releasing a swarm of robot-moths to sniff out a distant drug stash. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images) #

Visitors admire a multi-purpose remote control scout vehicle on display at a science and technology exhibition in Beijing on May 20, 2009. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

Bomb squad Italian policemen prepare a robot near the press accreditation centre of a G8 summit on July 7, 2009 in L'Aquila, Italy. Some 15,000 soldiers and police were deployed for security in the area of L'Aquila where the G8 summit took place from July 8 to 10. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images) #

Honda demonstrates its new brain-machine interface, with a subject using his thoughts alone to control the ASIMO robot. (Business Wire) #

At the annual RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition at the Hynes Convention Center, Christopher Dellin, a robotics engineer with Barrett Technology, demonstrates a WAM Arm on April 16th, 2009. (Debee Tlumacki/Boston Globe) #

A Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS), a transformable armed robot, is tested outside of QinetiQ Foster Miller North America robotics of Waltham, Massachusetts on April 8, 2009. (Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff) #

A robotic hand produced by Japanese robotics company Squse picks up a piece of sushi during a demonstration at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition (FOOMA) in Tokyo on June 10, 2009. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images) #

Chinese paramilitary police officers stand watch while a Chinese-made remote-control robot which is capable of reconnaissance motors past during a demo at the Police and Anti-Terrorism Technology and Equipment Exhibition held in Beijing, China on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

German Foreign Minister and vice-chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier poses next to the robot "Eddie" at the Technical University in Munich, Germany on August 5, 2009. (OLIVER LANG/AFP/Getty Images) #

A model holds up a robot, called "Be-Robot" at the International Robot Show in Taipei, Taiwan on August 5, 2009. The "Be-Robot" seen here, designed and made in Taiwan, is 9cm tall and can walk, kick and perform push-ups. It is priced at 12,000 NTD ($366) and is awaiting verification by Guinness World Records to replace its predecessor, the 15cm version, as the world's smallest humanoid robot. (REUTERS/Pichi Chuang) #

A technician adjusts a robot during a robot show at the Nankang World Trade Center in Taipei, Taiwan on August 5, 2009. There are 321 booths from 91 units taking part in this four-day exhibition which includes robot parts, controllers, education, house cleanning, and security robots. (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images) #

A technician adjusts the head of a robot duirng a robot show at the Nankang World Trade Center in Taipei on August 5, 2009. (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images) #