Ah, summer has struck on the sunny East Coast of the USA. I’ve managed to break free from all the pressing items on my schedule and finally get back to what I love - robots.

In the three or so weeks since I’ve made a decent post here on the site I’ve come to realize something - my personal stress level is inversely proportional to how frequently I post. That means I’ve been pretty unhappy and stressed these past couple of weeks knowing that all you fine robot lovers were languishing without news. So, here’s a link dump to get you caught up:

• Robot runs over water. " The Water Runner, being developed by assistant professor Metin Sitti at Carnegie Mellon University … [is] a robot that can speed across the surface of water like a lizard."

• Boffins invent landmine-proof robo-shoe. "The six-legged shoes protect the wearer by lifting up a leg if it is over a mine so that the device is not triggered. The other five legs continue to support the wearer’s weight."

• Fastest two-legged robot gait. "Unlike most other bipedal robots, RunBot doesn’t provide a computer with intensive feedback on its stability and motion. Instead, RunBot has just a handful of sensors in its feet and hips, as well as software-driven motor neurons, which initiate reflexes according to information gathered by the sensors."
• Robot specialty stoes doing well in Japan. I would love to start seeing these in North America.
• The HRP-2m Choromet is announced. It looks like a miniature version of the HRP-2 Promet robot from Kawada. It is planned to be used in educational settings for developing humanoid control technologies. He’ll cost about $4,500 USD and stands 1.1 feet (35 cm) tall.
• Sony develops brain-wave controlled robot. "Japanese automaker Honda said it has developed a technology that uses brain signals to control a robot’s very simple moves."
• Robots.net has a good summary of details on the DARPA Grand Challenge, Urban Edition.
• Kondo announces a succesor to it’s popular KHR-1 RoboOne robot. Meet the KHR-2V. Looks like quite a steal for the $800 USD that some retailers are selling it for (but only in Japan for now.)
• Lem over at Robots-Dreams spotted a job opening on Segway’s website for a "Robotics Engineer." They’re actually pretty low job requirements. Anyone interested? Lem speculates it’s somehow related to the new relationship between Wowwee and Segway.
• Is iRobot’s new creation going to be a laundry folding ‘bot?