OK. NOW we're getting somewhere — edible robots!

Pittsburgh Puts Robots to Work, and Some Can Even Be Eaten
Wall Street Journal (08/27/08) P. A1; Ansberry, Clare

Last year, professors at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute launched Robot 250, a community outreach program to get residents more involved and interested in robotics. About 500 local Pittsburgh residents are now involved with the program as amateur robot designers. Many of the community roboticists focused on everyday problems. For example, participants designed a robot to take photos of speeding cars, one that waves its arms when street noise gets too loud, a robotic sheep designed to be a novelty lawnmower, and robot flags that raise and lower automatically. Some of the robots are designed for even less purposeful tasks, such as a robotic handmade of carved cucumbers and cheese that flexes whenever someone claps or laughs near the device. Another project, a robotic Rice Krispies Treats man, pivots whenever the lights are dimmed. The year-long program coincides with Pittsburgh's 250th birthday. University professors visited 13 neighborhoods to distribute materials, instructions, and troubleshooting advice. "We wanted to put technology into the hands of as many people as possible," says Robotics Institute professor Illah Nourbakhsh, who came up with the Robot 250 concept. Participants built about 75 robots, ranging from small paper flowers with buds that opened and closed, to a working wooden roller coaster. Many of the robots were on display at the Robot 250 block party, which was hailed as the city's largest and most diverse public gathering of robots.
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