"There just aren't enough people out there who want to own a robot, " says Steve Rainwater , chairman of Network Cybernetics and co-founder of the robotics blog robots.net.

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So, as man seeks to create a robot in his own image, he will need to find something for the outside to cover the Intel inside.

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That might not seem like much, but considering most rigid robot arms can only lift a fraction of their own weight, it represents a sizable gain in strength-to-weight ratio.

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First, his own style: on television he rarely smiles, and recites his lines like a robot.

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