Apparently, Lenovo kept enough staff on board to create the 2008 Olympic torch, as the firm's Cloud of Promise design was recently selected over 300 competing themes and will be "carried by torchbearers around the world in the Olympic Torch Relay preceding the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games." With Lenovo being a China-based firm, the company's chairman (Yang Yuanqing) stated that it was "an honor to have its torch design chosen," and oddly enough, that wasn't the only cloud-related Olympic news coming out of Beijing. Reportedly, meteorologists will be utilizing a process known as "cloud seeding" to force rain out beforehand and subsequently clear the filthy skies and alleviate the purported "50-percent chance of rain during the opening and closing ceremonies." Of course, this isn't exactly a push to become a greener society or anything, but at least the HD feeds from around the area will look a bit better during the competitions.

Read - Lenovo designs Olympic torch
Read - Cloud seeding in China

Tossing up autonomous robots into the galaxy to perform a variety of prototypical tests is intriguing to say the least, but a trio of high-school teams were able to bring robotic competition a bit closer to home as they took home the gold in the highly-anticipated FIRST Robotics corrivalry. Cooked up by Dean Kamen (you know, the Segway inventor) in 1989, the challenge garnered entrants from a whopping 23 countries this year, and teammates from Bobcat Robotics from South Windsor, Connecticut, Highrollers from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Gompei and the HERD from Worcester, Massachusetts were able to craft the most dexterous and successful machine. Their creation reportedly excelled at "completing simple -- albeit goofy -- tasks such as shooting balls or stacking inner tubes," but we can already imagine the evil potential these innocent bots already posses. Apparently, "thousands of screaming high-school participants" were in attendance to witness the unveiling of a new champion, and if the popularity of this contest is any indication, we could be seeing these uber-intelligent, entirely autonomous robot armies being constructed an awful lot sooner than previously expected hoped.

It seems that automated floor-suckers are getting all the attention of late, as we've had users parading their Roombas around with all sorts of unorthodox methods, teaching them to bust a move, and now how to pose for the cameras. While already recognized in one Tokyo ceremony, the Fuji Heavy Industries and Sumitomo-created vacuum has officially taken the gold in the Robot of the Year competition hosted by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. Due to its purported ability to replace "two live human beings" and clean out an area of "3,000 square meters in four hours on a single charge," the jumbo-sized Roomba wannabe can help those towering skyscrapers stay clean in a bustling world. Additionally, it can maneuver up and down floors, in and out of elevators, and around crowded workspaces with ease, but we're not exactly sure how many decibels of noise this thing cranks out while taking care of business. Nevertheless, the co-founders are selling the device for a whopping ¥20 million ($168, 011), but still claim that it will more than pay for itself after a decade or so -- you know, since it doesn't beg for health insurance or anything.

[Via Plastic Bamboo]

With all these award ceremonies going down to close out the year, it's only appropriate to crown a few winners in the robotic realm as well -- you know, since they'll be law-abiding citizens someday. The Robot Awards were set up earlier this year by the Japanese government to "promote research and development in the robotics industry," and just ten creations took home prizes out of the 152 entries. The cream of the crop started with the currently-available My Spoon feeding contraption, which helps the elderly and disabled to eat with a "joystick-controlled swiveling arm." Not far behind was the Paro seal, who rocks a furry, huggable outfit with sensors beneath its whiskers that allows it to "open and close its eyes and move its flippers" when petted and held by folks in hospitals. In another instance of "robots replacing human jobs," a "mammoth, automated vacuum cleaner that uses elevators to travel between floors" was highly praised for its sucky actions. So if you're interested in seeing what other bots are taking home the jewelry (as well as the how to enter yourself in the future), be sure to hit the read link and bust out your broken translator, um, translator.

[Via Yahoo]