If you thought ASTRO and NextSat were the only two autonomous robots frolicking around in testing environments, Raven would certainly beg to differ, as NASA has recently announced that the University of Washington's mobile surgical robot will soon be off to tackle surgical tasks whilst underwater. The 12th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations test will see the mechanical MD pick up the tools in a simulated spacecraft submerged near Key Largo, Florida, where the "mission will test current technology for sending remote-controlled surgical robotic systems into space." Thanks to a combination of wired and wireless networks, a trio of seasoned veterans back in Seattle will be dictating the movements remotely, as the bot attempts to "suture a piece of rubber and move blocks from one spindle to another." Interestingly, there was no word on whether Raven was scheduled to pick up the night shift at Seattle Grace upon its return from the depths.

[Via MedLaunches]

We'll admit, we didn't think MyDo's Bururu vibrating spectacles would be topped anytime soon, and while the University of Washington's smart sunglasses don't snatch the crown outright, they certainly make a solid case. The admittedly gaudy prototype certainly isn't the most attractive eyewear we've ever seen, but researchers are insisting that we focus on the electrochromic material that enables on demand color / tint changing rather than the bulky frames. The film can purportedly alter its transparency depending on the electric current that flows through it, essentially giving athletes and motorists an easy way to instantly adjust the level of reflection and tint depending on the ever-changing circumstances around them. Touted as "more active and more intelligent" that existing specs, this watch-battery-powered device allows the wearer to alter the shade by simply spinning a wee dial on the arm, and while we wish we could tell you that U-Dub's swank new specs would be arriving before the bright summer rays, it'll be quite "a few years" before these hit commercialization.

[Via Primidi]

It's true that we've never met a robot that we didn't like (ok, those snakebots were a bit weird) -- while we're a sucker for nursebots and singerbots and bartenderbots, we're especially partial to those silicon-based lifeforms that can perform some tedious and important task that would be pretty tough for us humans to do ourselves. The latest one we've spotted that fits this bill is a bot created by researchers at the University of Washington, which can crawl along high-voltage power cables to inspect their integrity before they blow up and/or cause some sort of significant damage. The Robotic Cable Inspection System is able to detect problems with the infrastructure via its heat sensor, acoustic sensor and "water tree" detector that examines if water has gotten into the insulation. Earlier this week, the team completed the robot's first field test at the Lockheed Martin Michoud NASA Assembly Facility in New Orleans as a way to promote more safety bots in work environments. We just hope that if the little guy does find damage that it's got time to scamper away before being shorted out itself.

[Via Robot Gossip]