R Daneel: the robot that picks itself back up again

We're pretty sure the last thing any robot-humanoid researcher wants to do fifteen times a day is pick up and reorient a 150 pound machine every time it falls, but the R. Daneel Study 1 (whose name is not only an Asimov reference, but means Responsive Dexterous Actions aNd Embodiment ELucidation) developed by the University of Tokyo is officially in the running for our robot of the year award. Long gone are the days when you could disable a robot by pushing it on its back like a turtle—looks like we'll have to come up with a new weakness to exploit in the future.

[Via New Scientist]