Gizmo bot is here to help

With a cute name like that you wouldn't expect this Gizmo robot to be so bent on risky reconnaissance missions, but that's what creator Javier Rodriguez Molina has in mind for his modular progeny. Gizmo is designed to gather information at disaster sites and relay it to whoever however, be that over wireless internet, cellular, Bluetooth or other means. Multiple bots can network together to collaborate, but while the current version of the bot is mostly a glorified remote control rover, future versions will carry all sorts of sensors and come in all sorts of form factors. Research is ongoing at San Diego's "Calit2," and the hope is for the final bot to come in under the $1,000 price point to make it easy for police, fire departments and other rescue organizations to buy the bots off the shelf.