Articles with the keyword: 
Phoenix team struggling to collect Martian soil
sea-maid submitted, created time 6 months 3 weeks (space.newscientist.com)
After running into trouble collecting samples of Martian soil, the Pheonix lander will try to use its robotic arm on Tuesday to sprinkle small amounts of soil on the lander's science instruments. 


Monkeys show amazing learning curve with thought-controlled prosthetics
Darkfrog submitted, created time 7 months 1 week (www.nytimes.com)
Monkeys with small (as in a mm or so wide) grid implanted just beneath their skulls have shown themselves able to control a mechanical arm with their thoughts.
This is an NYT writeup of an article originally published in Nature. Scientists first taught the monkeys how to control a mechanical arm with a joystick, then implanted a small grid, only a mm or so wide, onto the motor centers of their brains. The monkeys' own arms were then gently restrained. The scientists used a computer to move the arm at first. The article uses the expression, "teaching with biofeedback 
Tiny Robot Walks Using Rat Heart Muscle
Sue Wu submitted, created time 11 months 2 weeks (discovermagazine.com)
Scientists in Korea have designed a crablike robot that is smaller than the thickness of a fingernail and powered by contractions of cardiac tissue. 
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