In this column we like to highlight successful growing robotics programs, competitions, initiatives and the robots used in them—and this issue, we have a mega-story that in a compelling sense encompasses practically all of our past columns. Robots are inherently interesting and they attract the curiosity of students and hobbyists alike in a way that makes learning computer science, science, technology, engineering and math (CS-STEM) engaging and fun. For this reason, robotics competitions and programs, both in-class and extracurricular, have been growing like wildfire domestically and worldwide— the attraction of robots make them natural teaching and learning tools.

Moonraker, a robot designed by Paul’s Robotics of Worcester, MA, recently won the 2009 NASA Lunar Regolith Excavation Challenge. The event, a NASA Centennial Challenge, attracted 23 teams from the United States and Canada to compete for the top prize of $500,000. Organized by the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI), the event took place at NASA Ames Research Park in California on October 17 and 18, 2009.

In April, British robotics firm Elumotion Ltd, provider of robotics and prosthetic electromechanical sub- systems, announced the Elu2-Hand, said to be a market driving advance in highly controllable, human- equivalent hand and finger technology.