ANDROID DREAMS

PR2 can open doors and and plug itself in to regular AC outlets for recharging.

Willow Garage in Silicon Valley invented the robot. Opening doors isn't new. robots have done this before. And Johns Hopkins University in the1960s developed a robot that could plug itself in. But never before has one robot been able to do both of these things.

It's a giant step for PR2. Or as one scientist put it, "Now they can escape and fend for themselves."

(NYT)