“We can put them in the ocean and they'll swim for eight or nine months，collecting data and monitoring ocean pollution，”says Hudson of IRobot. Recently the US Government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA)displayed a“robotic man”． Instead of depending on remote­control，DARPA's“robotic man”can actually look at some blocks，find one with a special pattern，and move it to a new location.Mandelbaum，DARPA's project manager，says more challenging tasks lie ahead.