Building softer, friendlier robots

Oussama Khatib, a professor of computer science at Stanford University, encountered a pivotal moment during the first outing of his deep-sea robot, Ocean One, off the coast of France. The robot was trapped, far too deep for human retrieval, between the cannons of a sunken ship. Weather was threatening to force the robotics crew to return to shore, but Khatib and his team resisted. "No way, I'm not leaving the robot," Khatib said before moving to the haptic controls, which simulate a sense of touch and allow for remote operation. Able to control the robot's arms, Khatib pushed.