Mini robots are to patrol water pipe networks in an attempt to stop three billion litres being lost to leaks every day. Scientists are developing'pipebots' – small, mobile robots with cameras for eyes and all-terrain legs – to find cracks and weaknesses in pipes before they develop into leaks. The devices are being tested at the University of Sheffield's integrated civil and infrastructure research centre, with the aim of deploying them within five years. Some firms already use tethered robots to investigate pipes. But most of the network is inaccessible without digging – a problem the tiny machines are designed to circumvent.

For decades, engineers seeking to build tunnels underground have relied on huge tube-like machines armed with a frightening array of cutting wheels at one end--blades that eat dirt for breakfast. These behemoths, called tunnel-boring machines, or TBMs, are expensive and often custom-built for each project, as were the TBMs used to excavate a path for London's recently opened Elizabeth Line railway. The machines deployed on that project weighed over 1,000 tons each and cut tunnels over 7 meters in diameter beneath the UK capital. But British startup hyperTunnel has other ideas. The firm proposes a future in which much smaller, roughly 3-meter-long robots shaped like half-cylinders zoom about underground via predrilled pipes.

A glue-like magnetic spray can turn objects, such as pills, into mini robots that can be controlled by magnets and navigated through the body. The sprayed objects can be made to roll, flip and crawl using a magnetic field. Shen Yajing at City University of Hong Kong and his colleagues even used the spray to animate the wings of an origami crane. "Our spray can convert various tiny objects to mini robots directly," says Yajing. The object can be flat or three-dimensional, he says, and only a thin coating of spray is required.

A glue-like magnetic spray can turn objects, such as pills, into mini robots that can be controlled by magnets and navigated through the body. The sprayed objects can be made to roll, flip and crawl using a magnetic field. Shen Yajing at City University of Hong Kong and his colleagues even used the spray to animate the wings of an origami crane. "Our spray can convert various tiny objects to mini robots directly," says Yajing. The object can be flat or three-dimensional and only a thin coating of spray is required, he says.

According to Stanford University researchers, it's 100 grams and these "mini robots" can fit in the palm of your hand and, pull a lot more than its own weight. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. According to Stanford University researchers, it's 100 grams and these "mini robots" can fit in the palm of your hand and, pull a lot more than its own weight.

It could be the perfect gadget for those who like to share their doodles. Engineers have developed a pocket-sized robot that can recreate sketches on paper just as they were originally drawn, allowing them to be sent all over the world. The Line-us robot, which its designers say works like an extension of the human hand, has raised £39,000 in just 30 hours on a crowd funding site. It requires a 5V dc 1A from a USB battery, power supply or computer via a micro-USB. It can support a pen with a diameter of up to 10mm.

A French robotics startup has raised €3.3 million ($3.5 million) to build and grow a fleet of mobile robots that help warehouses prepare orders for delivery. The company was founded in 2015 by former GE Healthcare software architect Renaud Heitz and BA Systèmes technical director Romain Moulin, and Exotec Solutions ("Exotec") robots have already been tested across a number of industries. With $3.5 million more in its coffers, the company expects to launch its first robot -- called Exo -- into the wild in early 2017. The most recent round was raised from 360 Capital Partners, Breega Capital, and a handful of its existing investors. The miniature robots are being targeted at any logistics operator that relies on humans to traverse large warehouses picking items off shelves, and it promises to cut employees' average daily distance covered from 15km to 4km per day and to "[double] the productivity" of each worker.

Cozmo the mini robot could be the toy that takes the world by storm this Christmas. The little droid uses artificial intelligence to learn tricks and interact with people. Some are comparing the toy to R2-D2 from Star Wars and it is also attracting millions in investment for technology entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley start-up Anki has been backed by JP Morgan and venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures for Cozmo (pictured). The most recent funding round takes Anki's total investment to 136.5million.