Don't worry, yes, there are even more Musk machinations, but first let's broach something a little different -- and possibly lifesaving. A team of MIT engineers is developing a telerobotic system for neurosurgeons. It unveiled a robotic arm that doctors can control remotely using a modified joystick to treat stroke patients. The arm has a magnet attached to its wrist, and surgeons can adjust its orientation to guide a magnetic wire through the patient's arteries and vessels to remove blood clots in the brain. Like in-person procedures, surgeons will have to rely on live imaging to get to the blood clot, but the machine means they don't have to be physically with the patient.

Remote robotic-assisted surgery is far from new, with various educational and research institutions developing machines doctors can control from other locations over the years. There hasn't been a lot of movement on that front when it comes to endovascular treatments for stroke patients, which is why a team of MIT engineers has been developing a telerobotic system surgeons can use over the past few years. The team, which has published its paper in Science Robotics, has now presented a robotic arm that doctors can control remotely using a modified joystick to treat stroke patients. That arm has a magnet attached to its wrist, and surgeons can adjust its orientation to guide a magnetic wire through the patient's arteries and vessels in order to remove blood clots in their brain. Similar to in-person procedures, surgeons will have to rely on live imaging to get to the blood clot, except the machine will allow them to treat patients not physically in the room with them.

Even the most nimble-fingered of Jenga players would be no match for a robot built by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The popular game involves players trying to avoid the collapse of a tower as they remove wooden pieces one by one. The robot uses a gripper with a force-sensing wrist and an external camera to see and feel which Jenga block can be removed without jeopardising the tower's stability. The research, published in the journal Science Robotics, demonstrates the robot's ability to learn the best way to carry out a task by combining visual clues with tactile, physical interactions. The team says the tactile learning system they've developed could be used in applications beyond Jenga in real-world tasks that need careful physical interaction, including separating recyclable objects from landfill and assembling consumer products.

A robotic arm capable of playing the popular game Jenga has been built by American engineers. The machine, developed by MIT engineers, is equipped with a soft-pronged gripper, a force-sensing wrist cuff and an external camera. This enables it to see and feel the movement of the tower and adjust for each individual block. It monitors and tracks the feedback from the blocks and the machine makes subtle adjustments to avoid toppling the tower and losing the game. A computer takes in visual and tactile feedback via the cameras and cuff, and compares these measurements to moves that the robot previously made.

According to the MIT engineers, their new machine learning technique enables them to see even the tiniest imperfections in transparent objects. In a paper published by the MIT engineers in the journal Physical Review Letters, the team reported how they used a deep neural network to reconstruct transparent objects from images of the same objects taken in pitch-black conditions. The MIT researchers reportedly trained the neural network to associate specific inputs with corresponding outputs. In the team's experiment, the inputs were the dark, grainy images of the transparent objects. They then used outputs of the objects themselves.

A robot servant that can be controlled using the power of thought has been developed by MIT engineers. The machine, named Baxter, reads human brainwaves in real-time so that it knows when a human is unhappy with its actions. If a human think a mistake has been made, Baxter takes notice - and corrects himself. Baxter's owner can then make subtle hand gestures to direct the machine into performing a different task. Scientists say the technology is designed to make robots acts like an extension of a person's will, without any training.

Planned in labs, the 3D printer gave them form, layering their bodies into being. The robots were softer than the ones we'd come to fear, their gently wriggling bodies more caterpillar than Terminator. Once it was removed from its mechanical womb, the creators hooked up some batteries and gave it the spark of life. Made by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, this robot walks with hydraulic bellows, fluid pumping in and out to turn a crankshaft that moves the legs back and forth. All parts of the robot, apart from the batteries, wires, and motor, are 3D printed.