According to the Discovery Channel, a team of European researchers recently programmed and built a robotic arm designed to look and feel like one of the eight tentacles of an octopus.

The real challenge is creating a robotics system that looks and feels like the soft tissue of octopus limbs, while programming it to become rigid enough to grab objects when commanded, stated the news source.

However, the research team maintained that their device will be more than just a cool piece of technology, as they are ultimately intending to put it to use in some pretty hairy situations.

"The applications we envisage are all the applications where you send the robot into very small spaces for exploration tasks but also for rescue under debris," Cecilia Laschi, an associate professor and robotics researcher, told the media organization. "A soft, octopus-like robot could be controlled remotely to retrieve people in a difficult underwater environment."

Robotics systems are no stranger to marine environments, as in many cases they are sent into the water in the place of air-breathing humans. According to USA Today, two Seaglider robots were recently used to explore the frigid waters of the Ross Sea off Antarctica.

According to the Coosa Valley News, Georgia Governor, Nathan Deal, recently announced that Columbus State University, West Georgia University and Southern Polytechnic State University will receive grants to replicate the successful UTeach program. The initiative is designed to enhance teacher training on the subjects of science, technology, engineering and math.

The grant money, which will total $1.4 million, will be part of Georgia’s Race to the Top education initiative intended to produce STEM-focused teachers.

"This program will address the critical shortage Georgia faces in producing STEM teachers," said Governor Deal in a recent address. "The most important thing we can do for students and Georgia's future is to ensure that we have a quality teacher with strong content knowledge and a passion for helping students learn in every classroom. UTeach has seen great success elsewhere, and I look forward to seeing it implemented in our state."

The STEM grants may even support robotics education. Experts say involvement in robotics clubs and teams often compels students to follow STEM-centered, career paths in highly technical fields.

According to Montgomery Media, the Roxborough High School in Philadelphia will host NASA's Summer of Innovation youth science camp in August. The program is sponsored by President Barack Obama's federal Educate to Innovate initiative and is designed to promote student learning in science, technology, engineering and math.

The funding for the summer camp is provided for by a Math and Science in Pennsylvania Grant, which the school received some time ago, reported the news source. Teachers with the high school believe that the Summer of Innovation camp will not only impart STEM wisdom to students, it will also bring credit to institution.

"As Roxborough High School continues to re-establish itself as a highly competitive academic and college preparatory school, it is important for us to offer unique learning opportunities for our students and our community," Stephen Brandt, principal of Roxborough High School, told the media organization.

An integral part of STEM education, robotics may be looked at during the summer camp to be held in early August, stated Montgomery Media. Recently, a summer camp in Wausau, Wisconsin, taught students basic robot programming and building skills, according to the Wausau Daily Herald.

In the past, robots working in the manufacturing industry were often bulky, needed precise setup and could potentially be responsible for worker accidents. However, with President Barack Obama's $500 million federal investment in new technologies production warehouses, robotics researchers are currently looking for ways to make these devices safer to work with, stated a report by Technology Review.

"In manufacturing facilities, robots are basically in cages like wild animals … so you can't get in there and get hurt," David Bourne, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, told the news source. "Having the robot and person work side-by-side is really scary to a lot of people," he says. "If it swings around and hits you, it could take your head off."

The key to robotics safety may be improved area sensing capabilities and more precise motion control, reported the media outlet. One company uses a new technology, called elastic actuators, to better control the gripping powers and movement of its robotics systems.

"The use of series elastic actuators changes the whole approach to manufacturing robots. [It] makes the robot able to safely interact with people," said Rodney Brooks, the co-founder of iRobot, according to Technology Review.

Manufacturing and factory-line processes can be greatly aided by autonomous robotics systems. According to American Machinist, Ford deploys robots in some of its larger factories to manufacture better fitting car pieces.

For many, the ultimate goal of owning a robot in the household would be to program it to complete chores its human owners would rather skip over. At the recent RoboCup 2011 contest in Istanbul, Turkey, housekeeping robotics systems were pitted against one another to see which device would make the best mechanized butler, reported the BBC News.

The majority of the robots entered in the contest utilized area-scanning technology, which was used to identify common household items. According to the news source, the devices were tasked with simple chores, such as mixing up a cocktail, in which they relied on area mapping and internal processing systems to execute task given to them.

While many of the devices were able to perform mundane tasks, contest entrants claimed the simplicity of these actions somewhat underscores the degree of complexity it took to program the robots.

"There are so many things we take for granted as humans," Nathan Kirchner, the head of the University of Sydney's RobotAssist team, told the media outlet. "But when you get a machine to do it, there's nothing for free. It has to learn every action."

The housekeeping robotics competition was not even the main draw at the recent RoboCup event. For most entrants, their devices were built and programmed to compete in a soccer match with other international teams, reported the Wall Street Journal.

With robots mimicking human speech becoming more common, it was only a matter of time before a device was made to sing. According to a report from CNET, a robotics system developed by Hideyuki Sawada of Japan's Kagawa University recently sang for audiences at the RoboTech 2011 expo in Tokyo.

Resembling a human mouth, the device is able to harmonize and mimic the vocal stylings of humans, reported the news source. Additionally, the robot comes complete with a replica tongue that moves according to the note it is programmed to produce, as well as an air compressor that acts as human lungs. When all of these competing systems work together in harmony, the result is a symphony of sorts.

At the RoboTech conference, the device sang the song "Kagome Kagome," a popular children's tune in Japan. While the technology behind the device is no doubt impressive, the robot still has a long way to go before it faces off against humans in concert halls, stated the media outlet.

According to TechLand, the robots "lips" can even move as air is compressed through the device, which effects the tonality of the notes it produces.

The job training and education program, HoustonWorks USA, was recently awarded a federal grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, reported Ultimate East End. The funding, which totals $1.6 million, will be used to promote education in technical subjects for the city of Houston, Texas.

HoustonWorks USA's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Institute, which is intended to keep schools up-to-speed on STEM education, will use the grant money to fund teacher training and student learning initiatives, stated the news source. Additionally, the educational organization's summer program will be empowered by the influx of capital.

Program officials believe their efforts go beyond just student education, as many feel that the initiative may provide the technical workforce of tomorrow.

"Through the STEM Institute and its array of comprehensive programs, HoustonWorks USA is building a highly competitive future workforce," said Larry Green, CEO of the program, in a recent press release.

Many workers in the robotics field owe their expertise to STEM education. According to the Atlantic Monthly, many students participating in these initiatives may go on to technical careers.

While robotics technology has made impressive strides the last couple of years, their internal processing units still pale in comparison to the inventive minds of their human creators, states the Tehran Times.

One of the industry's pioneers, Rodney Brooks, agrees with this line of thinking, reports the news provider. Tasks both arbitrary and simple to us may require a large degree of programming and manufacturing to replicate in a robotics system.

"All these problems where you want to duplicate something biology does, such as perception, touch, planning or grasping, turn out to be hard in fundamental ways," said Gary Bradski, a vision specialist at Willow Garage, a robotics company based in California's esteemed Silicon Valley. "It's always surprising, because humans can do so much effortlessly."

People concerned about the coming robot apocalypse can rest a little easier, for as the media outlet claims, advanced robotics systems are still a long way away from eclipsing the intelligence of their human counterparts.

Instead, robots are best designed to serve us. According to the Los Angeles Times, a therapeutic robot named Pikatti responds to light, sound and touch, and is used to engage elderly patients suffering from dementia.