Robot Rodeo, Y'all!

This is what happens when police, military folks, and scientists get together to play with very expensive robots. It's 10 a.m. on a Wednesday, and I'm watching a robot poke a forest camouflage backpack with a stick. Here on the southern edge of Albuquerque, N.M., in an oven-hot tract of desert, a dozen assorted cops, military guys, and national researchers, along with three sweaty journalists, have gathered to play with robots. Welcome to the Robot Rodeo, an annual competition that is both more ...