Imagine a robot that can walk, without electronics, and only with the addition of a cartridge of compressed gas, right off the 3D-printer. It can also be printed in one go, from one material.

Naturally, being the computer science and AI lab the paper had a robotic bend to it. In summary, they can 3D print a robot with a rubber skin of arbitrarily varying stiffness.

The coolest, we think, is a little multi-legged robot that uses vacuum to ambulate across the bench. The paper, however, is behind a paywall. There are really two ideas here.

Currently the machine uses a 700mW laser, "which makes it ideal - inventors say - for t-shirt engraving, paper origami", and basically any other thing that depends on cardboard, paper and fabric.

A house built by a 3D robot printer was opened to the public in western France on Saturday, with backers hailing it as a step forward in green construction. Professor Benoit Furet, whose teams ...