Inside Science Television, produced by the American Institute of Physics, features GigaPan and GigaPan Time Machine in a new video. The GigaPan system, developed by the Robotics Institute's CREATE Lab and NASA, enables ordinary digital cameras to produce panoramic images and videos that can be interactively explored on a computer monitor.

NASA's Glenn Research Center used the Scarab robot developed by the Robotics Institute to demonstrate a new fuel cell for the first time outside of a laboratory setting. The new type of fuel cell will extend the range of surface operations for rovers that will explore new worlds as part of future NASA missions.

The Robotics Institute’s Howie Choset, Joydeep Biswas, Heather Knight and Marek Michalowski are featured in CNN’s Geek Out blog, where they talk about what compels people to build robots.

NASA has awarded Astrobotic Technology Inc. an additional task in its $10 million Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) contract under which NASA buys information about the company's commercial robotic expeditions to the Moon. The $100,000 task order brings total funding under the ILDD contract thus far to $610,000.

C-SPAN’s “Communicators” visited the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and talked with Curt Stone of the Quality of Life Technology Foundry about commercial spin-offs from the QoLT Center. Watch the video; Stone’s interview begins at about the 13-minute mark.

Two members of the Fine Outreach for Science Fellows program used the photomosaic techniques promoted by the Carnegie Mellon University program to study the long trackway of a herd of prehistoric elephants, resulting in new insights into the social behavior of these creatures. The findings were published Feb. 22 in the journal Biology Letters.

Thomas J. Murrin, who as a top Westinghouse Electric Corp. executive played a key role in launching Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, died Jan. 30. Mr. Murrin served as president of Westinghouse’s energy and advanced technology group and later as a deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Commerce and as dean of Duquesne University’s business school. Mr. Murrin joined with University Professors Raj Reddy and Angel Jordan to found the Robotics Institute in 1979, arranging a $3 million industrial research grant from Westinghouse. For more details on Mr. Murrin’s life and accomplishments, see his obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Students at Clairton High School who are working with the Robotics Institute's Hear Me project interact with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Hines Ward in “NFL Characters Unite,” a documentary that premieres at 7 p.m. Friday on the USA Network.

The Carnegie Science Center has named Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics, as the winner of the Catalyst Award in this year’s Carnegie Science Awards. The Catalyst Award recognizes excellence in promoting public awareness of scientific issues, and advancing science in society to bring about measurable, beneficial change.

PennEnvironment, a statewide environmental advocacy group, will be at the Electric Garage at 12:30 p.m. Thursday to release an analysis of the benefits of fuel-efficient cars written by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Ben Brown, project scientist on the ChargeCar project housed in the former gas station on Forbes Avenue, and Aftyn Giles, City of Pittsburgh sustainability coordinator, will participate.