Natrium 42's homebrew kit is an open robot platform that lets you control your RoboDS (pictured right) with an NDS WiFi connection through a web browser interface.

ENGADGET: Nintendo DS bots in full force

Today Stomp Games will announce an open beta for Robot Rising.

FORBES: Connect

They then programmed the robot to open if it encountered one of the types of cancer cells.

FORBES: Scientists Target Cancer With DNA Robots

"What's coming is a robot that can open drawers, set the table, grab your favorite beverage, " Trower says.

FORBES: Household Robots

After visiting the oil spill in June 2010, the young engineer decided to leave MIT in Boston to develop an open source oil spill cleaning robot, Protei.

CNN: Robotic sailboats built to clean up oil spills

Research conducted by Cisco, which has experimented with telepresence robots in house, found that employees were, oddly, more honest and open with a human-operated robot than with a human colleague.

WSJ: My Life as a Telecommuting Robot

In its current incarnation, the Avatar doesn't do much apart from offering telepresence -- authenticated by the company's servers -- but the robot has been designed to be open source.

ENGADGET: Robotex Avatar for Home and Office eyes-on Hands-on

If you have a robot that needs a makeover, just open the door, Studio9732 will be waiting.

FORBES: Robots Get A Makeover With Studio9732