If the CAN bus can be programmed to control the speed of your car, Freymann says, it could also be vulnerable to hackers -- which, at 70 mph, is chilling to contemplate.

CNN: Behold the?all-seeing, self-parking, safety-enforcing, networked car

Throw it, and its motor engages, setting it to fly a pre-programmed route or a path guided by remote control.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Programmed with 14 artificial chromosomes in 1800 bytes that control 77 behaviors, when Rity appears on a computer screen it is alive with its own emotions.

CNN: 'Sobots': Uncorking the robotic genie in a bottle

As a control, though, the maverick was sometimes programmed to behave in an unusually generous way.

ECONOMIST: Psychology

It uses IR, Bluetooth or RF (to the Hub) to control up to 15 devices, and is programmed using Logitech's software for PCs that pulls settings from a database of 225, 000 home entertainment products.

ENGADGET

The build-it-yourself (and eerily human-proportioned) construction can react to pre-programmed actions, text-to-speech conversion or live control, ranging from basics like the eyes and jaw to the eyelids, eyebrows, lips and neck of an Advanced Fritz.

ENGADGET: XYZbot's Fritz offers a cheaper robot head, free trips to the uncanny valley (video)

Unlike many large fixed-wing drones, which are flown under remote control by ground-based pilots, a modified K-MAX flies autonomously along a programmed course using GPS to navigate via specified way points.

ECONOMIST: Autonomous helicopters