Police say they are still looking for the weapon used during the attack, using a robot to search a nearby estuary.

BBC: Oakland gunman 'targeted school official'

All the search engines follow these robot directives, which, while not a perfect security solution, limit the entry points used by the bots and spiders that index the Web.

FORBES: Google Me Not

Then it checks the information uploaded into the lander by the rest of the hive and decides to either start a new search or visit a cave discovered by another robot.

FORBES: Swarms of Robots Could Be Used to Find Life on Mars

Google recognizes the Web's power to publicize and offers Web masters a simple interface to remove their own pages from its index. (Type "remove" into Google to get started.) Other preventive measures include putting sensitive info behind password-protected walls and attaching so-called robot files to Web sites that tell search engines not to index a particular page or site.

FORBES: Google Me Not

For his swarm-search strategy, Kisdi envisions using a rolling, jumping robot, Jollbot.

FORBES: Swarms of Robots Could Be Used to Find Life on Mars

The major search engines now use shopping "bots" (for robot) to scour the Web for the best deal.

CNN: WINDOWS SHOPPING

Instead of dispatching a young soldier to probe for a mine or search a cave, a commander these days often sends in a small robot.

WSJ: In the Afghan War, a Little Robot Can Be a Soldier's Best Friend

The CD-ROM version goes a little way toward rectifying this by letting you search for words that are otherwise buried in the print version's short essays--where robot does show up.

FORBES: Turn right at the robot

Current applications for Superbot are being developed with space exploration in mind, but Shen said the technology could be usefully applied in any environment dangerous to humans such as for search and rescue tasks in mines or underwater -- although the laboratory is still working on a morphing robot capable of swimming.

CNN: Robotics discovers its soft side