The image of the hulking T. rex and its comically undersized arms is deeply ingrained in pop culture, but it isn't really fair. They were muscular little appendages well-suited to their evolutionary purpose. The wimpy-armed Carnotaurus is another story entirely.

A Japanese robot arm that can pick up 120 items per minute off of a moving conveyor belt took top prize at Japan's Robot of the Year awards yesterday, swishing its arm back and forth in a gesture we think we may have seen before. The robo-arm analyzes items before snatching them up and depositing them into paper bags.…