R.U.R. stands for "Rossum's Universal Robots," and it's about a company that figures out how to manufacture synthetic humans. They're called robots, but in fact they're more like synthetic biological beings – and eventually they revolt against their masters.

This isn't the first time that R. U. R. has been made into a film – there is also a 1930s version – but it's the first modern version. Director James Kerwin is said to be aiming for release of the movie in 2011. Kerwin's previous film, Yesterday Was A Lie, played at both Sundance Film Festival and San Diego Comic Con – how's that for a mix of inde cred and scifi cred?

My hope is that Kerwin will bring back the idea of synthetic biology in this adaptation, which seems far more futuristic than mere metal men.

via IMDB and official website

You have to hand it to the inventors of this new four-wheeled security bot; they're obviously geeks. Not only does it shoot out a Spider-Man-esque web to foil any thieves, but it's called the T34, which suggests that it belongs somewhere in Skynet's overall scheme for robotic overlording (Admittedly, somewhere on the bottom of the list, round about the time that they ran out of all the parts needed to make the robots look scary. Or competent).

That's not to say that the T34 is about to launch its own rebellion anytime soon; it still requires a human to remotely control it, as well as pick up whoever gets caught up in its tangled web. But that's no reason to feel complacent; for all we know, there might be a T33 around the corner that's ready to kick our asses for laughing at its older brother.

Security robot that nets burglars with spider web spray [Daily Mail] (Also, Gizmodo)