Domo

But not all universities' robot research projects involve self-driving cars. This one, a humanoid robot named "Domo," was created at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) by then-Ph.D. candidate Aaron Edsinger.

In a testament to how robotics research often crosses the gulf between academia and the corporate sector, Edsinger was working under Rodney Brooks, who was then serving as both CSAIL director and chief technology officer of home robotics company iRobot.