Wei-Min Shen and other researchers from the USC Polymorphic Robotics Lab have been looking for a way to simulate zero-g robotics so they can develop autonomous robots that can assemble orbiting solar power stations and do other useful work in space. Their solution? Small robots called "pucks" that hover on a conventional air-hockey table. A new Nature article summarizes their work. The USC PRL website offers video of the puck robots at work including pucks assembling scale girders (MPEG), docking with each other (MPEG), and autonomously navigating (MPEG).