Our friends at Trossen Robotics have announced the winners of the latest TRC Project Contest. The 1st place winner is a robot based on K-9 from Doctor Who. It's not just a replica prop either, this robot does 3D mapping, real-time occupancy grids, speech synthesis, and obstacle avoidance. For those who aren't familiar with the contest, here's the official description:

A wide range of talented and dedicated people come to our Project Showcase forum in the Trossen Robotics Community to show off projects they've been working on. Periodically, we (the Trossen Robotics team) sort through these projects, and "scientifically" score them in the following categories: "Wow" factor, Ingenuity, Creativity, and Presentation (graphics, videos, documentation, explanation, etc.). We run this contest to help promote and encourage ingenuity and innovation. Contestants are allowed to submit a wide range of projects ranging from robotics, automation, art, RFID, DIY, mods, inventions, or anything else demonstrating some form of technological creativity.

Be sure to check out the other winners, including the Robotic Marionette in 2nd place, and the animtronic harry animal robot thing in 3rd place, as well as several runners up.