The Shadow Robot Company let us know about a great funding opportunity in the EU called ECHORD. Get your robot project proposal in by 1 Dec for a chance at 12 months funding for a staff plus hardware. The PlasticPals blog has some photos and information on the Russian AR-600 humanoid robot. If you're in need of some Java free software for most commonly available servo controllers, check the newest version of ServoMaster. Joanne Pransky, the Robot Psychiatrist, wrote to tell us about a new "low-cost" industrial robot arm from ST Robotics, the R12-500 Firefly. If you buy one, maybe you can combine it with MobileRobots, Inc. new MT400 "build-a-bot" autonomous robot base. Amber Johnson writes, "We just posted an article: 10 Unbelievable Robots Transforming Medicine". Rog-a-matic sent a link to a giant beetle robot built in Japan. And the Swirling Brain spotted stories on tiny sea-going robots, an update on the Robopocalypse film by the author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising, the worlds first Arabic-speaking interactive robot, and EVOLTA, a running, jumping, toy robot. Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please. And don't forget to follow us on twitter.