Two robots in development can scale walls or walk on two legs. Robots have come a long way from the Roomba.

A team from Boston Dynamics, a human simulation engineering company, recently demonstrated what could be the first Army robot, PETMAN.

The human-sized robot can walk on two legs and is built to carry Army troop's gear in combat. The Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin or PETMAN weighs 180 pounds and looks like a Terminator robot with its single red eye. The Army guinea pig was originally meant to test Army protective clothing but it could work as a robo-gofer. Boston Dynamics even added a feature to the robot that will make it more human: PETMAN can sweat when necessary.

PETMAN has been in development for years and researchers at Boston Dynamics said they expect delivery to the Army before the end of 2011. The robot will have the shape and size of a standard human and it will be the first anthropomorphic robot that moves like a real person. Future research could open the way for more advancements in prosthetic limbs.

While PETMAN walks on floors, Canadian scientists are trying to create a robot that climbs walls. Inspired by the gecko, the team developed a tank-like robot that can climb vertical walls without the aid of suction cups and glue. Researchers from Simon Fraser University at Burnaby, Canada attached dry microfibers patterned after the toe hairs of the gecko to the robot's tracks. The gecko can climb walls because its fine hairs on its toes interact with the surface to create a molecular attraction called the van der Waals force. Using the same idea, the robot's tracks have microfibers that can interact with the surface.

If the team is successful there could an army of wall-climbing robots that can clean outside windows, crawl up pipes and help in search and rescue operations.