It looks like something straight out of a Star Wars movie. And to hear it described -- a self-propelled, floating, talking, computerized personal assistant with artificial intelligence -- you might suspect it really is a "droid" from a science fiction film. The similarity isnt a coincidence. The design was actually inspired by the small floating sphere that Luke Skywalker sparred against in the original Star Wars!
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast23jul_1.htm?list153858
