If you've been watching Generation Kill or playing Battlefield: Bad Company, you know soldiers can't very well boot up a laptop in the heat of battle to give commands to their robot sidekicks. Doug Few at the University of Washington in St. Louis, who's trying to turn the US Army one-third robot over the next ten years, has a better idea for how America's robot army will work.

"When I envision the future of robots, I always think of the Jetsons," says Few. "George Jetson never sat down at a computer to task Rosie to clean the house. Somehow, they had this local exchange of information. So what we've been working on is how we can use the local environment rather than a computer as a tasking medium to the robot."

To work toward this goal, Few has incorporated what many would simply consider a toy into robotic programming. Using a Wii controller, Few capitalizes on natural human movements to communicate with the robot. Using something as simple and as common as this video game controller also has added benefits in a military setting. Rather than carting around a heavy laptop and being forced to focus on a joystick and screen, soldiers in battle can stay alert and engaged in their surroundings while performing operations with the robot.

Look for Wario Ware: Smooth Moves to be a part of basic training in the near future. "This is my Wii! This is my gun! This is for fighting! This is for fun!"

Thanks Mark Asher!