Just in time for the discussion forums at OryCon 28, scientists have developed an intuitive starfish-like robot that can actually adjust its movement to compensate for injury just like real animals do. According to Researcher Hod Lipson of Cornell University:

We don’t really think this is self-consciousness, which is a robot thinking about itself thinking, but I do think it is moving in the direction of consciousness, like a cat, that kind of level.

And a strangely compelling video of the beast flopping around, or rather, figuring out how not to flop around-even while injured.