Robots in medicine have been pretty incredible this year. First up, there was OctoMag, the tiny robot that could from eye vessels, thus allowing patients to avoid having to endure a traditional eye surgery. This robot is also pretty basic--it’s made mainly out of five tightly coiled springs. The only catch is that it has to be inserted up the patient's nose. Gross. Watch the to see how the robot works.

And for the first time ever, in 2010 a surgical procedure was performed . The incredible feat happened at McGill University Health Centre in Canada, for a prostatectomy. Although there were technically surgeons in control behind the scenes, the robots were still performing the surgery rather than human hands.

From a to a , plenty of items have sprouted robotic legs--they have even helped . But the most fascinating is the , a four-legged creation that broke a record for the distance a robot could walk before its battery died. Ranger managed to wander a whole 14.3 miles (25 kilometers) before it collapsed--1.5 miles further than the previous record holder. The university students behind Ranger are working on extending the Ranger Robot's range even further so t can run a marathon (26.2 miles), so watch this space. Watch Ranger walk gracefully into the record books in the .