Two conference papers and two videos were finalists for awards at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA12). These are:
Best Manipulation Paper Award Finalist:
End-to-End Dexterous Manipulation with Deliberate Interactive Estimation: Nicolas Hudson, Thomas Howard, Jeremy Ma, Abhinandan Jain, Max Bajracharya, Steven Myint, Calvin Kuo, Larry Matthies, Paul Backes, Paul Hebert, Thomas Fuchs, Joel Burdick
Best Service Robotics Paper Award Finalist:
Gravity-Independent Mobility and Drilling on Natural Rock Using Microspines: Aaron Parness, Matthew Frost, Nitish Thatte, Jonathan P. King
Best Video Award Finalist (2 nominations):
Video Summary of D.R.O.P. The Durable Reconnaissance and Observation Platform: Clifford McKenzie, Aaron Parness
Demonstrations of Gravity-Independent Mobility and Drilling on Natural Rock Using Microspines: Aaron Parness, Matthew Frost, Jonathan P. King, Nitish Thatte.
(Related Time article with video is here.)