In what happened to be a one-of-its-kind "graduation party", as many as 11 robots of the PR2s (Personal Robot 2) model rolled down the aisle of the Menlo Park, California, robotics firm Willow Garage.

The big send-off event on Wednesday saw the 11 robots - which have a mobile base and arms - carrying flags, waving their arms to hundreds of attendees, and dancing to the "Mr. Roboto" song playing in the background.

The graduation of the robots comes after the successful completion of their training, during which Willow Garage prepared them for their new life in research labs - including the locally-situated Stanford University and UC Berkeley; as well as the University of Tokyo and the Germany's University of Freiburg.

In the research labs, these robots will essentially be used for creating applications and solving problems. Each of these PR2 robots is preinstalled with Willow Garage's free and open-source software platform, ROS; two stereo camera pairs in its head; and a laser range finder at its base.

Talking about Willow Garage program of creating the robots and sending them off to research labs, the company's president and CEO Steve Cousins said that the program is a part of Willow Garage's endeavors to "get robots out of factories and into the real world," where they can be of help in day-to-day life.