It seems to me that the "recognise itself" part could be done entirely with traditional computer vision techniques.

Step 1) Flip the image vertically to undo the transformation implied by the mirror
Step 2) Use a computer vision algorithm to identify the robot (just as it might be used to identify a coffee cup, or a picture of the Enterprise)
Step 3) (This being the most specific part) allow the robot to move, and to associate changes in the image with this movement
This is not "self awareness" as most of us would understand the concept; we would not consider it to be self awareness if we could recognise a puppet under our control.

I think the title is slightly misleading in that respect. It seems to me that the hard part is in having a computer vision algorithm that understands the concept of a mirror. A robot that recognises itself in a mirror is a very natural extension to that.

On the face of it, this submission may look like very good news (and I guess it is good news), but remember that (at least according to the article - I haven't checked this), the MPAA have already successfully used the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to achieve court orders to block infringement sites. If this is true, then in effect the government has merely agreed to repeal superfluous legislation.

Fuel economy issues aside, how do they plan to find these islands of plastic if they're in the middle of the ocean? A quick peak at Google Earth would suggest that the overwhelming majority of ocean is... well.... water, and it clearly isn't practical to meander around an entire ocean looking for something without a clue as to its location.

You're absolutely right! The Raspberry Pi foundation is interested in a lot more than simply making a (very cool) machine available. The general thought is that a lot of parents are anxious about the notion of allowing their children to experiment on an expensive home PC (being able to experiment with root access, while not mandatory to learn to program, is useful to get to understand how the computer works) - that's part of the reason why the foundation developed the computer. The foundation is also working to create a library of educational materials that are intended to help children learn to program and find out about their machine, as well as promote and encourage changes to the teaching of IT/Computing/Computer Science.

Unfortunately, most complete hardware systems tend to come paired with software (i.e. the OS). The only people who get to choose their OS are people who build their own PCs. If this becomes too common, the only way will be if it's possible to build your own (much as people do with x86 PCs today). Of course, that still sucks for anyone who wants a mobile device, or who has old (eventually) equipment, doesn't want to build them selves, etc.

Unfortunately, most consumer hardware (at least when it comes to complete systems) comes somewhat paired with software (such as the OS). Have you ever tried buying a laptop without an OS installed (or with Linux as that OS)? How about a tablet without either Android (and no official way of installing your own distro) or Windows?

Look after the cents and the dollars will look after them selves.