Instead of the repetitive, generic robot moving its arms and the description (which is not a bad thing), how about a simple, yet very big addition?
How about a screen, next to the robot, with a simple image associated with the technology you've unlocked?
Majesty, maybe a shiny crown. Soil Enhancement, some dirt! Beam weapons, um, a laser? Stinger missiles... could even use the weapon as it shows up on ships! Democracy could be people holding hands! Xeno Industry could be a factory...
The list goes on... My point here is I think that changing up the "technology complete" screen to have MORE to do with the tech completed other than the description is not only important for some variety and less repetition but to spice up the technology tree as a whole. Yes, the tech tree is fairy big and sprawling, but it isn't that exciting to move through it if you're just expecting Mr. Blue Robot to congratulate you on tech after tech after tech...
You could even take this idea further with some mini-cutscenes as the rest of the game has for each technology. This could be a little intrusive, but still, it's an improvement.
