Over here at SB, we love power tools almost as much as we love fembots, so we were pretty stoked to find a blog dedicated to exactly that. Um, tools that is. Presenting Toolmonger, where besides the usual rundown of nailguns and suchlike, they often feature things the Rotor didn’t even know he wanted (like the Car Rotisserie), and they are certainly not above a little tank donut action now and then.

Check out this cordless electric lawn mower: is that not just begging to be hotrodded into a combot?

Refurb Roomba — hackable! — at Woot today only. 140 bones. http://www.woot.com. C’mon. You know you want one.

Tip o’ the hubcap to John Humphrey.

Here’s a “Female Type” robot designed by, um, a guy:

Maybe it’s the neotenically enormous anime eyes and schoolgirl-warrior stance, or that the inventor

consulted with professional fashion models to make FT’s movements even more lifelike

but something about FT strikes the Rotor, as, well, just a teensy bit creepy. But hey, we just report these things. Maybe all she needs is a flamethrower or something.

Turns out you may be able to buy one for yourself should you happen to swing that way. Flamethrower installation instructions here.

What else can I possibly say, except that the ACTICON NEOPSHPINCTER takes us closer to our predestined bionic future by being, according to the website, “the only implantable sphincter available for the treatment of severe fecal incontinence”.

As we sit here applauding their advances in such technology and desperately trying not to snicker, we discover that saying the mere phrase ACTICON NEOSPHINCTER immediately inspires us to shout something noble sounding in Japanese and magically change into a lot of spandex.

This affliction also causes us to continually refer to the ACTICON NEO- SPHINCTER in all caps.

While we fight this urge and the urge to knock down large building with every step, roaring with triumphant rage, please indulge in some more links about the NeoSphincter.

Hey Kids! The Botball Regionals are happening tomorrow!

What is BotBall I hear you cry? From the BotBall Website:

Students are given about seven weeks to design, build and program a team of mobile, autonomous robots as well as document their process on a weblog. Participants compete against each other on a 4’ x 8’ playing field in a fast paced, non-destructive regional tournament. The robots are student built and programmed to maneuver on the game board without the need for remote control.

The Botball folks have a happy little blog all about BotBall.

[Thanks for reminding us, qDot!]

Things that SB is doing this weekend In The Name Of Science:

Science! Science I say! We have NO INTEREST in drinking this thing known as “beer” in order to get a robot! We have skills far beyond this mere consumer Chicanery! Hey Rotor and Mr. R, you have that case order in right?

The Beer Robot In Action!:

More about this particular beer robot here here and here!

This cute little thing reminds me of another adorable little bot, one named Beer Bash. Beer Bash was built by The Robot Fight Club of SF State University, who are returning to RoboGames this year because they are junkies because they are consummate robotics enthusiasts.

Come see them in action won’t you? Remember, the first rule about Robot Fight Club is. . .

[Thanks Geeksugar for posting, and Violet Blue for the link!]

Episode four of Joe Alterio’s The Basic Virus is out.

It’s about robots.

You’ll like it.

The Heartlander!

Developed by those clever nerds down at CarNAYgie Mellon University Robotics Institute (Head Rotor being one such clever nerd, go Tartans), The Heartlander is a very tiny, disposable robot that provides access for minimally invasive cardiac therapy.

This little woochie-coochie critter caterpillars across live, beating heart tissue, and gives access to surgeons to repair people’s dicky tickers. The fact that the mechanism is dispoable cuts down on infection, and the mass production aspect cuts therapy costs dramatically.

PLUS the patient gets a cute little toy to run up and down their hospital room window when they are done!*

Photos and video are here.

*not really, but I wish they would.

Ok, this only has one robot bit to it, but it’s funny.

Click the image to see the whole site.

via BoingBoing

Human and robot alike.

War is hell.

This super technical and highly in-depth piece brought to you by Achewood, because SB is snowed under with writing super technical and highly in-depth pieces for this website.

No really, this time for sure.

This forwarded to me from the Evil Signtist:

Sarah Lyon, artist and motorcycle enthusiast, travelled over 6000 miles on her 1978 Yamaha during the summer of 2006, photographing women mechanics from around the country. Found mostly through word of mouth, Sarah met with automobile, motorcycle, hot rod, jet airplane and diesel truck mechanics. This calendar challenges stereotypes of the typical tool-girl, pin-up calendar by showing real women mechanics working in their shop environments.

The Calendar is available here.

Of course you will be ordering many of them, and teaching your little girl how to change her own oil and swap out an alternator. Right?

Right?

BotsIQ (formerly BattleBotsIQ), just wrapped up in Miami, FL. I had the pleasure of being a judge, and hanging out with some really great kids. They were all inspiring, and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy robot competitions. Everyone was super nice to each other, sportsmanship was the winner of every match, and I saw some amazing robots – the machining skills, electrical skill, and just ideas were all really cool.

I wish I had BotsIQ when I was in high school (21 years ago now, boy am I old.) I probably wouldn’t have ended up fencing stolen computers…

High School 120 pound Combat
1st – Richardson High (Richardson, TX) “Blender”
2nd – Bergen County Academies (Hackensack, NJ) “E2V2”
3rd – Lincoln-Sudbury Regional (Sudbury, MA) “Pneumagic”

College 120 pound Combat
1st – Missouri State U (Springsfield, MO) “Bear Down”
2nd – Carnegie Mellon U (Pittsburg, PA) “The Revenant”
3rd – Univ of Puerto Rico (Mayaquez, PR) “Alakran”

Mixed 15 pound Combat
1st – Bloomsburg Area HS (Bloomsburg, PA) “Maximum Impact”
2nd – Dunwoody College (Minneapolis, MN) “Rugburn Reloaded”
3rd – Team Booyah (Buffalo, MN) “Humdinger”

Table Top Challenge
1st – Carrollton School (Miami, FL) “Venus Fly Trap” (all girls team!)
2nd – Christopher Columbus School (Miami, FL) “Excelsior”
3rd – Christopher Columbus School (Miami, FL) “Devastator”

Best Engineering (by Judges)
Table Top – Christopher Columbus School (Miami, FL) “Devastator”
HS 120 lb Combat – Richardson High (Richardson, TX) “Blender”
College 120 lb Combat – Missouri State (Springsfield, MO) “Bear Down”
15 lb Combat – Bloomsburg Area HS (Bloomsburg, PA) “Xyrus”

Coolest Robot (peer voted)
Table Top – Carrollton School (Miami, FL) “Thriller” (all girls team!)
HS 120 lb Combat – Lincoln-Sudbury (Sudbury, MA) “Roflcopter”
College 120 lb Combat – Univ of Miami (Miami, FL) “Hurricane Katrina”
15 lb Combat – Bloomsburg Area HS (Bloomsburg, PA) “Xyrus”

Outstanding Sportsmanship (peer voted)
Table Top – Christopher Columbus School (Miami, FL) “Excelsior”
HS 120 lb Combat – Pine View HS (Osprey, FL) “Copperhead 2”
College 120 lb Combat – Univ of Puerto Rico (Mayaquez, PR) “Alakran”
15 pound Combat – Plum High School (Plum, PA) “Shockwave”

It’s Steampunk Saturday at SB! First up is is the irrepressible crabfu with another steam-powered bot, in this case, one you might recognize.

If you like to get all steamed up and can’t wait for the Maker Faire to see crabfu’s vapor-powered goodness, go check out Kinetic Steam Works next weekend as they fire up the boilers for what Mr. Robotics likes to call the Coachella Carrot Festival.

Word is that the SB crew will also be at the Maker Faire in full fearsome force. Look for the shiny dangerous things. More fabulous information forthcoming.

A movement so far ahead, they might be accused of regressing.

Rossum’s is a collective of robotics artists in Pennsylvania.

Rossum’s is a working group for robotic artists founded on the practical goal of helping each other develop ideas and skills. Out of this pragmatic aim are emerging ideas about embodiment, movement, and the role of technology.

Art has always been embodied. But in the heady rush to the virtual, in the novelty of purely informational digital art, and our own cultural movement toward anapresence, an essential connection to the groundedness of physical reality has been lost. We long for digital artworks to regain the vitality of physical form.

These are clearly people who who are beyond thinking digital watches are a good idea.

The show has closed but the idea lives on:

From the Three Rivers Arts Festival Website:

Dates: February 23 – March 23, 2007
Opening Reception: February 23, 5:30-8:00pm

Mechanosphere is a response to a technology art culture, which has embraced the virtuality of informational digital art. The work explores sculpture with a behavioral essence, bringing the digital back to a vital physical reality. Some of the work creates a certain gesture or behavior, some seeks to find its own way towards how it will exist in the world, some are experiments which aspire toward truly thinking machines.

Mechanosphere includes work by Stuart Anderson, Takehito Etani, Doug Fritz, Amisha Gadani, Joseph Hays, Ian Ingram, Michael Kontopoulos, Shaun Slifer, Gregory Witt, and Garth Zeglin.