Form Robot Living, a tree planting concept machine. . .

. . .that looks suspiciously like this tree harvesting machine of doom:

Here’s footage of the Kali-like tree creator-destroyer in action:

Yeah, that’s what we thought.

This is charming, thought up and done by Cinegraphic Studios. It’s also an adorable meditation on what the heck a robot actually *is*, anyway.

[Mange takk LaughingSquid!]

Here’s a really well done minidocumentary about robot builders, done up by our buds at Trossen Robotics. Edited and shot by Jennero Rossi, a Trossen Minion, valuable helper at RoboGames and a hell of a great guy, this short illustrates what it is to be a robot builder, where it can take you, and how you don’t need to be a PhD or engineer to get started.

Full Disclosure: Trossen Robotics is one of the dedicated long time sponsors for RoboGames, so please buy some robot stuff from them. Then come to RoboGames to test it out!

So ::sob:: beautiful ::weep::

Courtesy those masters of modern problem solving techniques, Willow Garage (proud and beloved Sponsors of RoboGames, full disclosure, natch)

Mechanical Victorians -Mechtorians- look great in drawings, paintings, prints and prototypes. They also raise the bar for production-run, high end, limited edition vinyl toys.

Bruce Whistlecraft, aka Doktor A, employs an array of olde and nu skool craftsmanships to take the entire cast of fictional robots on a time-bending fantasmutational romp.

I’m completely charmed by the imagery from an actual past, informed by a recent past, reconfigured as robot characters from the past’s alternative future. Check it out for yourself.

This guy is totally using his powers for good. Canadian Rob Spence had an unfortunate mishap in his teens that led to losing an eye on his right side. He’s decided to one-up nature and become: EYEBORG. With the help of a few of his friends he has developed an eye prosthetic that can broadcast its video, and eventually will be available as a public feed for those who want to see through another (Canadian, filmaking) person’s eyes.

Eyeborg Phase II from eyeborg on Vimeo.

Never underestimate the power of bored nerds to solve excellent problems. How long ’til it’s elective, like tattoos or unusual piercings or suspensions or sideshow performers? I am excited about the cyborg revolution.

[Via Le Boing and IEEE, whee!]

Israeli Scientists are doing a thing with some handshake robots, it should be cool (sorry for the lack of liguistic precision but it’s late and I’m tired and PopSci has done a better job on this anyway).

Image Courtesy Robot Magazine

From Popular Science:
Sure, you can make a robot walk or cook or even play beer pong, but can you make a robot friendly? Ben-Gurion University of the Negev wants to know, so the Israeli university will host the world’s first international competition to build a robot that can shake a human hand.

This is actually a lot cooler than it sounds, because handshaking is a more complex problem than puny humans realize. The conditions, pressure, etc are different every time; differences between hands necessitate decision-making on the fly and – okay remember what I said before? They do a better job explaining things over there at the bigfancy tech magazine, so read and enjoy.

I will indulge in one wholesome and heart-swelling demonstration of sentiment and say that it would be super swell if the folks who sign up for this competition refine their creations, and come to RoboGames 201l as a lovely demonstration of symbolic friendship and brother hood across all nations, creeds and climes. Science and love conquer all.

Yeeegh okay that’s enough. Back to the carnage-loving and haphazard robotic reporting so near and dear to this website’s heart. LOOK! Here’s a contest that rewards the robot who does the most inefficient and laboriously done trivial task! Stupid robot trick yeah!

Okay now I really have to go to bed.

O robot fans the world over: in an effort to open myself up to as much drunken heckling by my friends as humanly possible, while also spreading the love for robots and, especially, RoboGames, I am giving a 50 (!) minute talk this Saturday, May 22nd, at Makerfaire!

The talk is “Build A Robot, Be A Rock Star: RoboGames” and it will be about various and sundry interesting tidbits about our seven years producing RoboGames.

So, grab a giant can of Tecate, camp out in the parking lot, and troop in to hear me talk a bunch about robots, games, and other things.

MakerFaire is this Saturday and Sunday May 22-23rd at the San MAeo Convention Center in lovely San Mateo, California. See everything cool you could possibly think up in the wildest realms of your imagination, all in one place, and learn how you can make each and every single thing yourself.

Whee! So much will be going on, you won’t even be able to absorb it all in one weekend. Yay!

Contrary to popular belief, @cozyrobot did not spring fully formed from the skull of a Mighty Mech.

Au contraire, my 5 fingered friends, the Cozy was clearly an emergent property of devoted time on robot tasks large and small, real and surreal, virtual and hopeful, over the course of many years… 2 decades to be precise… Pull up a fuel can and I’ll tell you a little about myself and some things I’ve seen and done along the way.

While spending all my free time in the throes of spectacular machine performance art at SRL, Seemen, Ape Technology (formerly PeopleHater), and other local performance groups, I was also developing mad skillz painting teeny tiny toy prototypes. The most memorable were the about to be discontinued Zbots and Mini ZBots (pictured above with a custom chrome finish*), which were mass produced by the now defunkt Galoob Toys in South San Francisco from ’92-’94. Some designs were developed thru ’96, but, sadly, that last series was never produced.

An idea for a mass produced toy product goes through many development stages before it’s available at a chain or novelty store. Earlier stages develop initial concepts of what the object will look like, and how it will behave. Later stages involve engineering spec sheets, and manufacturing master prototypes. In the marketing department, there are models made to be photographed for advertising. Long before any manufacturing can occur, the company needs to know how many to make. They pre-sell to buyers (stores) with TV commercials, trade show displays and magazine cut sheets. The models used for these are called Heroes. I painted hundreds of toy and packaging Heroes in the mid to late ’90′s for a variety of toy companies in the Bay Area.

I’m telling you all this to share an appreciation I developed for the amount of detail and design work that goes into toy making, and in particular, figure models.

In the early 00′s, with the introduction of DIY customizable vinyl figure toys by Kidrobot, there has been a steady widening pool of talented artists who specialize in highly original toy figures. Many are one of a kind or limited editions from 2-10, or upwards of 1000.

I’ll be showcasing some artists that I believe are doing fantastic robot designs and hope to inspire more of you to consider the range of robot building going on these days. Love ‘em or fear them, robots are deeply embedded in our work, play and our imaginations.

*(custom chrome finish on ZBot and Mini ZBot done in 2000, while working on the movie Bicentennial Man. Quote from model shop “We have seen the future, and it is chromed!”)

“Long ago when the world was old…”

Cute little animated film featuring elephants, a robot, a duck, Ganesh, Buddha and a mushroom for sitting under.

Chag Pesach Sameach my Hebrew-style robot-lovin’ friends. Here’s a video of a Robot Passover, courtesy the lovely AdaFruit (added bonus: Spock Matza!)

While we ere at SuicideBots are not a religious bent, we can always get behind a homestyle feast and copious quantities of red wine.

It’s been quiet here in the Uncanny Valley, as we stand around awkwardly in our black suits next to the buffet, finding comfort in funeral potatoes and leftover hamentashen, trying to find something to say that will alleviate the great sense of loss upon hearing of the demise of one of our own, ABE the undersea explorer, out of Wood Hole Oceanographic Institute.

ABE in happier times

Brought out of retirement for an expedition off the coast of Chile, ABE, and autonomous exploratory submersible, was searching for hydrothermal vents on the sea floor when both acoustic transponders on his hull stopped responding.

Dr. Dana Yoerger, senior scientist and a member of the team who built ABE, speaking from the expedition ship Melville, said in ABE’s New York Times Obituary: “For both to die at exactly the same time means probably something very bad and very violent happened,”

Dr. Chris German, a Woods Hole senior scientist who was also in Chile with ABE at the time of the accident, soldiered on admirably, though shaken.

“You’re stuck at sea and you can’t just cry and go home,” he said. “So you figure out what’s the best you can do with what’s available.” That has involved using more conventional equipment to sample the water for other evidence of hydrothermal events, compiling data that can be used when researchers come back.”

Dr. Dana Yoerger reflects:

Dr. Yoerger said he had tried not to become too emotional about the loss of ABE, particularly given the human suffering nearby in Chile from the recent earthquake. “This is aluminum, glass and silicon,” he said. “We can build a new one.”

Still, he said, there had been some trying moments. “The most difficult one was writing the e-mails to my children and grandchildren telling them that their robotic friend was gone.”

::sniffle:: Goodspeed, ABE, tell Cthulhu “Hi” for us as your survey the streets of downtown R’Lyeh for all eternity.

[Tip of the cocktail napkin to OtherMichael]

Every week, “my” local robot wakes me on the early side of dawn. Crash! BANG! Klonkkkkkk. But you know what- I’m actually really proud of its ability to work with me on sorting regular old household trash for Ultimate Global Goodness. I pre-sort my stuff 3 ways all week long, and The Sideways Skoochy Arm + Giant Horizontal Hand (there are many different hand/arm configurations) reliably comes by the house, 3 times in one day- once for each bin. Up up UP! and over the top. The robot recycling arm is Over The Top Fun to watch, and ponder the revolution in garbage processing.   Up until the 1990′s, garbage was pretty much collected by human hands.

See more types of garbage trucks here

Special thanks to Teresa at ACI in Alameda, CA for info and images!

this is Nemomatic's "The Representative"

Well, the fabulous website WebUrbanist has totally done my home work for me this week by putting together an entire Gallery of Pseudo-Victorian, Steampunkesque and Retro Robot Art.       THANK YOU FOR THAT.

Jan 25th, 1978: First recorded death of a human being at the hands of a robot

From Wired’s This Day In Tech:

The future is coming, people. Wear a freaking helmet.