So the Robot Film Fest was a couple of weeks ago in NYC, and because we are a sub par blogger we failed to cover it in any form while we were there (except for a few questionable photos which showed up on Twitter and probably a few embarrassing YouTube videos which have yet to surface).

Pictured: A performance by Tim Laursen and Double Rainbow, the robot rock band. Photo by SB.

Anyhow, the event was a glorious success, and Heather Knight (beloved RoboGames Academic Chair) and the fabulous team from Magic Futurebox who co-produced the event were rock stars and made everyone else feel like one too.

Here’s a few tidbits from the event (for which I was a jury member):

Paparazzi snapped in his face, but 1337 was not fazed. Wearing a scarlet bow tie slightly askew, the 2-foot-tall humanoid robot continued walking down the red carpet – guided firmly by his stooping programmer Carlos Asmat. With the air of a Hollywood film premiere, the first ever Robot Film Festival was underway this past weekend at the 3-Legged Dog Art and Technology Center in lower Manhattan.

-a lovely piece from New Scientist

Cute Photos From Science House

Lots more Robot Film Fest press here.

In addition to failing at blogging the event, I actually achieved the unlikely – I was in the same room as many of my robotic twitter cohort, such as Dustyn Robots, The Chief Robot, and Erico Guizzo – and I failed to meet all of them except for Erico, with whom I had a three second convo before he lolloped off to see his young family.

I blame the exquisite robot-themed cocktails – the BeatBot was an especial favorite.

There are already schemes and plans being put into play for next year, we can’t wait!

The full complement of movies shown at the film fest can be found here, thanks to Marek Michalowski of BeatBots

I came across Zenta’s Robotic Creations blog while looking up information on my own biped, and my jealousy meter is off the charts.

Just watch this video – Words, I have none.

Working with similar robots, I can only hope that one day I can make them move that smooth and agile.

Zenta’s latest project is a morphing robot. That’s right, a MORPHING ROBOT.

I tossed this brilliant Norwegian a few questions, and he was nice enough to get back to me!

What’s your background and how did you get into robotics?

My background is engineering. I’ve always been fascinated by all kind of robots since I was about 6 or 7 years. (I’m now 38 year) .I began building robots very early, using mostly meccano. At some point I found meccano a bit limiting and started making custom parts. But I didn’t get more serious into hobby robots before 2006 when I started on my rather famous Phoenix hexapod.

The main reason for why I wanted to construct a biped is that I had some ideas of how to control it using Inverse Kinematics (IK) based on the current code used for controlling hexapods. The main difference is balancing/stability. Also gear-slope/backlash in the gear of the servos is a challenge on bipeds. Keeping the weight as low as possible is also more important on bipeds. When it comes to stability I tried solving that on Archer by simply moving electronics and battery from side to side.

Thanks, glad you liked it! I got the idea for building MorpHex for over a year ago. Mainy I got the idea watching my two eldest kids playing with Bakugan and I thought it would be cool to make a hexapod that could transform into a sphere and back to a hex again. I’m still working on MorpHex, you can see what I’ve accomplished so far on my blog. The main challenge with MorpHex was to make the variable sized body, the body needed to expand for making more space between the leg sections. There has been several difficulties during the making of MorpHex. At some point I considered to end the project, so I had to do some changes to the leg design for making the robot less heavy and also for removing some conflict between the sphere sections.

The smooth movement are simply accomplished by accurate control, correct math and correct timing. Jeroen Janssen’s work on the Phoenix hexapod Basic Atom Pro code make this rather easy to accomplish. Instead of using a PS2 controller, I’m using a custom made remote controller. The remote controller play a big role for accurate control.

Oh, thats very hard to say. I enjoyed them all. I think I’ve to say Phoenix was the project I enjoyed most.

A full humanoid biped, a new hexapod and or a new quad…

Lego mindstorm or VEX Robotic System is a very good plattfom. I’ve to say I’ve not worked with either of them. But I plan to introduce Lego Mindstorm for my kids one day. Also, a hex or biped Brat kit from Lynxmotion is a good start.

The latest issues of Robot is out! Eveyrone go snag a copy at one of your fine local publications depots.

We make special note of this, because while Robot is indeed a fine, fine publication, Our Man In Japan Lem Fugitt has a really nice cover article about a neat sounding little event called RoboGames which apparently happened in the Silicon Valley this past April.

We love Lem, because not only does he have an exhaustively informative fire hose of robot information over on his blog (which blog we here would very much like to be when we grow up), but he also is a dandy fine person and we always look forward to plying him with alcohol and questionable conduct when he is here on his annual US spring sojourn.

Plus he’s got awesome footage of me giving Team RioBots what for after an incident in the arena (Naughty Brazilians!).

We also welcome with open arms the possibility that more of our friends from Robot Japan and the greater Tokyo Area will come show the US competitors how it’s done for RoboGames 2012!

So go out and get a Robot right now and support printed matter.

Everyone watch this one, because not only it is the same superlative show they always put up, BUT: It’s about Robots AND: I, Me, @missysb going to be on it. Theoretically. Unless I get accidentally set on fire or eaten by chuds on the way there.

So tune in! Wednesday July 13th, 9pm Eastern 6pm Pacific

In the spirit of “Scent Of A Robot” by Pete Miser and with all of the awesome hipster cheesiness you can pack into a trucker hat, we bring you “Me And My Robots”

This short film is a contender for the very first Robot Film Festival, about which we are super excited, and about which more in a bit.

Love robots? Now they can love you back!

Welcome to Hooman Samani’s Lovotics – an area of research dealing with human-to-robot relations.

Across 11 research papers, Samani has outlined — and begun to develop — an extremely complex artificial intelligence that simulates psychological and biological systems behind human love. To do this, Samani’s robots are equipped with artificial versions of the human “love” hormones — Oxytocin, Dopamine, Seratonin, and Endorphin — that can increase or decrease, depending on their state of love. On a psychological level, by using MRI scans of human brains to mirror the psychology of love, the robots are also equipped with an artificial intelligence that tracks their “affective state”; their level of affection for their human lover.

Observe as this lovely combination of R2D2 and Roomba strives for your affection:

After reading this article I immediately visited this tv-tropes piece, knowing all-well that I could suffer a similar fate as this fellow.

I came to the conclusion that one of my favorite responses to “What is this thing you call love?” was from a jolly assassin droid by the name of HK-47:

“Definition: ‘Love’ is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. Statement: This definition, I am told, is subject to interpretation. Obviously, love is a matter of odds. Not many meatbags could make such a shot, and fewer would derive love from it. Yet for me, love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose, against statistically long odds.“

Now please, stop asking us about pleasure bots.

I blame the Svedka robot.