Li’l Missy here, working through the obstacle of spotty-ass wifi in the hotel room to get you up to date on what the heck we’ve been doing since we vanquished the forces of entropy and got to Tokyo intact.

We’re here for the International Robot Expo, the largest robot exhibition in Japan. While there are many booths that feature the same old industrial robots and bolt sorting machines and etc, there’s also a ton of stuff that really fails to suck. We’ve been meeting interwebs people in person for the first time, and are having a ball doing it.

Here are a few pics detailing what we are seeing.

This is Tokyo Big Site, a massive convention center where IREX is being held. It’s big. Real big. No, bigger. There are five or six huge conventions going on, as well as lots of interstitial restaurants and vending machines. None of the vending machines contain beer or schoolgirls’ panties, but we will keep looking, don’t you fret.

AIIIEE!!! Teeny winky shuffle bots with the tiny, tiny feets! Teh ky00t! It burns!

These little robots had no wheels, only little vibrating feet that got them hither and thither. they seemed to be directionally controlled, although I could not tell if it was autonomous and human. They also seem to be light-sensitive for light and dark areas underneath them.

Three words: Robo-One Laser Tag. This guy is playing Terminator-style in a cloud of talcum powder, click on the thumbnail to get the full on end-of-the-world-disaster feeling. A bunch of them played against each other for all the glory and the loser bought the next round of beers. It was awesome, and by awesome, I mean totally sweet. Better than ninjas. And nothing is better than ninjas, except for maybe more ninjas.

Creepy? Yes. Highly amusing to watch sober-suited Japanese industrialists squirm as they handle a fussy robot? HELLS yes. The Real Care Baby is a doll that simulates a real child for use in daily life and to find out which reprobate highschooler would do well to never. ever procreate. They cry, they fuss, they do the things babies do. They are all identical. It’s weird in an oddly compelling way.

More in a bit, as our wifi is funky here.

So those who have been playing along at home may or may not know that MissySB has unavoidable fixations on many things [Ya damn skippy she does -Mr. Robotics and The Rotor].

One of these things is the inestimable, the extravagant, the culturally-enriching 31-ton behemoth RoboSaurus, star of air shows and monster truck rallies everywhere.

Well boys and girls, the Day Of Reckoning has come:
RoboSaurus is on the auction block.

ZOMGROBOPONIES!!!!!11!1!!1!!one!!

From the consigners:

“This is without a doubt the largest, nastiest, most intimidating piece of machinery that we’ve ever consigned at Barrett-Jackson,” said Steve Davis, President of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company. “Robosaurus is the first Life Magazine cover ‘star’ that Barrett-Jackson has ever featured – awesome!”

The auction is scheduled for Jan 2008. Feel free to bloodily wrestle Missy SB for the right to sit right in front of the auctioneer.

[via Robots.net]

. . .because this is *way* better than screaming “Hey You Kids! Get the Hell off My Lawn!”

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Water Hobo:

[Tusind Takk, Le Boing]

It’s $79.99 of the finest plastic money can buy, now with added obnoxiousness!

It winks, it blinks, it says the time and if you hit the snooze button too many times you get a dressing down. Thirty different ways to be awakened. Thirty. So much fun we could vomit.

The cruel and unusual uses for this are already forming in our collective brain.

[Via Random Good Stuff]

If you’re aching to enter an event at RoboGames but are just not sure which one to go for, why not try the exciting firefighting competiton with this sweet Wii-controlled firefighting robot?

You may stand a small chance of not getting your ass kicked by Tony Pratkanis, the wunderkind of autonomous firefighting robots, but you’ll certainly be able to say you gave it the old college try.

So, um, one of the talks at Arse-Elektronika featured a Kink.com creation called Fuckzilla, and um it’s made of a chainsaw that has-um, and it’s also got a– but then again you never expected them to actually– except they did. And the sly newshound from Botjunkie had a video camera.

SUPER explicit video after the, um, jump.

(Is it warm in here?)

(more…)

Heheh. Hehheh. Heheh. Heh. As it were.

Arse elektronika surges forth in an orgasmic rush of (intellectual) stimulation. We’ve had Moanin’ Lisas, learned discourse on internet pr0n and privacy, discourse on pr0n as an engine for advancing technology, and many other things, all in the homey surroundings of Kink.com’s Porn Palace dungeon. Come on by and check it out.

Above, qDot demonstrates his original version of the warning sticker The Rotor riffed on back a few entires.

So cunning, so delicate:

So Saith Hacked Gadgets:

The latest iRobot is the ConnectR, looks like this could be a great hackable robotic platform.

That’s kinda funny, we thought that was what the iRobot Create was for. Perhaps there’s not enough to tear apart on that one. *We* certainly enjoy breaking things for fun and profit. Hell, we just enjoy breaking things.

Combining the latest in Internet communications and robot technology, ConnectR lets you virtually visit with loved ones, relatives and pets anytime you wish – seeing, hearing and interacting with them in their home as if you were there in person.

“All right kids, everyone line up in front of the robot and say “Hi” to Gramma down at the Home!”

“But Moooooom, I don’t *wanna* go *all* the way across the *room*!”

“Young man, when I was your age we actually had to be physically present during the holidays! We had to tolerate spitty kisses and thirty-year-old potpourri! Now put down that PSP and slap a smile on your face. This is your inheritance.”

Not to say that this isn’t a machine just packed with possibilities, but we envision a bright future for the lazy and etiquette-challenged of the world. We would say more about this, but Helen doesn’t return our phone calls as it is.

Gareth Branwyn over at Street Tech reports on a neat BEAM-style project involving a gutted Playstation, some aluminum flashing and a metric ton of patience.

Mercury is a light seeking, dark detecting, almost completely analog bugbot. It’s so elegant we want to make one, but we get distracted by things that are shiny.

Those crazy kids down at Hanson Robotics made their way to the Wired NextFest

This is Einstein Hubo, the robot body with the head of Albert Einstein. The face is made of Hanson’s spiffy development, Frubber. It looks, moves and feels like skin and is one of those things that can be very Uncanny Valley if you’re not careful.

They brought th newest addition to the Hanson Family, Xeno! Xeno is billed at The World’s First Complete Robot, in that he can see, hear, react and walk! He’s also cute as a button.

Trossen Robotics, that fine purveyors of all things that buzz and go *bing!*, has announced HARD COLD CASH PRIZES for their monthly Robot Project Contest.

Actualy, thety had hard cold cash prizes before, but they have doubled the amounts so now it’s HARD COLD CASH!

Here’s a bit from them:

For those unaware, every month we are hosting a contest for people who are creating cool projects in robotics, home automation, interactive arts, RFID, or similar technical DIY projects. Last month was so much fun that we decided to double the winnings.

The Trossen Robotics Monthly “Submit Your Project and WIN Contest!”

Trossen Robotics Wants To Know What You Are Building. If you have a cool project that you’ve built it’s time to make some money showing it off.

What sort of projects can you submit, you ask?

Robotics, HCI, home automation, RFID, art projects, useful mods & hacks, fun/entertaining projects, etc. Have you made wireless entry into your car? Did you make an electric backyard catapult? Figure out a way to have your robot take over humanity? Awesome! Homebrew/DIY projects are just as good as improving an off the shelf item. Complete systems or components for systems are all welcome in our book. If you created a vision tool for a robot, a keyless RFID based entry lock, a Rube Goldberg invention, or even part of a home automation, that’s cool too! It could be some navigation or voice recognition software or even a new drive train. We love projects that focus on solving particular problems because then others can use those ideas in their projects.

Sounds good and all, but what’s the prize, you ask?

September 2007 - Certificate to: Trossen Robotics

1st place - $200

2nd place - $100

3rd place - $50

To find out all the details, visit us on the web!

Good luck to everyone, and we hope to hear from you soon!

To motivate you in you quest, here’s a picture of SB’s Mom with a Trossen Robotics sticker stuck to her:

We all knew it had to happen. Wil Wheaton, formerly of Star Trek: The Next Generation, has been doing something other than blogging for the past few years:

Los Angeles, CA – Actor and Internet personality, Wil Wheaton, has been indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of promoting and hosting a robot fighting ring.

Prosecutors allege Wheaton kicked and electrocuted robots that weren’t performing well, as many as fifteen robots. “He just blew their circuits,” said US Attorney Bob Schrumpkin.

That BASTard. We’d certainly never approve of anything as crass as Robot Fighting.

Oishii!!!!!

Courtesy Wired NextFest, here is a completely adorable video of Keepon the dancing robot boogeying his way through Tokyo.

Beware: Hot Gothic Lolitas, Japanese Vending Machines, and Robot Dance Offs.

[Thanks Karen!]

the arm bone’s connected to the, shoulder bone…

Mr. Robotics’ favorite game in the whole world is winning at “oh, you can too get toys from a claw machine.” The RoboBunker proves this with hundreds of plushies won from claws. But now, nirvana has reared it’s pretty head:

The robots come from MechaTrax, a Japanese android company.