So, a small Star Wars Fan in the Chicagoish area picked out a splendid new water bottle for the school year. She was subsequently compelled to feel like she should find a new bottle, because of some churlish lads in the playground, saying girls could not be Star Wars fans.

Gads I hated elementary school because of things like this. But Katie shouldn’t have to!

They said. Girls. Could Not. Be Star Wars Fans.

Gobsmacked I am. The bit of me that is still the nerdy plaid-jumper-wearing tomboy in first grade who loved Star Wars and War Games and reading and science and was excited about everything feels afresh that raw, confusing, impotent frustration and anger that comes from being teased and told you are wrong for doing something you love that is not bothering anybody.

So, to combat this and stick up for what we believe in (epic tale of adventure, science, strong women, that Han shot first) the fine gals over at Epbot and other places have created comment streams for Our Girl Katie to see. So, leave a note here or there saying she’s got backup, and that there are other girls out there who have fought the same fight, and we are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

Image Courtesy OriginalProp.com

The Inestimable Bonnie Burton has also written a great post about this issue over at Star Wars.com

#MayTheForceBeWithKatie Indeed!

[Yes this is a Shop Tip, I have been pushed out of the way in the machine shop and elsewhere too damn many times because I am female for this not to be an issue.]

Ooh, your so *gentle*, turn my dials, you always do it *just* right. Adjust my mix, ADJUST IT MORE OH YEAH Say my alloy. Say My Alloy! SAY IT!

Was it good for you?

This video is an 18′ pipe with a 1/2″ wall being cut in half by an oxyacetylene torch for use in a kinetic art piece. We must find this kinetic art piece. Oh Yes. It is from BenderAutomatic’s YouTube page

[Thanks Lee!]

Hurray for the fine folks at Makerbot, making 3d extrusion printing the new cool thingy.

Chiggity check out the livestream here!

[Thanks Wondermark, Le Boing, and everyone else who posted this]

[Via Neatorama!]

I’m not sure the housewife in me could be any more jealous. Check out the swivel armpit and wrist action.

Thanks, Dave Gessel!

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.

So, for a little background: Stephen Nelson is one of our favorite people that most of the six of you who check this site regularly have never heard of. He builds things like power tool racers and, more importantly, robots.

His stable include Evelyn, a Modified Dawg (watch out, 16mg video download); Eva, the beer retriever, and his latest and gnarliest creation, Ethel, (named for the Zappa song). As Mr. Nelson says, “The goal of building Ethel is a learning experience with software and vision system on a off road robot.” At least this was the goal when he started, she has since sprouted a flamethrower and a portable DJ rig, amongst other things. But I digress.

I will now turn over the tale of the latest adventures with Ethel to Mr. Nelson himself posting from his garage while nursing his road rash:

(more…)

The advent of this robot clearly means Rosie the Robot is imminent, so people can stop asking, already.

From Bre Pettis and Adam Cechetti, here are the fruits of a long, punchy night at NYC Resistor:

Bre has established that Skynet will enable itself via tasty cheese-filled snacks:

This is one of those robots that I swear is alive. The noises it made were like an animal and it seemed that everytime we looked the other way, it was coming to life and changing things with the setup.

It shows that the revolution will come via Arduino and reprap controllers, and will be commented on by XKCD.

It’s perhaps a little too close to Arse Elektronika to post this particular and literally juicy item¹, but here’s a robotic hand made out of cucumbers:

¹ You folks have filthy minds which is why we love you

Nuffin’ like the right tool for the job, as they say. Tip of the hubcap to Eeeeevil Mad Scientist labs.

So seeing as the denizens of SuicideBots have a think for Kraut rock, eclectica and robotics, the delightful Scott Beale over at Laughing Squid sent me this Muxtape this morning:

Muxtape apparently is the future’s substitute for sitting around late on a Friday night, mucking around with your dad’s stereo equipment, making that special mix for the cute person in Biology so they’ll share your, um, headphones with you later. Only you can do it in like, seventeen seconds, instead of spending hours trying to figure out why the aux isn’t talking to the receiver and looking for that one cable with the thing on the end that you need ’cause the amp is some weird european thing that doesn’t interface with any of your other components ’cause Dad is a sound nerd and said the sooner you figured it out yourself the better off you’d be, and something chewed through your last good speaker cable so you have to use the shit ones and it’s a good thing the person you’re making it for is totally worth it, because the time you’ve already invested in this, the perfect mixtape, will probably cause you to have another panic attack in Trig because you’re underslept and didn’t do the homework, but it’s almost time for Dr. Demento so you have to take a break and that’s a good thing anyway because you’re pretty sure you blew something up turning the power on in the wrong order.

What was I talking about?

Anyway, listen to this awesome Muxtape by LaughingSquid, and rock out with your robot out.

OB Shop Tip: Music in the shop is important for productivity. Mr. Robotics finds hard rock good for concentration. The Head Rotor enjoys things like this. I personally like Rick Astley.

[Thank you Scott and Boing Boing]

UPDATE: Scott actually came across this playlist in his rss feeds this morning, but didn’t make it himself. Sorry for any confusion!

I was digging around on Instructables when I found this neato link submitted a while ago for Society Of Robots. It’s a bunch of tutorials, advice, and places to satisfy your DIY robot needs.

They also have some good advice about funding.

Their FAQ strums my heartstrings because We here in the RoBunker suddenly have an intense feeling of not being the only people who get asked these very same questions all. the. time.

So go check them out, give some good advice on the Robot Forums, and be gentle to the noobs, you were one once too even if you have blocked the memory out.

. . .from the bearer of a *very* sore thumb:

Could you please remind Mr. Learns-his-lesson-and-always-pays-attention what Shop Tip #3 is?

Shop Tips, kids. Love them, learn them, use them.

One of the smartest people and brightest lights in the mechanical art arena has had a terrible accident.

Photo by John Mathieu Courtesy Laughing Squid

Todd Blair, of SRL, formerly the Exploratorium, Chico MacMurtry collaborator and many, many, many, many other fine projects, had a prop piece fall on him at RoboDock this year He is in a fine hospital in Amsterdam and is in a coma. We are all pulling for him to wake up and smile again.

There is a donation fund for him here, and a blog on his progress here.

Kick in a few bucks if you can. Todd is an artist and of course our culture is great at not enabling artists to be supported with all the benefits and etc a CEO or lawyer would have. We just have a surfeit of love.

Even if you don’t know him, he is one of those people that makes the world a little bit more amazing, and he and his love Alex can use your good wishes and everything else you have right now.