The Dutch artist Erik Hobijn created something years ago that is so elegant and thought provoking, so shockingly glorious and well-executed, that it still causes a stir when its exhibited:

Delusions of Self-Immolation coats the skin of the willing volunteer in flame-resistant gel, then sets them on fire. Sets. Them. On. Fire.

This is the secret wet dream of the misanthropic deeply morbid machine-art loving soul of this author. It is goddamn beautiful.

From an interview with the artist:

There are three states on the machine which I call “rare”, “medium”, and “well done”. “Rare” means you survive without any wounds. “Medium” is more for, say, the SM session or for people who like pain to understand parts of life, or to have this experience of pain. The third possibility is death. It is possible to die in this machine; I just have to change the liquid, and I have to change the timing.

There is nothing that will make you feel more alive than art that can kill you.

[via the always superlative We Make Money Not Art and the lovely @evacide]

But can anything that incorporates delicious delicious electronics and the power of the Lab Coat of Authority *really* be stupid?

Actually, yes. Yes it can. In a good way though.

Maywa Denki the Japanese robotics consortium that defies description (which is how we like it) instituted the Bacarobo competition in 2008.

The rules are simple: The robot has to have absolutely no practical function, it has to be mechanical, and it has to make people laugh. Sounds like Robot Comedy Gold to me.

Bacarobo Europe is happening in October in Budapest. If you are headed in that direction around that time, you should definitely seriously consider attending. For Science!

In these trying times, some thought must be given to the small respites afforded by life in the 21st century. With an eye to this, we here at The Robotics Society of America (a registered 501c3 educational nonprofit, whee) are holding the Third Annual BarBot, a celebration of cocktail robotics and culture:
Full details and advance tickets HERE!

Join us April 1-2, 2011 at Parisoma, 169 11th St (at Natoma) in San Francisco. Cocktails, robots, and swingin’ music. Who could ask for more?

Like its Austrian sister event RoboExotica, Barbot 2011 will address the bigger questions in relaxation technology: Can a true man-machine interface achieve true transparency? Will technology morph to keep pace with eventual ubiquitous computing expectations? Are the margaritas actually any good?

All these questions and more will be answered during the course of two nights with robot music, swingin’ robot atmosphere, groovy entities both organic and manufactured, and some hot, hot science.

What’s more, it will serve as a delightful benefit for that most worthy of causes, The Robotics Society of America (501c3, remember?), proceeds to go to putting on RoboGames, the world’s largest open robot competition, dedicated to learnin’ kids good about Science, Math, Engineering and Technology.

In order to have a truly superlative BarBot scene, however, we need to add to our already burgeoning field of robots YOUR WONDERFUL CREATIONS.

Do you have a cocktail bot lying around collecting dust? Do you have components kicking around just *begging* to be made into human-serving, pleasure-giving automata (or semi-automata, we’re not too picky. . .)? Do you have a robot already in progress that would benefit from a deadline? Have you always wanted to build a thing from scratch and just needed a purpose for it? Are you in the greater SF Bay Area?

Cash assistance available for the neediest an most interesting cases. This means YOU.

Contact sb at suicidebots dot com
(or fill out the contact form over yonder —–> (under Information Is Sexy))
and tell us tales of your creations! Be a part of cocktail robotics history!

They always make us so darn gooey-feeling.

To be sure, this one looks like a work in progress.

Nemo Gould is a sculptor who works by himself but also with Applied Kinetic Arts, a loosely formed collective of artistic ne’er do wells bent on raising awareness of kinetic arts in all its amorphously defined glory.

To see more jaw dropping knock down awesome robots from Nemo, see his website here.

Moreover, this was built by RoboGames Regular and Lego aficionado extraordinaire, Steve Hasseplug

You can see MonsterChess in action at Brickworld 2010 this weekend in Chicago.

Ahem, where were we? Oh yes.

Cover that delicate flooring, hide the dog and spray for hippies, The Orb Swarm is gong to India!

Swarm In India Image Courtesy The Orb Swarm.

Your favorite vivacious rolling globes are packed and headed halfway around the world to meet their adoring public in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India for the annual Techkriti Festival for Technology and Entrepreneurship held at IIT Kanpur.

Techkriti will be feature innovative and creative minds from all over the world:

“After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well.”
- Albert Einstein

Techkriti is a celebration of that fusion – where the beauty of form is merged with inspiring ingenious innovations. It is about creation that moves beyond barriers. Techkriti has always been synonymous with excellence. Graced with the presence of “Nobel” minds, inspiring inventors and young mettle competing to dazzle, Techkriti has been the stuff that dreams are made of. This year we go a step further and combine a flavor of business with the festival. We strive to have a fine balance between the world of science and the real world where we live our day-in day-out lives. Techkriti is about ideas that inspire. For those who wish to know of what use is a new idea, Faraday’s answer is most apt – “Of what use is an new born baby?” Techkriti is about attenuating surly bonds of our mundane existence and going a step further. Over the years, the festival has witnessed the very best coming forward and showcasing their talent.

This being the Golden Jubilee year promises to be bigger and better. No matter what you like – Competitions, Talks, Workshops or Exhibitions- we have it all. And to top it all off, numerous fun events enliven the atmosphere and make the festival a grand treat. So be there from February 11-14, to witness it all live. We are making you an offer that you will not be able to refuse.

@mister_robotics went a few years ago with a team from San Francisco State University to show off their then-new combat robot Beer Bash (more on him later). They had loads of fun.

What’s more, Lee Sonko, Orb tweaker extraordinaire, is speaking! The other speakers at this conference include a couple of Nobel Laureates, A Gödel Prize winner, and a director of the Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, so, well done Lee!

No pressure or nothin’.

Follow the Orbs on Twitter here!

Magnus Würzer of RoboExotica and Shifz fame has taken this video in my very own kitchen. It is of our Intern’s marshammlow roasting robot, a fine tetrix-based contraption that results in burned sugar par excellance:

See more awesome like this at this year’s RoboGames, oh boy that’s a lot of robots.

You know, I really could never dance for another. . .

A bit o’ background from IsraeliGuitar (on youtube)

I Wanted for a long time to upload a video of me improvising with my guitar and the Kaossilator.

Everything I did was very boring as the loop in the Kaossilator is quite short. You can’t really play any chord progressions, only the same chord over and over and over and over.

I tried to think of a song that has a single chord and found Groove is in the heart. It’s the same chord and the same bass line all through the song.

It wasn’t easy making 7 minutes of the same chord not boring or anoying, but I think I did a good job.

[Thanks @KOduckgirl]

Dude.

I mean, wow.

The website pretty much says it all:

On March 24 from 1-5 PM EST hadto.net and FutureFarmers will be conducting a workshop called Human Powered Chatbot as part of the Reverse Ark at Baltimore Contemporary.

20 people will cooperate in a system of abstraction through simple rules to create a writing machine that will be connected to the internet via the Twitter and New York Times APIs

If you are interested in conversing with the Human Powered Chatbot you can follow it at http://twitter.com/human_bot on March 24 from 1-5 PM EST

During this time you can reply to ‘human_bot’ on twitter and it will respond to your messages.

[Thanks Bruce Sterling!]

. . and now you too can have a Bar2D2 of your very own! Jamie Price, mentioned in this space before, has been ever so kind to put up an Instructable on how to make your very own Bar2D2!

Jamie also demonstrates the axiom that you don;t necessarily need to get all fancy with the education to build something completely extraordinary:

Just a quick note about me – I am a regular DIY’r and don’t have any formal robotics, electronics, or mechanical training. I have picked up most of my skills from various hobbies and projects, as well as my father who is a skilled woodworker. If you have a basic knowledge of woodworking and working with low voltage power, then you can build a mobile bar! Enjoy!

So back a couple days ago I mentioned I-Wei Huang, who is still cooler than you and sheds mechanical ninja-fu like some people shed viruses. Well, he’s shown up again, saving me from actually having to look for something good to post:

Embrace the Crab-Fu, people.

For those of you who can’t make tomorrow night’s show of kinetic art, we have a sneak preview. This centipede was made by that virtuoso of aluminum Nemo Gould, whom we have several kinds of crushes on over here at SB*. If those kind of look like bundt pans and bike brake levers, you are exactly right, Sir or Madam!

*[SB adds: Seriously, you have no idea]

So the Rotor was just over at the Seemen Development Labs and managed to get an exclusive spy photo of the latest alcohol delivery unit under construction by Artistic Director Kal Spelletich. This gadget walks gripper-over-gripper along an overhead wire, and carries a payload of an electrically-valved bottle of Jameson, as well as some cameras and video monitors allowing you to see the world through the robot’s eyes. Too early in the development cycle to even have a name yet, you can see it in action at Roböxotica, the International Festival of Cocktail Robotics, should you happen to be in Vienna the week after Thanksgiving.

The Rotor will be there, hopefully with Chassis in tow. See you in Wien, prost!