Call me a dork, but Futurama has always been one of my favorite programs on the old idiot box - at least when it comes to animated programs. Now, just in time for the holidays, I’ve found the perfect decoration for my office.
Inspired by the classic Futurama Christmas episode, A Tale of Two Santas, the set includes 6-inch tall bendy desktop versions of Santa Bender and (the bloodthirsty) Robot Santa for you to pose into a variety of compromising positions.
Robot Santa and Santa Bender were actually released by Toynami as a limited edition release of just 2000 at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, but you can still find them over on Amazon for $54.99 for the set.
My only question is, where is Robot Santa’s tommy gun?
While it certainly isn’t the most sophisticated robot out there, this kit from Japan is possibly the least expensive bipedal robot I’ve seen.
The Co-Robot keeps it on the cheap by using just a single motor and a wobbly gear-drive system to help it amble along. Now don’t expect the type of smooth walking moves of Honda’s ASIMO here. This little guy hobbles along in a manic frenzy that’s sort of like Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein on crank (or maybe Michael Flatley: Lord of the Dance at normal speed). On the plus side, simple mechanical sensors can detect when Co-Robot falls over, so he can pick himself up from his (all too frequent) falls.
The robot has three modes of operation: walking, dancing and somersaulting (also known as stumbling, thrashing and falling down). While the instructions for building Co-Robot are in Japanese, it’ looks like it would be simple enough to put together from the visual diagrams in the manual.
Still, if you’re looking for a fun way to introduce your kids (or yourself) to robotics, and don’t want to break the bank, you might want to check out Co-Robot. Originally available only in Japan, the guys over at the MakerSHED have imported a batch, and are selling them for $29.95 (USD) a pop.
In the video above, this gigantic ALCNON humanoid robot picks a fight with a miniature opponent, showing off a combination of his swift punches and dance moves. The little bot is pretty scrappy and comes at him again and again, sadly to no avail. It’s all pretty sad, yet strangely satisfying.
Despite ALCNON having a name that sounds like a substance abuse meeting, he’s presumably pretty adapt at picking on robots his own size, not that you’d know it from this video. He sports a creepy cyclops eye, and two pincers for hands. ALCNON was a big star at the recent ROBO-ONE robot battle in Japan.
We would all like to have our own robot. And hey, it’s a bonus if that robot doubles as a cool CNC router. We’ll here’s your opportunity to build your own six legged robot with an attached CNC router for a head. Check out this awesome demo video that shows off the robots mobility while it carves a super detailed 3d human face.
I think this solves the mystery of that huge face on Mars. Somewhere out there, some alien is controlling a gigantic robo-router for their own amusement. The awesome thing is that you can build your own version. The site is selling kits with everything you need. Soon you too can make detailed human heads of your very own.
This is a video of an iPhone robot, complete with springy tail. It’s a self-propelled iPhone robot that uses a small electrical engine and a Arduino board. It runs on 4 AA batteries and apparently prefers to dance to the sounds of Techo. It doesn’t clean or anything like that. It is what it is. And it seems quite content with that.
The Recon Scout robot looks like a dumbbell at first glance, but it is actually a robot that moves around on quiet electric motors. The robot can be controlled by a handheld controller within a 100 foot radius. Its remote control has an integrated display so you will know where to position the Recon Scout robot. The robot is also durable enough by a hard impact because it was specially built to survive a 30 foot drop onto concrete. [PopularMechanics]
Looking for a way to build yourself a functional AT-ST walker? Have I got the perfect robot for you.
The AREXX YT-3000 (aka “YETi Walker”) is a bi-pedal robot which can be programmed using your PC or an remote-controlled via an IR interface. It’s powered by an ATMEGA8 microcontrolller, which can be easily programmed in C to do your bidding.
In its basic configuration, the YETi is a simple walking machine, but can be expanded with additional sensors and modules such as an ultrasonic obstacle detector and an external LED display.
The basic YETi Walker kit is available from TheRobotShop for £69.99 (appx. $114 USD).
The rolling egg that fancies itself a robot is back, with an update in the form of the Rolly SEP-50BT. Compared to its predecessor the Rolly SEP-10BT, this new dancing fool has double the memory at 2GB along with Bluetooth. Which means that it can now be controlled from a cellphone, PC etc. It comes bundled with ‘Rolly Remote’, software that lets you control the movement of your Rolly. In fact you can control up to 7 Rolly’s from the PC. The new Rolly will be available in pink and limited edition black for about $350 on November 21 in Japan.
The rolling egg that fancies itself a robot is back, with an update in the form of the Rolly SEP-50BT. Compared to its predecessor the Rolly SEP-10BT, this new dancing fool has double the memory at 2GB along with Bluetooth. Which means that it can now be controlled from a cellphone, PC etc. It comes bundled with ‘Rolly Remote’, software that lets you control the movement of your Rolly. In fact you can control up to 7 Rolly’s from the PC. The new Rolly will be available in pink and limited edition black for about $350 on November 21 in Japan.
