roombas only clean houses to support their sumo wrestling careers

That’s right, by day Roombas are just plain ol’ cleaners, but at night, they sneak off to Lithuania and compete in underground sumo competitions.

Okay actually the 2009 Baltic Robot Sumo Cup wasn’t illegal; in fact it was sponsored by major robotics companies like iRobot and ABB. 60 robots participated in 3 categories – Mini Sumo, 3 kg Sumo, and of course Roomba Sumo. But it was really held in Lithuania. And Roombas really do sneak off at night. They meet with other miniscule warriors and oshitaoshi the circuits out of each other. True story.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Of course the only move that these robots have is “push”, but I’m sure ten to fifteen years from now, when Roomba v. 10.10 or something will be out, and it’ll look like a human, only with 4 arms and missiles for fingers, we’ll all look back to these pioneers, and curse iRobot for coming up with the darned things, because obviously we’ll be the ones who are cleaning the Roomba’s homes at that point. So enjoy their limited functionality and their silent yet comedic fights, because it won’t last long folks. It won’t! What was I talking about? Oh right, android tennis! Awesome stuff.

[via BotJunkie]

Written by lambert v. on November 6th, 2009 with no comments.
Read more articles on Robots and Roomba and Technology and awesome and competition and cool toys and funny and hacks-mods and just plain fun and lithuania and mobile tech and strange + wonderful and sumo and wrestling.

banpresto fight bell alarm clocks are ready to rumble

If you’re into boxing or pro-wrestling, or just like to watch grown men beat the crap out of each other – here’s an alarm clock you might want to put by your bedside table.

Banpresto’s new GONG! alarm clocks look like those bells that they have by the side of the fighting ring. The difference here is that these ones are designed to wake you up. When it’s time to get up, a referee’s voice starts to count down from 10. If you don’t get out of bed within the 10 count the “round” is over, and the bell rings. An internal vibration sensor detects if you’ve actually gotten out of bed of if you’re still lying there like a lump.

For now, the clocks are only available in Japan, so if you want one of these you’ll want to Google “ゴング！目覚まし時計“. Good luck with all that. If you can be patient, I’m sure the guys over at StrapyaWorld will eventually sell these worldwide.

Written by technabob on September 26th, 2009 with no comments.
Read more articles on Gadgets and alarm clock and banpresto and boxing and fight and gong and japan and strange + wonderful and timepieces and weird and wrestling.

Arm Wrestle Mania: Thumb-wrestling evolved

For those who enjoy thumb-wrestling, but feel that their pudgy digits lack the animation needed for true wrestling drama, you might want to hone your button mashing skills, because Arm Wrestle Mania will take your finger game to the next level. That level being somewhere above redneck and below barstool drunk, but still. This game may be the only way you ever beat someone at arm wrestling, so it’s well worth it.

Commence button mashing and the arm moves. Whoever taps the button quickest wins bragging rights and will have to defend their title with this $25 toy. Who will you be? Backwards hat trucker guy or clean cut 50’s hair dude?

[Nerd Approved]

Written by Conner Flynn on September 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Arm Wrestle Mania and Toys and novelty and toy and wrestling.