File this under super cool! Based on Lego System’s Mindstorm NXT kits, this sphere uses the magic of geometry and gravity to move with a surprisingly simple construction! Check out the specifics here, and maybe make one to freak out your dog or cat! This project was constructed by Nils Völker, who evidently has a great sense of humor about his work. From the main page of his Spherical Robot site:

“At the moment it’s remote controlled via Bluetooth from a second NXT. So to be precise it’s actually not a real robot more kind of a Rolling-Orbital-Bluetooth-Operated-Thing (to make it short: robot). But seriously: It’s planned to implement the ability of moving autonomously later on. And to answer the most obvious question right away: No, there is no deeper sense or purpose, but a lot of fun driving it.” source

Granted, this is not a real robot. We understand that. We respect that. We don’t expect anyone to believe that Lego’s “Robo Attack” set is anything more than a toy robot. It is not a robotic toy.

That being said…  

Yes, it has light up bricks.
Yes, the robot is giant.
Yes, the set includes townspeople for general running and screaming.
Yes, Dr. Inferno (the evil genius) has a mechanical arm, and ways to make a quick getaway in the event of meddlesome good guys.

…this is so cool. That is all.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first television broadcast of “Mobile Suit Gundam”, a life-sized Gundam statue (imagining that Gundam were actually a real thing, that is) has been erected in Tokyo!!! WOW! It does “weigh nearly 35 tons, move its head and emit light or mist from 50 points of its body. The statue will be on display to the public at the [Shiokaze Park in Tokyo's Odaiba] from July 11 to August 31, free of charge.” source

Check out this video to see it in all its glory:

As we mentioned earlier this year, Bunk Bots has kindly offered to donate a hefty shipment of its snuggle-tastic robots for our 2009 Winter Holiday Auction. We just received the box-o-bots, and to put it incredibly lightly, we are psyched! Click the picture above to check out all the awesome automated personalities Bunk Bots has plush-itized! Thank you for your contribution, Bunk Bots! On a side note, Don and I entered the contest we mentioned in the comment section of this post, and Don won the Spok Bunk Bot!!! Read on to see his entry and the prize!

We were so surprised to find that Don’s Spok Bunk Bot was sent along with a friend, a Night Vision Pinch! Click above to see the specs for Night Vision Pinch… he likes the ladies!

About the contest, the toy site www.plasticandplush.com asked the following question on April 06, 2009:

“Star Trek or Star Wars? And why?”

Here’s Don’s entry, a winner if I ever read one (by the way, he didn’t just come up with this on the fly, folks… this is his concrete belief):

“This is actually very simple. Though I realize fans of both have solid platforms for debate – Star Trek fans extolling the virtues of 24th century technology and Star Wars fans touting the universal influence of the force, for instance – there is one element that sets one apart from the other on a scale of merit.

And her name is Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

Not satisfied to enter into drawn our Star Trek moral debate or over-blasted Star Wars capital ship combat, Kathryn Janeway has a simple solution to any problem, no matter the complexity:

Point the ship at it and go. If possible, set the auto-destruct while doing so – if not, no biggie.

She is the wild card. She will see your Aluminum Falcon and raise you 700,000 metric tons black coffee fueled death wish.

You have a star destroyer? No issue, she has 2 tricobalt devices and she can deploy them while the ship is 4/5 of the way into your command console.

It’s pretty hard to use the force inside of a warp field breach – and that breach is only a command code away.

Oh, and she has removed the need for a first officer to back her decision. She tore that part out of the ship.

Remove Janeway and I think you have a 50/50 shot in any SW -VS- ST:WTF match.

Fact: She has not been removed, and will not be removed until she blows up her ship and your emperor with it.

Bonus: She once spent an episode arguing with HERSELF as to which one of her got to blow up her ship.

Double bonus: She lied and blew her own ship up before she got a chance to.”

We won’t deny it; Don and I love us some Lego, but when we found out about the FIRST Lego League, we fell in love with Lego all over again! FIRST holds a number of competitions, with leagues forming for kids as young as six, and they are heavily focused on bringing robotics and electronics to children. We applaud their monumental efforts in bringing together kids from all over the world under their common interest in robotics!

Founder Dean Kamen:  ”Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.” 

Well said!

Click here to learn more about the FIRST Lego League, for kids ages 9-14, or here to join/start a team for the 2009 event! If your child has particiapted in a Bots 4 Tots workshop and is interested in exploring robotics further, please consider recommending joining a local team to continue his or her adventure in learning! 

Ok, ok, so this is not exactly site related, but I celebrated my 26th birthday this past weekend and I wanted to show off this awesome gift bag my girl Jess gave me my present in. Isn’t it the best? Well, I got some pretty fun stuff, including this:

Check it out! A Webster’s Dictionary circa 1916 from my dear Mom. She’s had this sucker ever since I can remember, and I always coveted it. She gave it to me for my birthday this year (what an honor!), and considering our last blog post, I was curious to see if there was indeed no entry for the word “robot”. Sure enough…

It’s rather hard to believe! Once upon a time, there was officially no word in the English language to desrcibe an idea that may or may not have been previously used. Pre-industrial revolution, I think that the closest thing to a robot was a golem type monster, something that we in our modern time would place in the realm of fantasy rather than science fiction.  I think the most fascinating thing about opening up this dictionary and not being able to find the word “robot”, this wholly tangible revelation, is the way it has made me consider Science Fiction; that science, even approaching it as we think of the term today, has not been a part of the collective consciousness for all of man’s history. You may be saying something along the lines of “Well, duh…”, but I honestly feel that it is something we often take for granted in our new-fangled culture. 

Oh, oh, and in that same vein, there’s also this:

If you’ve seen this, then you understand the magic. If you haven’t, then please allow me to introduce you to the Keepon robot, a wonderful mixture of technology and poofball that will leave you in a frenzy of infantile clapping and chair-bouncing. At least, that’s the effect it had on me. I wonder: will you experience the same roller-coaster of emotion that I did upon viewing this video? 

At first, I was skeptical. I mean, look at it. It’s basically two yellow rice balls with eyes. Then I was amused. This is mildly distracting, I thought, and began to turn my attention back toward the research whose tangent had led me here. But then it happened. In the slightest of alterations, the movement was subtly different, and I was tantalized beyond description. It had me in its fatally cute clutches, and I was done for.

In this video, we see the Keepon dynamically reacting to the music, changing its patterns in a surprisingly life-like manner. In fact, I am certain that this little guy dances better than a majority of the people I have seen booty-shakin’ in extent of my lifetime. It was developed in Japan to interact and communicate with children behaviorally and was designed for a multitude of applications, most especially for interacting socially with children to assist in their development.

In my case, however, it effected an overdose of adorability that almost caused my head to explode.

Oh. Em. Gee. 

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank two very special contributors: Bunk Bots, the home of the awesomely stuffed robot, and the cool new web comic Robot in the City!

Think Robots are just for adults? Think again! Bunk Bots and Bots 4 Tots both agree that robots can and should be a part of a child’s life from as early on as possible, and Bunk Bots is redefining what that means by making their robots crib-capable! They come pre-programmed to love and be loved!

But they’re not just kid stuff- oh no siree! If that were the case, I wouldn’t want a million of them. I mean, who needs a couch when you have a kiddie pool full of Bunk Bots? Seriously.

Oh, and while I am posting pics of our new friends, you just have to check out my favorite Robot in the City comic. It begins like this:

Go check it out! We love this little guy, and cannot wait to follow the comedic adventures that will undoubtedly ensue between he and his gal pal, Elite!

NRDD - Nasal Relief Delivery Droid

That’s NRDD. He’s our Nasal Relief Delivery Droid. He supplies the tissues when one of us gets sick, or both of us watch a sad movie. No matter the drippy-nose related disaster, we can always count on NRDD.

NRDD isn’t a real robot, to be sure – he just looks like one – but we do have a pair of real life robots that live with us. As with many robots, these robots are both our friends and our partners. We consider our relationship with them a symbiotic one. We provide clean energy, maintenance and lots of love and they – these two at least – clean the floors.

Addencientia & Meticulor

Meet Addencientia and Meticulor. 

Addencientia (on the left), “Addy“, for short, is an iRobot Scooba floor washing robot. She uses a water and soap solution to clean our wood floors.

Meticulor (on the right), “Metti“, for short, is an iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaning robot. He sweeps up our wooden floors and vacuums the carpet of the rooms that have it.

Together they make a great team and we really appreciate all of their hard work. I am sure they appreciate ours as well, as we take great care of them.

What makes them robots, though? Why are they not just a weirdly shaped mop and a cordless vacuum?

Addy and Metti are machines that perform work. They do so with little or no intervention from people. As long as we keep them clean and well maintained, they will continue to keep our house clean and well maintained for us.

Meticulor has a schedule that he uses to determine when he is going to start cleaning up. Let me tell you, if you are bare-foot when Metti starts you’d better head for the hills or find yourself some slippers, because he is a bot on a mission and he doesn’t let measly toes get in the way. 

See what I mean?

Addy likes to be told when to clean, but once she is told, she goes off on her own. We don’t tell either of them where to clean or how to clean it or even how long to clean. They have adaptive programs, both of them, to determine the best route, the best amount of time and the best attention to detail to keep our house looking great.

Addy and Metti are the perfect example, I think, of people and robots co-existing happily. If we treated them any differently than we do – if we treated them any differently than any other member of the family – surely they would fall into disrepair and do a poor job. If we love them, treat them well and respect them, they will so the same for us.

It is possible that one day robots will be able to think like we do. When that day comes, I’d like to introduce one of them to our good friends Addy and Metti. I am sure they’d get along.