This fits squarely into the, "umm … why?" category of items. ThinkGeek is selling a collection of "static statues of really slick robot designs," with each one being, "around 500 microns in size." That’s about 3x the width of your hair. And lest ye be concerned they aren’t "high tech" enough, each ‘robot’ is made,

using the same procedures and equipment used to make micro-fluidic bio-sensors, capillary electrophoresis chips, and electro-statically actuated resonant amplitude grating structures.

Whoohoo! They even have one made out of pure gold.



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Rumor has it that Eric Allard, the original designer of Johnny-Five, the star of everyone’s favorite robot movie, Short Circuit, may be planning on releasing blueprints and selling parts to build your own!

The folks at Johnny-Five.com write:

“It’s not for sure, but Eric Allard, the man who originally built Johnny Five,
is considering reproducing the toys and creating blueprints of the big guy for fans.
It will only happen if there is enough support for it.”

For the uninitiated, Wikipedia has a good entry on our silicon pal.

Update: Commenter Paul pointed us to what looks like the official site for the group doing the blueprints for Johnny-Five.

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If I had my pick, this would be the kind of robot I’d have – the kind that finds $10 billion US Dollars worth of buried treasure – gold coins and Incan jewels. The treasure was found on  " Robinson Crusoe Island" (just adds to the adventure ambiance, eh?), which is actually part of Chile. The companies layer claims it’s, "the biggest treasure in history.

"For centuries treasure hunters have scoured the island in search of booty which was reportedly buried there in 1715 by Spanish sailor Juan Esteban Ubilla y Echeverria."

The robotic hero of our tale, dubbed "Arturito", seems to be a glorified metal detector that can, "scan 50 metres deep into the earth."

I’d be interested to find out more about how it does its thing … maybe build one and hunt me up some treasure too!

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The privately held LiftPort Group Inc. made one of it’s milestones in its quest to build a space elevator. A robot has successfully climbed up a 1,000 ft long ‘rope’ to a teathered baloon. The rope was actually an ultra strong carbon nano-tube ribbon that will eventually be stretched from a platform in the pacific ocean to 100,000km above earth. Robots would then navigate up and down this "elevator" delivering objects (and eventually people) to outer space.

The test was run on a test robot named "Sword Over Damocles." "The belt-driven robot is battery-powered, featuring two motors and an expanded cargo area due to increased intelligence built into the device, he said."

The next goal for the company is the 1 mile marker.

Of course, if you’re just dying to build your own space elevator ‘bot, you can sign up for NASA’s "Elevator 2010" Annual Space Elevator Games. This year’s games take place in October 2005, in Mountain View, CA. Grand prize is $50,000. Not too shabby.


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Note: Lest ye be confused, this is actually a few years old. FYI.

I stumbled upon this via Del.icio.us. It’s a beautifully rendered short film with this premise:

 "What if we could build a system to help police in developing nations?"

The solution, presented in breathtaking realism, is the "Tetra Vaal Robot". You really will just have to see it to understand. It’s about a 16mb download, but definitely worth it. The folks at Analogik, who reviewed the video, say:

"OK, now we have really reached the point where it is impossible to tell the difference between the computer-generated material and the real footage. Talented people at The Embassy Visual Effects Inc. have created a magnificent piece directed by Neill Blomkamp."

 They also say, "After you see it once, replay the video and pay attention to some of the poses that the robot makes. Let us, for example, take a look at the robot holding the machine gun upright in a rather patronising and authoritative manner while patrolling the streets of Johannesburg."

Go check out the video now.