1920's Future Surfaces in China

June 2, 2007 8:35 PM

Mr. Woo, a chinese farmer, builds humaniform robotsfor fun and not much profit (to the consternation of his long suffering wife). [via, appropriately enough, William Gibson]
posted by Kattullus (22 comments total)

Vaguely related links:
Other strange Chinese robots
Top Ten Robot YouTube Videos
Collection of Robot Toys
Should we be worried by the rise of the robots?
posted by Kattullus at 8:36 PM on June 2, 2007

William Gibson need an RSS feed.
posted by delmoi at 8:42 PM on June 2, 2007

(Oh, and I see he has one now, he just dosn't have a link rel="alternate" tag on his page)
posted by delmoi at 8:43 PM on June 2, 2007

Wow. He's like the Chinese JF Sebastian. How cool!
posted by oneirodynia at 9:14 PM on June 2, 2007

Wow. He's like the Chinese JF Sebastian. How cool!

I was just about to say the same thing! Shall we duel?
posted by katillathehun at 9:24 PM on June 2, 2007

Man, and he was THIS CLOSE to being Dr Wu. Sigh.
posted by Eekacat at 9:29 PM on June 2, 2007

He is "Mr. Wu," the person who posted it to youtube just doesn't know Chinese.
posted by afu at 9:47 PM on June 2, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

his rickshaw robot puts damian hirst's diamond-encrusted skull to shame. what a beautiful object.
posted by lapolla at 9:57 PM on June 2, 2007

I can feel myself getting wound up and scurrying across the floor of this geniuses workshop.
posted by Iron Rat at 10:18 PM on June 2, 2007

Whether it's Woo or Wu, I'm a big fan of this guy's creations. Wonderful!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:45 PM on June 2, 2007

That's fantastic. When Mr. Wu #25 (the rickshaw robot) clanks by the kitchen in the background, it's bizarrely hilarious.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:35 AM on June 3, 2007

Neat! I think this is the China Daily article Merton was looking at.
posted by gubo at 6:10 AM on June 3, 2007

I love the rickshaw driving robot. Mr. Wu rocks!
posted by MythMaker at 8:05 AM on June 3, 2007

There was a long article about this guy in the Irish Times a few months ago. I'll try to find it, because it was really well-written.
posted by jamesonandwater at 8:06 AM on June 3, 2007

The other stuff in that show is fantastic, like the piece on this wierdo hotel.
posted by cillit bang at 8:15 AM on June 3, 2007

He is "Mr. Wu," the person who posted it to youtube just doesn't know Chinese.

Don't be ridiculous, they're both perfectly good versions of the Chinese name (吴). Plenty of Chinese people with that surname spell it Woo in English; would you say they don't know Chinese?

Great post!
posted by languagehat at 8:44 AM on June 3, 2007

From the wierdo hotel clip:

Emma: A lot of actually very rich Chinese people, they don't have a lot of taste. So, I think they probably love it.

She is awesome!
posted by Chuckles at 9:39 AM on June 3, 2007

I don't know who he is, but I like Paul Merton.
posted by wsg at 9:51 AM on June 3, 2007

That was awesome. That guy needs a job working for disney or something.
posted by empath at 11:24 AM on June 3, 2007

Great post, Kattullus, what a wonderful quirky guy. And your bonus links are a nice addition.

I just spend an hour watching all the Merton China clips - quite entertaining!
posted by madamjujujive at 1:06 PM on June 3, 2007

Hmm, wonder if he had anything to do with the huge Optimus Prime in Kunming, China?
posted by banishedimmortal at 5:30 AM on June 4, 2007

I'd recommend the whole series if it's available online. It's been airing on Channel 5 in the UK, and has been great viewing.
posted by saturnine at 2:49 PM on June 10, 2007