Start a home business, get rich quick, win financial freedom! If you watch late-night TV, you've heard it all before. But what's the story behind these slick pitchmen and their dubious schemes? Enter The Salty Droid, your ornery metal guide to the corrupt underworld of scam-marketing scum. This charmingly acerbic bot (owned and operated by mild-mannered Chicago dog-lover Jason Michael Jones [inter-view, long talk + transcript]) is a valiant crusader against the vile con-men who bankrupt the elderly and the desperate with beautiful lies. Exposed so far: A shadowy "Syndicate" of frauduct-pushing personality cults polluting the media with blogspam and woo-woo talking points. Boiler rooms in the Utah desert where telemarketers farm credit from easy targets with cunning, probing scripts [PDF]. Powerful politicians bought wholesale. Believers left to die in fraudulent new-age vision quests. It's a soul-crushing beat, enough to make one feel like a regular catcher-bot in the digital rye. But somebody's got to do it -- preferably someone with plasma nunchucks and titanium skin.
posted by Rhaomi on Aug 31, 2011 - 47 comments

"Cubelets is a robot construction kit; by combining sensor, logic and actuator blocks, young kids can create simple reconfigurable robots that exhibit surprisingly complex behavior." Watch the Cubelets Engineering Prototypes demo (1.01) on Vimeo. [more inside]
posted by bwg on Jun 24, 2011 - 14 comments

What does the future of electricity hold? Microbial Fuel Cells? How about a carnivorous clock?
posted by The Whelk on Feb 10, 2011 - 19 comments

Princess the Hamster gets a robot walking suit. (SLYT)
posted by loquacious on Feb 7, 2011 - 90 comments

Botjunkie fulfills all your robot needs, from balancing, cooperating, dancing, aggressive quadrotors (previously); through other combined or perching flying bots (though the birds object sometimes); to the hideous dancing, crying, kissing, babies of the uncanny valley; to the dextrous everyday pancake, chef and origami bots.
posted by TheophileEscargot on Aug 3, 2010 - 5 comments

Primavera by Victor Novikov. WALL·E checks out the scenery. [slv]
posted by netbros on May 31, 2010 - 9 comments

My Robot Friend has just released a lovely video for the acoustic version of 'Waiting' a song he made with Alison Moyet for his new album Soft-Core. The video was created by Liam Stevens. It was made using only paper, pen, and ink and took several months to complete. A true labour of love, and very good too.
posted by debord on Apr 8, 2010 - 12 comments

Amorphous blob robot takes first steps (SLYT)
posted by mhjb on Dec 2, 2009 - 51 comments

VECTORTRONIC An abstract long-exposure animation drawn and photographed by a Lego robot set to music by Gil Trythall [via mefi projects]
posted by The Whelk on Dec 2, 2009 - 9 comments

Astounding robotics demo featuring three dribbling, catching, stick-twirling fingers from the future, but right now
posted by mhjb on Aug 1, 2009 - 20 comments

The Best Robots of 2008 (via)
posted by Artw on Jan 18, 2009 - 13 comments

Philips brings us the future of shaving.
posted by allkindsoftime on Jun 11, 2008 - 102 comments

Asimo gets an upgrade. His new abilities include running at 6 mph, operating a cart, serving tea, walking hand in hand, walking with a tray, facial recognition, and the ability to defenestrate you without moral responsibilities.

Videos of the Asimo in action.
posted by sourbrew on Dec 14, 2005 - 65 comments

Alive in Joburg. Large Quicktime via Protein
posted by atom128 on Nov 22, 2005 - 20 comments

Honda has upgraded Asimo. They've added jogging, autonomous continuous movement, some new joint designs, and better intelligence, expanding the range of humanoid robots, which includes, the Qrio from Sony, Isamu, and Toyota's offering that entered the fray earlier this year (previously discussed). (More)
posted by effwerd on Dec 16, 2004 - 27 comments