Geisha is robot.
posted by youarenothere on Jul 2, 2009 - 63 comments

Robot penguins of the water and air are manufactured by German robotics manufacturer Festo, as well as aquatic and airborn rays (as in the fish). Here's another aquapenguin video from Festo's YouTube channel. These videos are so futuristic they don't seem real. [via, fittingly enough, William Gibson's Twitterfeed]
posted by Kattullus on Jun 10, 2009 - 34 comments

Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix
posted by finite on Apr 19, 2009 - 20 comments

"Tweenbots are robots that navigate the city by the help of the people they meet." [more inside]
posted by dirtdirt on Apr 10, 2009 - 41 comments

Michael Bay has never made a flash game, but if he did, it would probably be Robot Dinosaurs That Shoot Beams When They Roar. [more inside]
posted by Krrrlson on Apr 9, 2009 - 46 comments

Robots ruined the economy. But even robots are affected by bad financial times. Nonetheless, robots help relieve the stress of financial worries. There are worse things than a financial crisis.
posted by twoleftfeet on Mar 14, 2009 - 20 comments

60+ One-Of-A-Kind Robots From Science Fiction. "You'd think a major advantage of robots is you can mass-produce them. They're just metal-and-circuit bodies. But science fiction is full of one-of-a-kind bots. Here are all the bots for whom they broke the mold."
posted by taz on Feb 21, 2009 - 40 comments

Juan Enriquez: Tech evolution will eclipse the financial crisis. "Even as mega-banks topple, Juan Enriquez says the big reboot is yet to come. But don't look for it on your ballot -- or in the stock exchange. It'll come from science labs, and it promises keener bodies and minds. Our kids are going to be ... different."
posted by homunculus on Feb 18, 2009 - 41 comments

Look at This Cat! Not to be confused with look at this dog, look at this muppet (wat a donut...), robots and donuts, monkeys and robots, monkeys on stilts, twin monkeys, koala twins, or celebrities without makeup. [via mefi projects]
posted by ooga_booga on Feb 3, 2009 - 73 comments

Robots at War: The New Battlefield. "It sounds like science fic­tion, but it is fact: On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghan­istan, robots are killing America’s ene­mies and sav­ing Ameri­can lives. But today’s Pack­Bots, Preda­tors, and Ravens are rela­tively prim­itive machines. The coming generation of 'war-bots' will be im­mensely more sophisti­cated, and their devel­op­ment raises troubling new questions about how and when we wage ­war." [Via]
posted by homunculus on Jan 25, 2009 - 65 comments

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

The Tale of Genji turned 1000 years old sometime around now, and Japan is celebrating with parties and dressing up. This lengthy rambling narrative may be the world's first novel, although that depends on how you define "first" and "novel." For the person who is technophilic and literary, there is a very cool robot that reads it to you (in Japanese -- sorry). Sadly, it is only a prototype. There is a recent board game, however. More useful links previously.
posted by GenjiandProust on Jan 10, 2009 - 9 comments

A robo-building long-haired Ph.D'd old hippie couple takes its baby to the bar.
posted by darth_tedious on Dec 21, 2008 - 25 comments

Gregory Brotherton. Figurative metal sculpture. Often shiny. Some using discarded machine parts.
posted by Slithy_Tove on Dec 9, 2008 - 9 comments

Pets have long been afraid of anything robotic, whether it be Roomba or Robotic Dog, but times they are a'changing and Pets are fighting back and have learned to overcome.
posted by Del Far on Nov 22, 2008 - 16 comments

All Hail Robo-Jellyfish! Behold Festo Bionic Learning Network's AquaJelly & AirJelly.
posted by homunculus on Nov 2, 2008 - 18 comments

Sculptor Nemo Gould makes robots out of found objects.
posted by lee on Sep 9, 2008 - 28 comments

Having always found the process of setting up a guitar slightly intimidating, I am so glad that there's now a robot that can do it for me. Plek is a German-designed system for mechanically adjusting the setup of your guitar. Short video here. I wonder what happens when the robot guitar tech meets the robot guitar?
posted by awfurby on Aug 24, 2008 - 20 comments

Rise of the rat-brained robots. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Aug 15, 2008 - 39 comments

I disassemble typewriters and then reassemble them into full-scale, anatomically correct human figures. I do not solder, weld, or glue these assemblages together- the process is entirely cold assembly. {flash, sound}
posted by dobbs on Aug 4, 2008 - 62 comments

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."
posted by finite on Aug 1, 2008 - 52 comments

Punk band Neurotic and the PVCs perform with three discerning robots who pogo for punk. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Jul 14, 2008 - 4 comments

"I began to realize that "robots"-- in all their various forms-- can really be seen as a symbol of a larger relationship between people and technology." In 1988, Frederick Schodt wrote about the Japanese fascination and use of robots in his book Inside the Robot Kingdom, curious by the disparities between American and Japanese manufacturing processes . In 1988, the American public wasn't ready for the book, or for robots. Today, Japan still has embraced robotic automation in a way that arguably no other country has. For more similar topics, Mangobot is a column that reports on Asian futurism.
posted by artifarce on Jun 22, 2008 - 22 comments

Searching for animatronics that'll take you out and do you right? Long beyond their glory days, renowned Showbiz Pizza house band, The Rock-afire Explosion, is attempting a comeback. Not that they haven't tried before, but this reunion is driven on multiple fronts: the refocussed creator Aaron Fletcher, the head (and tail) of Creative Engineering; accomplished custom performances by Chris Thrash (previously on Metafilter) and his fellow fan programmer/collectors; and a cameo in the technicolor orgy of an MGMT music video. (Noticed on the fittingly titled Gorilla vs. Bear.) [more inside]
posted by pokermonk on Jun 7, 2008 - 27 comments

Build a robot for less than $50! Create your own evil robot of doom! Make an adorable red ladybug bot! Or a coat-hanger bot! Or another $50 robot! Or a 2-hour, $85 bot excellent for beginners! [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Jun 3, 2008 - 13 comments

Fearless Fightin' Flash Fun for Friday: Robokill is a demo that recalls the overhead action of SMASH TV - though this time, you're placed in the metal shoes of a lowly salvage bot, sent to decimate your mechanical brethren who commandeered an orbital outpost. As you clear the halls for the benefit of some lazy humans, you can trade supplies and armaments with an alien merchant who mistakes you for one of Earth's fleshbags. It's a thankless job, sure, but you're supposed to be a remorseless machine...[via]
posted by Smart Dalek on May 30, 2008 - 33 comments

In the seas and in the air...the minions of our Alien Overlords are preparing the way....via
posted by Kronos_to_Earth on Apr 26, 2008 - 8 comments

Superstar Scottish comics writer Grant Morrison is about to tear the DC Universe apart again with Final Crisis, the latest in a series of apocalypses and world ending events he's inflicted on various comics worlds over the years. But there was a time before fame when he wrote the tie-in comic for ZOIDS, the robot dinosaur children's toy. So what did he do? Ushered in the apocalypse, in the form of THE BLACK ZOID.
posted by Artw on Apr 17, 2008 - 74 comments

Yellow Drum Machine (google video), one of the robots that you can learn to build via Let's Make Robots (.com). This little guy finds a surface to tap a beat onto, then taps a beat on it. The fun starts at about 35 seconds in (via b3ta).
posted by krautland on Mar 26, 2008 - 31 comments

Got a question for God? Tough. But godsbot the Christian Robot might be the next best thing. A $10 donation (minimum) will get you one year of access--or at least click the Google ads. More in the press release. Oh, and via.
posted by Kibbutz on Feb 7, 2008 - 38 comments

This is a video of a robot playing baseball.
posted by jason's_planet on Jan 5, 2008 - 37 comments

In the early 1950's, Monsanto Chemical Company, MIT and Disneyland collaborated their resources and creative brainpower to build "the house of 1986." Using 30,000 pounds of plastic (The building's structure, carpet, chairs, sinks, appliances and floors were all plastic. About $7,500 to $15,000 worth.), the Monsanto House of the Future* was opened to an excited public in June of 1957. It was closed in 1967 as ideas of the future were beginning to change. Let's take a quick tour, shall we?
*(Not to be confused with Xanadu Homes of Tomorrow.) [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Dec 12, 2007 - 30 comments

The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939). The Original Futurama. Featuring Elektro, the Smoking Robot.
posted by Soup on Dec 12, 2007 - 9 comments

Scientists introduce "state-of-the-art robot" to a group of toddlers. By the time the experiment ended, the children were treating QRIO as a peer (Quicktime video of giggling, hugging, "displacement hugging,""night-night," and defiant assistance). Oh, and via.
posted by Kibbutz on Nov 13, 2007 - 51 comments

Reports have been circulating of insects hovering over anti-war rallies recently. Paranoia? Research? It's getting discussion in a lot of mainstream places.
posted by Mcable on Oct 12, 2007 - 74 comments

Lethal Injection Attack Droid Prototype
[more inside]
posted by carsonb on Oct 6, 2007 - 34 comments

Buy n Large. (flash) "Because at Buy n Large, we want you to leave your life to us." [more inside]
posted by dersins on Sep 27, 2007 - 13 comments

space war - a little animated clip by Christy Karacas.
posted by madamjujujive on Aug 18, 2007 - 26 comments

A better article about robots. More interesting robots than I posted about last time. Cute, tiny transforming robots. And for those of you less interested in real robots, 2-XL, the toy that got me obsessed with the whole thing as a kid.
posted by StrikeTheViol on Aug 5, 2007 - 14 comments

50 best movie robots of all time including D.A.R.Y.L, Eve VII, the Cylons, Daft Punk, Max, Box, but not Daleks, obviously.
posted by tombola on Jul 25, 2007 - 81 comments

Bots've come a long way, baby. So everybody knows about Honda's flashy ASIMO, and the sadly canceled QRIO, but now Wakamaru, Mitsubishi's entry into the field, seems to have been first among semi-autonomous humanoid robots to find a job. I wish it luck, but it might need to grow up a little. Maybe it can learn from Domo, son of Cog, robot of yore.
posted by StrikeTheViol on Jul 17, 2007 - 15 comments

Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
posted by jason's_planet on Jun 26, 2007 - 27 comments

The play R.U.R. (or Rossum's Universal Robots) and the novel The War with the Newts, both by the redoubtable Karel Čapek.
posted by Iridic on Jun 24, 2007 - 8 comments

Johnny 5 Finds a New Job in South Korea
posted by Stynxno on Jun 18, 2007 - 16 comments

Mr. Woo, a chinese farmer, builds humaniform robots for fun and not much profit (to the consternation of his long suffering wife). [via, appropriately enough, William Gibson]
posted by Kattullus on Jun 2, 2007 - 22 comments

Terrifyingly awesome giant robotic beetle. Sadly, only a sculpture... for now...
posted by jonson on May 22, 2007 - 25 comments

Yipee ti-yi - zap! The original Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry, defends his Radio Ranch (Autry was a radio star at the time) from gunslingers and Indians evil scientists, and robots from an underground civilization, in a 1935 twelve-chapter movie serial. It's Autry's first movie role (playing a singing cowboy named Gene Autry), and the first talking science fiction film. Longer plot summary of Chapter 1 and Chapter 4.
posted by Kirth Gerson on May 18, 2007 - 8 comments

Meet Jules, a new humanoid robot from Hanson Robotics, the folks who built the Einstein and Phillip K. Dick robots, (the latter's head went missing a while back.) Jules loves you, as much as his newfangled software will allow. He also seems a little awkward and angst ridden for a robot, but it's not his fault; it must be the designers who made his software.
posted by Blingo on May 4, 2007 - 58 comments

Torboto: The Robot That Tortures People.
posted by homunculus on Apr 23, 2007 - 44 comments

Michael Jackson is in discussions about creating a 50-foot robotic replica of himself to roam the Las Vegas desert [firing laser beams!] , according to reports.
posted by Artifice_Eternity on Apr 16, 2007 - 88 comments