Hasta La Gadget!

Robots can be awesome. They also can be creepy.  This robot fits firmly into the latter category. While most robots have expressionless heads, this one has a face. But not just any face – this robot can have YOUR face on it.

By mounting an LED projector inside of its head, the SociBot can change its face to suit your every whim. It can be loaded with a library of standard faces, or in minutes, your face can be scanned and uploaded to its head. Each face then is mapped with a library of expressions, and mouth movements for talking. The robot can also track gestures, faces, and speak in over twenty languages. Using an IR depth sensor, it can even track the position of up to 12 people in a crowd.

The robot was designed by Will Jackson and his colleagues at Engineered Arts – who are also behind RoboThespian. He says the intent is to provide greater social interaction from the electronic devices we use, and the technology could be used for things like information kiosks or for jobs like automated bank tellers. Oh and if you think that’s creepy, get a load of SociBot with its head off:

[via New Scientist]

You know how forensic artists are. They can’t pass up an opportunity to take a skull and see what it looked like when it was alive. They might even be curious to see what the skull-shaped bottle of Crystal Head Vodka looked like, had it been living. Forensic artist Nigel Cockerton was just this curious.

So he got a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka and went to work, wondering just what that laughing face would look like covered with muscle, eyes, and skin.

The results are kind of what you would expect. It looks like a drunk guy laughing his ass off.

So now you have a face to think about when you are drinking straight from this bottle. As you drink, you are going to look more and more like this guy too.

[Facebook via cheezburger via Neatorama]

Does your face look saggy and sallow? Do your facial muscles feel strained, even when you make the simplest of facial expressions? It probably lacks exercise and one way you could get it is with the Facewaver Exercise Mask.

It looks like a ski mask, only it doesn’t cover your entire head. Its product page claims that it “gently stretches the skin and muscles in several directions, improving and increasing blood circulation to the surface of your face.” All you have to do is put it on and make different faces for five minutes a day.

This is another strange facial-exercise-related contraption available for import from Japan Trend Shop, who previously brought us the Hana Tsun Nose Straightener, the Eye Slack Haruka, the Rhythm Slim Chin Exerciser, and the Face Slimmer Mouthpiece.

No guarantees if the facial mask will work, but I guarantee you will scare a child or two when you’re making faces with this pink mask on your face. It sells for $60 (USD). That may sound expensive, but the expressions on the faces of others who see you wearing this will be priceless.

[via Laughing Squid]

Japan is one place where you can expect all sorts of novelty stuff to crop up, from fancy shirts and footwear to quirky headpieces and accessories. They’ve even got matches that are almost too fancy to use, for crying out loud.

Kokeshi is the brand behind these awesome matches that have faces and other designs printed onto the match heads.

The match heads themselves are stylized in color aside from the quirkily-printed faces. The matches are wrapped up in decorative matchboxes that you’ll want to keep when all the matches are gone.

From paw prints and chicks to mustachioed men, it seems like Kokeshi has thought of it all. You can check out more of their specially-designed matches in the gallery below.

Unfortunately, the matches are only available in Japan.

[via That Should Be Mine via Laughing Squid]

I always thought the movie Face-Off was completely implausible, but science has proven that face transplants are actually possible – assuming that the donor is no longer living. While you probably never want to go through such a horrendous trauma, you can now swap faces – digitally – using an iOS app.

Yahoo! Japan’s FaceStealer app lets you load up images of other people, animals or cartoon characters, and then map them over your face. The process is pretty straightforward, and just requires that you line up a few key facial features to make it work. Once the mapping is attached, the front-facing camera on your phone will capture your movements and combine them with your newly transplanted visage.

Check it out in action below:

Ok, on second thought, maybe I don’t want to try that if I ever hope to get a good night’s sleep again. That is some seriously weird stuff there. It’s cool, but completely freaky.

If you’d like to try it out, you can grab FaceStealer over in the iTunes App Store for free now.

[via DigInfo.TV]