Life-size R/C Wall-E Replica: Want-1

For YouTube’s Geek Week, Tested interviewed robotics enthusiast Mike McMaster about his remote-controlled and life-size Wall-E replica. McMaster is part of the Wall-E Builder’s Club, a group of hobbyists who started planning on building a replica of the lovable robot even before his movie came out.

wall e robot replica by mike mcmaster

Image by Mike McMaster

Watch Tested’s video to find out the effort and ingenuity that Mike and his friends put in to make the robot:

As Mike said, you should join the Wall-E Builder’s Club if you want to make your own Wall-E. I wonder if they can make a flying EVE.

[via Tastefully Offensive & Mike McMaster]

This Real-Life WALL-E Cruises Around Landfills Spotting Gas with Lasers

This Real-Life WALL-E Cruises Around Landfills Spotting Gas with Lasers

Landfills are pretty wretched places with all the rotting trash spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It’s no wonder humans have started building robots to do the dirty work in dumps around the world. The fact that these mechanical workers do it with lasers is just a bonus.

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People Are So Lonely They’ll Make Friends With A Robotic Stick

Humans want to have friends. This need for companionship in a soul-crushingly indifferent world can lead us to confuse mechanical motion with human emotion, as shown in this video by researchers at the University of Calgary.

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Kirobo Talking Robot Headed into Space

Kirobo is a 13-inch talking robot that will keep Japanese astronaut Kochi Wakata company on the International Space Station. He is now on his way to the ISS after being launched on an H-2B rocket from Japan.
Kirobo
Kirobo is the first talking robot to be sent into space. He’s a pretty adorable robot too. He was launched on board an unmanned spacecraft that’s scheduled to arrive at the ISS on August 9th. Along with the robot, the craft is also carrying drinking water, food, and other supplies.

Wakata will arrive at the ISS in November to take over as Commander. Kirobo will talk to Wakata and even keep a record of their conversations during the mission. Captain Kirk just has a captain’s log. Kirobo is so much neater.

Here’s some footage of the little guy being weighed, packed and shipped like so much space baggage:

If many more robots get into space, we will need to be careful they don’t build a death ray up there and kill us all.

[Kibo-Robo via Geekosystem]

Atari 2600 + Wall-E = Atar-E

Technabob contributing author Conner Flynn has a hidden talent – and I’m not talking about walking and chewing gum at the same time. The man knows his way around an Atari 2600 like it’s nobody’s business. Now it’s been a while since he built his epic Atari 2600 guitar, but his latest mod looks like it was worth the wait… I give you Atar-E…

atar e wall e atari 2600 1

Conner found this Wall-E Learning Laptop at a thrift shop, but he didn’t see a laptop at all (neither do I). Instead, he saw the home for his next portable Atari 2600 mod. Inspired by the modding prowess of Ben Heck and Bacteria, he tore apart the Wall-E toy and gutted it.

atar e wall e atari 2600 4

His design incorporates an actual Atari 2600 circuit board, along with authentic Atari woodgrain pieces. He went off the board with the controller and used an NES D-Pad instead of a traditional Atari joystick. Isn’t that sacrilege? Dogs and Cats sleeping together!

atar e wall e atari 2600 3

The controller replaced the original keyboard found on the toy, and he even rigged it so the controller section can still fold shut when there’s no cartridge in place. One thing Conner struggled with was where to put a battery pack for the system, so he gave Wall-E a little backpack. Isn’t that cute?

atar e wall e atari 2600 3a

Games are displayed on a tiny color LCD screen, mounted where the monochrome display on the original toy was located. On the one hand, you’ll have to squint a bit to play on this thing, on the other hand, the pixelated 8-bit graphics look so much better when they’re shrunk down like this.

atar e wall e atari 2600 2

While it would probably take you a ton of work to try and build one of these for yourself, Conner says he may soon list it for sale over on his online toy store over at Botropolis, so keep your eyes peeled. On second thought, peeled eyes sound like a really bad idea.

[via Botropolis]

Wall-E Recreated as an Amazing Real-Life Bot

Oh Wall-E, our adorable reminder that our current path on technology will lead to environmental devastation and the end of useful humanity. In maybe our last great act as a species on Earth, a team of geniuses led by Michael McMaster has built a real-life, RC Wall-E accurate to the most painstaking details.

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Another Look At The Swumanoid Robot

Robots are dime a dozen out there, and while we have seen some pretty agile and fast ones out there before, how about one that apes the way us humans swim? Who knows, the Swumanoid robot (which we talked about sometime last year) could be a way for scientists and sportspeople to analyze how one is better able to swim faster than anyone else out there. When the Swumanoid was being worked on, an Olympic athlete as well as a research team worked together to ensure that it was realized. The Swumanoid stands at 3 feet in height, and was based on the model of a Japanese Olympic swimmer. It does make us wonder, however, why not base it on Michael Phelps? AFter all, it was he who won a truckload of gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and during the last Olympics, he ended up being the most decorated Olympian to date. Perhaps the decision was made because the research team was Japanese, and it made sense to go local, using an Olympic swimmer who did some laps in the water while relying on a special 3D scanner in order to mimic the motions of the robot, in addition to how the muscles actually moved underneath the skin.

Right now, the Swumanoid is rigged for swimming in freestyle, but it might be programmed to perfect the other strokes in the future. Unfortunately, Swumanoid is not going to break any world swimming records at the moment, since it moves at a relatively sluggish 0.64 meters per second.

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  • Another Look At The Swumanoid Robot original content from Ubergizmo.

        

    Kirobo Robot Sent To Space At Last

    Kirobo Robot Sent To Space At LastIn June this year, we did bring you word that Japan’s very own Kirobo robot was being prepared for a mission where no lovable and cute robot as itself has ever gone before – to the final frontier for mankind, namely space. Of course, after watching Pacific Rim, you might start to wonder whether fissures deep down in the ocean might yield lifeforms from a different galaxy. Having said that, let us take a look at what Kirobo would be up to when it is blasted all the way to space.

    Having taken off from the island of Tanegashima in an unmanned rocket that was also ferrying much needed supplies for the crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Kirobo robot that measures a mere 34cm in height is due to arrive at the ISS this coming August 9th. The whole idea of the Kirobo robot being there is to check out how machines are able to lend emotional support to those who have been isolated across long periods of time. Do you think that a robotic Aibo (which has been defunct for a fair number of years already) would be a better idea?

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    35-Foot-Tall Dalek Made from Straw

    Folks in the UK are determined that we all know that it is Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary. They are doing all kinds of crazy things. For instance, the ice cream shop Snugbury’s, does giant straw sculptures every year. This year it is a 35-foot-tall Dalek.

    giant straw dalekApparently the royal baby was a contender this year too. I’m so glad we got the Dalek. This straw Dalek not only looks amazing, it also has two fully movable parts, the head and the gun. Plus it has audio.

    At least they can burn this Dalek and kill it easily if it gives them any trouble.

    [via io9]

    Coffee Haus Kiosk Might Replace Your Barista One Day

    Coffee Haus Kiosk Might Replace Your Barista One DayDo you think that robots would one day take over the role of a barista or bartender? Perhaps, and while electronic and robotic advancements have been made in those two areas, you can never really replace the human touch with robots for one simple reason – they’re robots. Still, a local company in Austin intends to disrupt the widespread coffee shop culture through the introduction of an “intelligent” Coffee Haus, which happens to be a high-tech coffee kiosk that might very well offer an alternative to barista.

    The Coffee Haus relies on robotics when it comes to mixing your favorite cuppa, imitating the precision of a skilled barista so that your tastebuds will not revolt against the cup that you are served. The first of such Coffee Haus kiosks is located on the University of Texas campus, where one will use a touchscreen or the Briggo smartphone app in order to place an order. Heck, with this app, you can even place a pre-order for your coffee to perk you up when you get out of bed, picking it up on the way to class. Unfortunately, no amount of AI injected in the future will be able to give you fatherly advice like an experienced and mature bartender can.

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  • Coffee Haus Kiosk Might Replace Your Barista One Day original content from Ubergizmo.