Hasta La Gadget!

You expect to see robots in Japan, but nowadays even their street performers are animatronic. Now, someone in Osaka has developed his own life-size singing Ray Charles robot. He may have Georgia on his mind, but this Ray lives in Japan.

As cheap, homemade robots go, the likeness is pretty good. The “skin” is made entirely out of paper clay. The robot appears to be playing the keyboard while his mouth moves to the words. However, all of the music comes from a speaker inside the heart of the machine, not the keyboard.

It’s creator made the robot for less than 150,000 yen (~$1,520 USD). That’s not a bad price to spread your love of music to the public – especially if the crowd is in the tipping mood.

[via Rocketnews]

…Let me explain. You know how you can place a pencil and other small objects behind your ears? The Grip Clip lets you do that using the temples of your sunglasses, so you can store more things on your head! It’s great for craftsmen, students and even posers!

Ironic nerd charm get!

A pledge of just $5 (USD) on Kickstarter already gets you three Grip Clips. I wonder if you can clip two Grip Clips on one Grip Clip.

[via Incredible Things]

I don’t know about you, but I need a giant steampunk dragon in my home. One that doesn’t actually breath fire, because, well… no more home if it were to breath fire in my living room. This is exactly why Daenerys Targaryen is always on the move. You just can’t keep these things indoors.

Anyway, this sculpture by Kreatworks measures 10.8 feet-tall, 9 feet-long and 10 feet wide. Yes, this is an amazingly big dragon. It is made out of recycled metal and auto parts and weighs over 880 pounds. It may just sink into the foundation of your home if your floors aren’t well reinforced. And you can’t easily move it to vacuum underneath.

The one seen here was sold. Of course. Because large ass dragons are in demand. If you want one for yourself, Kreatworks will custom make one for you for just $11,500 (USD). Totally worth it. I’m gonna start saving today – though I have no idea how I’ll get it through the front door.

[via Nerd Approved]

Action figures come with all sorts of props, but the Japanese hobby shop Amiami has one prop that you most certainly don’t have in your collection yet. It’s a 1:12 scale restroom. Why? Because your action figures haven’t gone since they were packed in their box. Think about that.

It comes with a toilet, a sink, a couple of urinals, a toilet paper holder, a trash can, a floor, walls and stickers. I don’t know what the stickers depict and I don’t want to know.

You can order the miniature restroom from Amiami for about $25 (USD). Then check your action figures for the action figure that holds its pose best, the proper stiff one. The constipation is strong in that one. Make him sit on the throne first.

[via Topless Robot]

If there’s one company that has the best chance of bringing the robopocalypse to reality, it has to be Boston Dynamics. Between BigDog, AlphaDog, Cheetah and Sand Flea, they’re building a veritable army of robo-animals on behalf of DARPA. One of the more interesting projects to come out of Boston Dynamics is Petman, a humanoid robot, capable of walking and climbing stairs.

Now, the company has just released a new video of the robot taking its first steps while wearing human clothing.

In the video clip below, you’ll see Petman stomp around on a moving platform, as he shows off his finest camouflage wear.

While its moves are still overwhelmingly robotic, Petman is still an incredibly impressive, if intimidating marvel of engineering. And I certainly wouldn’t want to run into him on a bad day.

You might wonder why a robot needs to wear clothing, but this test was designed could put protective suits humans would wear in a hazardous environment to the test, and to use its built in skin sensors to detect any chemicals that leak into the suit.