Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s the closest thing we have to a real life Wall-E. Or at least, the wheels of Wall-E. The Sphero 2B is a new robot toy from Orbotix that can move as fast as 14 feet a second. That’s supposedly the equivalent of a 6 minute mile and twice as fast as the Sphero 2.0. The spinning tube has comically rugged tires that allows it to adorably jolt out at breakneck speeds and tackle any surface.

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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…

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.

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!

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?

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.

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]

Pixar fans who want to tie the knot really should have something like these awesome engagement ring boxes to help seal the deal. You want to make sure they say yes after all – and every little bit helps. You can’t ask a girl to marry based on just your dashing good looks and knowledge of every Star Trek episode, right?

These awesome custom engagement ring boxes were made by TheModelMaker to look like WALL-E, the house from UP (sans balloons), and a toy chest from Toy Story 3.

How could anyone say no to a ring delivered in one of these amazing creations?

[via Geekologie]

It’s that time again: time for Carnegie Mellon to roll out the red carpet and welcome the crème de la crème of the robotics world into its halls. Since 2003 the school has been selecting the best of the best and inducting them into the Robot Hall of Fame. Past honorees have included everything from LEGO Mindstorms to the Terminator. This year’s list of nominees is no less impressive, with celebrity bots Johnny 5 and WALL-E pitted against each other in the entertainment category, while NASA’s Robonaut takes on the PR2 and BigDog under the banner of research bots. There will also be two other inductees awarded a spot in the hall in the consumer and education category and the industrial and service field. Best of all, for the first time ever, Carnegie Mellon is letting the public vote on the inductees. And, while PETMAN was snubbed yet again, he’s not letting that get him down — the Boston Dymanic’s biped just keeps on struttin’. Hit up the source link to cast your vote before the September 30th deadline and check back on October 23rd to see who’s granted a podium speech.

Continue reading Robot Hall of Fame voting begins for class of 2012, Johnny 5 learns where BigDogs sit

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Robot Hall of Fame voting begins for class of 2012, Johnny 5 learns where BigDogs sit originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mike Senna, a California-based roboticist, has built a real, working Wall-E that can move around, wave, and call out his own cute name in a rattly, digitized voice. Mike is the guy who built a real, working R2-D2 and his latest project is a real masterpiece of animatronics and robotic motion.

He spent 25 hours a week building the robot and he play with his toy at various events including charity activities where Wall-E helps cheer up sick kids.

Sadly, Senna might have some trouble building his own Eve simply because it’s hard to make something fly at high speeds and shoot lasers powerful enough to blow holes in rocks and heavy, steel oil tankers.

You can check out his blog here and enjoy some of his videos (including this one of Wall-E dancing) here.