Hobbies & Toys News — Page 2 of 5 « Hobbies & Toys

News: Robo-Plants Respond to Human Touch

Japanese artist and visual designer Akira Nakayasu creates robotic plants that not only respond to human touch, but anticipate human touch.

News: Robo-Pop Singer With Human Backup Band

Careful or you may find yourself crushing on this cute little Android named HRP-4C. From the head up, the Japanese robot could easily be mistaken for one of her human backup singers. Freaky! Previously, Robot Dance Off Gets Creepy.

News: The World's Nastiest Hobby, 26 Years and 5 Jars Later. Can You Guess What It Is?

I'll give you some hints... 1. Women have less than men.

News: Tiny Robotic Curtain Thwarts Would-Be Peeping Toms

How can a small curtain cover a window three to four times its own size? With a motor and a robot brain, that's how!

News: Can Your LEGOs Fold T-Shirts?

You can learn how to fold a t-shirt perfectly with your own human hands. OR you can be like changyunhsu and teach your LEGO mindstorms robot to do it. Seriously impressive.

News: Who Knew? Dog Pools Make Good Yo-Yos

Two dog pools, some hardware, and damn, you've got yourself a big yo-yo. Chris Allen, a professional yo-yoist (yes, this exists) is claiming world's biggest yo-yo status with his latest creation. It stands 35 inches across, 18 inches wide, and weighs 5.4 pounds. Watch below as Allen tests it off the roof of parking garage of the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California. Previously, Yo Mama Ain't Got Nothin' on Jensen Kimmitt (AKA The Yo-Yo God)

News: Child-Size BattleMech Suit Strikes Fear into Hearts of Kindergarten Teachers

Goodbye, BabyBjörn; hello, cherry-red mechanical exoskeleton! Now that 400-pound steel-clawed battle suits are available in Children's Small, what kid could possibly content him or herself with getting around by stroller?

News: Economic Depression (LEGO-Style)

Imagine you wanted to make LEGO art, and you chose to make a spooky, abandoned house, like something out of economically depressed Detroit.

News: Gimme, the Panhandling Robot, Wants Your Pocket Change

This panhandling robot isn't too proud to beg. In fact, it's custom-built for it. And who could refuse? Get a load of that puppy-dog eye.

News: Synthetic Skin Allows Robots to Get Touchy-Feely

What feature would we most like to see in the robots of tomorrow? Why, the ability to interact with human beings without crushing them to death, of course. Happily, thanks to a new pressure-sensitive synthetic skin technology, the dream is within reach:

News: Is This All-Robot Band Better Than the Beatles?

Will the bot band be to 2017 what the boy band was to 1997? You be the judge! In the videos below, two such groups offer electro-mechanical renditions of the B-52s' "Rock Lobster" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Creator James Cochrane writes, "What do you get when you combine retro computer parts and an up and coming robot band? The Bit-52s! This idea has been simmering in my mind for the last couple of years and after many months of procrastinating it is finally complete. I was also motivat...

Some Dissembly Required: Researchers Teach Robot to Lie

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently set about creating what might aptly be described as a baby Decepticon — a small, semi-autonomous robot vehicle that purposely engages in deceptive behavior to achieve its ends (in this case, winning a game of hide and seek). Worried? You needn't be! The project also seeks to examine "the ethical ramifications of creating robot's [sic] capable of deception." Phew!

News: Uncle Sam, the All-American Robot Snake

Don't be fooled by the fancy monocle: this servo-powered serpent is as American as Apple Computers. So American, in fact, that his creators at Carnegie Mellon decided to christen him Uncle Sam. Boasting more points of articulation than a GI Joe, Sam's hobbies include crawlin' in the dirt and climbin' trees.

News: Star Wars + LEGOs + McDonalds = Corellian Cheeseburger

There's a lot going on with this Star Wars LEGO fast food snack. Angus MacLane turned the Millennium Falcon into a Corellian Cheeseburger for the FBTB MOC Madness 2010 Building Tournament.

News: Beautiful Kites From 1957

Usually when I see people flying kites at the beach, I associate the pace to a humdrum senior citizen activity. Serene for a few initial moments, dull for the rest.

News: Giant Beach Bubbles Resemble Ghostly Whales

Bubble-smith Sterling Johnson recently took his voluminous bubble art to the shores of Stinson Beach, California. Presented in slow motion, the bubbles resemble spectral whales. Pint-sized Ahabs follow in pursuit. The effect is extraordinarily pacifying.

News: Yo Mama Ain't Got Nothin' on Jensen Kimmitt (AKA The Yo-Yo God)

If Yo-Yos were the key to world domination, Jensen Kimmitt would be King. Kimmitt is Yo-Yo God. He literally killed at every competition this year.

News: Real World Video Game Kart Racing!

This German video is amazing. A joyously analog interpretation and deconstruction of the digital gaming experience. Malte Jehmlich is as primitive and inspiring as the the Vanuatu natives who devoted themselves to cargo worship after World War II!

News: The Most Dangerous Game of Operation (Ever?)

I suppose it depends how you define dangerous. It must have taken Flippy Cat a good amount of effort and planning to design and construct this giant Operation game made from Dominos. And then he lets a cat loose? Impressive work. Click on the second video in the gallery above for behind-the-scenes takes.

Slink-O-Matic: Slinky Fun Without the Stairs

Thinking of buying a ranch style home, but worried about your slinky collection? No stairs, no problem, all thanks to Jim Sellers and his Slink-O-Matic.

News: Casper, the Super Freaky Robot Ghost

Androgynous. Stumpy. Creepy. The horror movie robot, created by the notorious Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, is projected to be available for around $8,000 later this year.

News: Remote Controlled Monster LEGO Robo-Bot

This LEGO Mindstorms NXT Rover Bot is a monster. Depending on the camera angle, the scale looks huge (check out the person in the background). 9 NXT's controlling 16 XL power functions motors! Amazing.

News: The Future of Pancakes

Here's another latest in robotics: researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have developed a robot that flips pancakes. The most interesting aspect of the project is the use of kinesthetic teaching, in which the user "trains" the robot by example. The user grasps the robot's limb, and guides it through the motions the user would like it to adopt. This bot takes about 50 trials to get it, but in the end succeeds. Previously, I Want a Robo-Chef in My Kitchen.

News: Bicycle-Riding Robot Puts Pedals to the Metal

Robots have a long-standing obsession with tandem bikes. The first song ever sung by a computer? "Daisy Bell." If you don't recognize the title, you might nevertheless recognize the song's famous refrain: "But you'd look sweet/Upon the seat/Of a bicyle built for two." That was 1961. Fast forward nearly forty years and robots aren't merely singing about bicycles built for two, they're riding them. Take Joules, for example:

News: LEGO + Android + Robot + Rubik's Cube!

Or otherwise known as nerd nirvana. The ARM Powered Android LEGO MultiCuber steps it up a notch to the 7x7x7 rubik's cube.

News: A Pet Butterfly That Lives Forever

Everybody loves butterflies. What's not to love? They're beautiful. But extremely fragile. Touch a wing, and the butterfly is immediately weakened, if not rendered completely flightless (BTW, if you happen upon this situation, we have just the HowTo for you).

News: Giant Madagascan Hissing Cockroach Pilots Robot

This project has been posted on Vimeo for the past two years, and somehow has just entered my radar now. Get this: A robot is manned by a Madagascan hissing cockroach. Each movement the roach makes (perched atop a trackball type ping-pong ball) controls the movement of the robot.

News: Hello Emily. Goodbye Pamela Anderson.

There is little design artifice to this device. This EMILY (Emergency Integrated Lifesaving LanYard is a $3500 robot-lifeguard purchased for Malibu lifeguards. Remote-controlled and capable of 28 mph, product testing confirms that EMILY just might be smarter than David Hasselhoff and more buoyant than Pamela Anderson.

News: Who Knew LEGOs Could Be So Deadly?

Seems just about anything can be constructed with LEGOs these days. You name it- a printer, an engine, an ATM, guns... even a house!

Legs o' LEGO: Pinocchio, the Amazing Bipedal Android

This Mindstorms NXT-based 'droid may be able to walk upright like a human being — but can he do the robot? Not without a torso, he can't! Better luck next time, Biomechanics Department of the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.

News: Oh My Lord, What Else Can This Chick Do?

Meet Masha Terentieva, circus artist, hailing from a long lineage of performance artists in St. Petersburg, Russia. Masha can move her body in unimaginable ways. Masha's specialty? The all-American, classic hula hoop.

News: Get Your World Cup LEGO Fix Now

Via WonderHowTo World, LEGO People: ToastyKitten says:

News: Wicked LEGO War Vehicle Crosses Chasms With Built-In Bridge

LEGO Technic builder Peer (Mahjqa) Kreuger has constructed the incredible Stilzkin Bridge Launcher, a vehicle modeled after real life ALVBs (Armoured vehicle-launched bridge).

News: Pet Dragon Breathes 8-Foot Fireballs!

This year's fifth annual Maker Faire featured a fully articulated, fire-breathing animatronic dragon named Saphira (after the dragon from the book Eragon).

Star Wars: A New Hope LEGO Chess Set

WonderHowTo World LEGO People points us to an amazing chess set made with LEGO Star Wars characters.

News: First Ever Marriage to be Blessed by Robot Priest

The first marriage to be officiated by a robot took place in Japan this past Sunday. A humanoid robot named I-Fairy stood in as witness at the ceremony between Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue of Tokyo.

News: Robo-Elephant Tentacle Moves Just Like a Real Trunk

Robotics company Festo Bionics has released footage of a robotic manipulator arm modeled after an elephant's trunk. The first video in the gallery below is the concept animation; click on the second video to see the real thing in action. (Love how the grabbers hand off "giant peanuts" in the second video).