Orlando Slideshow Geekiness

Here's a slide show video I made with photos I took while on vacation in Orlando last week. Enjoy!

Phobot!

"Phobot is a phobic robot, who's very scared of certain objects, and robots in particular. Phobot is meant as a concept exploring possible support tools for kids with object or location-related phobias. Phobot and the phobic child will help each other overcome fears by following exposure program steps. If you help Phobot out, gradually exposing the little robot to bigger and bigger robots, Phobot will overcome its fears."

~ from http://staff.science.uva.nl/~hcramer/phobot/index.html



And please remember that the latest issue of If - E - Zine(tm) is now available at TheLordShen.com

Issue Number 10 Is Here!

Hey folks,

I just published issue 10 of If - E - Zine(tm). It's filled with FREE science fiction and fantasy stories. Here's just a sampling:

In "From Here to the Stars!" we meet Tad Manly, a luchador catapulted into worlds beyond known space!

"Rescuing the Dead" sees the return of Sgt. Drake, an ultra-futuristic space marine in hot pursuit of psychics.

"Zalam in the Lost City of Adul-Ra" is a sword & sorcery tale with a giant alien protagonist in a world of might, magic and mechano-men!

Finally, in "Captain Destiny & the Creature from Atrius-99" we read of the exploits of Cpt. Destiny... the first human to discover a planet populated entirely by kaiju!

Feel free to check it out at:

http://www.thelordshen.com/

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

My entire week thus far has been consumed with the new Nintendo WII game Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Its a fighting game filled with classic Nintendo characters and some third-party non-Nintendo characters. It's frantic, seizure-inducing pace and massive amounts of collectibles have kept my obsessive side busy and quite entertained. Today I present to you some screen-grabs from the game.


Squirtle taking it to Pikachu in the Pokemon Arena


Squirtle teaching Nana and Popo (of Ice Climbers fame) a lesson


Squirtle taking on Master Hand, the final boss in the Classic Mode


I unlocked Solid Snake (from the Metal Gear Solid series) just last night... here he is shooting down Olimar from the Pikmin games


Solid Snake vs. King Dedede (Kirby's rival)


Snake doing what he does best!


Captain Falcon from F-Zero duking it out with Giant Pikachu!


Here's a diorama I made in-game of some of the trophies I've won so far. From left to right: Turret Tusk from Donkey Kong Jungle Beat; HM Mech Rosa from Chosoju Mecha MG; and ROB 64 from Star Fox


Feel free to brag about your own exploits in the game here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go play some more. I'm having withdrawals!

Ideal Robot Commando

Happy Friday!!!

Robots on Mars!!!

Here's a short documentary with an intimate look at NASA's plan to build a robot colony on Mars.

Bonus Post! Giant Robo

This is TOEI's orignal tokusatsu TV series for kids called Giant Robo. Here in the United States it was dubbed Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot.



SEE ALSO:

GIGANTOR

KAIJU FAN ONLINE

In the Far Future... There Can Be Only War!

I'm featuring two different games today. Both are sci-fi strategy games. The first is the new Warhammer 40K video game due out for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP called Squad Command.

The other is a rival offering to 40K by the French game company Rackham. It's called AT-43.

WARHAMMER 40,000: SQUAD COMMAND:





AT-43 ACCORDING TO WIKI:

"AT-43: No one Escapes War! is a science fiction tabletop wargame using 28mm miniature figures and terrain to scale developed and published by the French company Rackham.

Released in December 2006, the game features pre-painted plastic miniatures of mechs and infantry units with corresponding cards showing the stats and gameplay options for each unit type."



Here's the newest expansion army. They're called Karmans:







U.N.A. FORCES:


THERIAN FORCES:




RED BLOK ARMY:

Robot Thanksgiving

Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday in the United States in 1863. In honor and in celebration of the holiday, here's the funniest 'virtual' robot fight in film history:



Movie: Eurotrip

100th Post! And it's about GUNDAM! Japan officials edited Wikipedia at work

Japan officials edited Wikipedia at work

From Yahoo! News:

TOKYO - Japan's Agriculture Ministry reprimanded six bureaucrats after an internal probe found they spent work hours contributing to Wikipedia on topics unrelated to farm issues — including 260 entries about cartoon robots.

The six civil servants together made 408 entries on the popular Web site encyclopedia from ministry computers since 2003, an official said Friday.

One of the six focused solely on Gundam — the popular, long-running animated series about giant robots — to which he contributed 260 times. The series has spun off intricate toy robots popular among schoolchildren as well as adults known as "otaku" nerds.

"The Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam," said ministry official Tsutomu Shimomura.

SOURCE

GUNDAM FIGHT!


One of my prized possessions: a Gundam Wing Zero Collectible!


Special thanks to J. Ho for bringing this news article to my attention. Check out his art blog, he loves drawing robots and He-Man. Now if only he'd draw robotic He-Man.

A Cornucopia of Cyborgs and Robots

Well, this is a HUGE post today. Got some pop culture stuff and a lot of scientific research here. I hope everyone enjoys. Be sure to post your thoughts!

One of my favorite comic book characters.



Robot maker builds artificial boy


RICHARDSON, Texas - David Hanson has two little Zenos to care for these days. There's his 18-month-old son Zeno, who prattles and smiles as he bounds through his father's cramped office. Then there's the robotic Zeno. It can't speak or walk yet, but has blinking eyes that can track people and a face that captivates with a range of expressions.

At 17 inches tall and 6 pounds, the artificial Zeno is the culmination of five years of work by Hanson and a small group of engineers, designers and programmers at his company, Hanson Robotics. They believe there's an emerging business in the design and sale of lifelike robotic companions, or social robots. And they'll be showing off the robot boy to students in grades 3-12 at the Wired NextFest technology conference Thursday in Los Angeles.

Unlike clearly artificial robotic toys, Hanson says he envisions Zeno as an interactive learning companion, a synthetic pal who can engage in conversation and convey human emotion through a face made of a skin-like, patented material Hanson calls frubber.

"It's a representation of robotics as a character animation medium, one that is intelligent," Hanson beams. "It sees you and recognizes your face. It learns your name and can build a relationship with you."

It's no coincidence if the whole concept sounds like a science-fiction movie.

Hanson said he was inspired by, and is aiming for, the same sort of realism found in the book "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," by Brian Aldiss. Aldiss' story of troubled robot boy David and his quest for the love of his flesh-and-blood parents was the source material for Steven Spielberg's film "Artificial Intelligence: AI."

He plans to make little Zenos available to consumers within the next three years for $200 to $300.


READ MORE

ZENO'S OFFICIAL SITE

ZENO'S BLOG!


BUILDING GODS
A movie wherein a cyborg, brain builder, theologian, and philosopher debate the future of artificial intelligence, robotics, cyborgs, and living inside of computers.



OFFICIAL SITE


BRAINGATE






BRAINGATE HOMEPAGE


REAL TRANSFORMER

Robo-One GP

Here's some clips from the Robo-One Grand Prix in Japan. It's all about robots wrestling! Most of the moves are sloppy, but some of the moves are so prety you'll be crying out "DAAAAAMMMMMNNN!!!"

They're not REALLY robots, as they are not autonomous, but they still fall into the realm of robot-like machines (remotely controlled, however).

Pay particular attention to the belly-to-back suplex executed at ~2:45 in the first video.

Enjoy!

2007 - Retro (Silver) vs. King Kizer (Red)


ROBO-ONE 10 - Championship Match: Ivre (Silver with long sword-like limbs) vs. King Kizer (Red)


Super-Moves! (Various 'super' moves featuring various competitors)



ROBO-ONE GP (Official Korean site in English)

ROBO-ONE GP (Official Japanese Site)


And of course be sure to check out the site that brought us these great videos.

Zombies, Robots and Conan... What More Could You Ask For?

Here's this week's post. It's a three-fer. The social robot video is from a Nova ScienceNOW episode on PBS. The Conan video is from an up-coming game for the next-gen consoles called Conan (please note: this is NOT the MMO Age of Conan). The last video is the official E3 trailer for Resident Evil 5 which debuted last month. Enjoy!

BONUS POST! Bubblegum Crisis

One of my favorite anime series.

Robots Around the World

Here's some news stories concerning robots, their kith and kin:

ROBOTIC LUNAR LANDER
*************************************
"Raytheon Co. has proposed a robotic lunar lander to NASA that would be based on technology already developed for a missile defense program.

A Raytheon official said the lander leverages propulsion system technology developed for the Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), which was developed and manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The propulsion system is combined with autonomous navigation technology developed for cruise missiles, she said.

“The proposal is based on these two technologies in which there has been an enormous amount of investment over the last 15 years or so, especially for the missile defense interceptors,” Karleen Seybold, senior systems engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems, said in an April 4 interview. “We’re pulling this technology together in a very low-cost, autonomous lunar lander.”"


SOURCE


DOMO Robot
****************************************
"MIT researchers recently demonstrated the capabilities of such a robot, named Domo, which, like the robot in a recent General Motors ad, can transcend mass-production's repetition. It is designed to interact with humans and adapt to its environment in ways previously only imagined in science fiction.

Presently, Domo can identify objects, reach for them and place them on shelves. Unlike an assembly-line robot, Domo can sense its surroundings using a pair of video cameras for eyes; they are connected to 12 computers. The cameras are built into remarkably human-looking 'eyeballs,'...


Unlike its predecessors, Domo also has the ability to sense touch, necessary for safe interaction with humans. Springs in its arms, hands and neck can sense force, allowing it to respond appropriately. Pushing its hand will make it move in the direction of the push."


SOURCE


DOMO IN A VISUAL TRACKING EXERCISE:





RATS CONTROL ROBOT ARM WITH BRAINS
**************************************
"Controlling a robot arm by brain power alone sounds like science fiction, but experiments involving rats' brains have brought it closer to reality.

Dr John Chapin, of the MCP Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, has shown for the first time that brain cell activity can be used to control a robotic device.

The research is a big step towards artificial limbs for paralyzed patients that could be controlled by thought alone, just like normal limbs.

The scientists trained rats to obtain water from a robotic arm by pressing a small lever. Each rat had electrodes implanted in its brain to record the activity of certain cells.

As the rats performed this task, the scientists analyzed the patterns of activity in the regions of the brain that control movement.

They identified specific brain cell activity associated with the rat's paw movements.

The researchers had to develop a new mathematical method to analyze the signals from the brain cells.

The next step was to connect the robot arm directly to the rat's brain. The brain now controlled the robot arm directly through the electrodes and the computer.

The rats appeared to have little difficulty in controlling the robot arm. Initially, they continued to press the lever, even though this was no longer necessary to cause the robot arm movements.

But eventually many rats learned that they could obtain water through brain activity alone and stopped pressing the lever."


SOURCE




REPLIEE Q1
******************************************

"Repliee Q1 (at left in both pictures) appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.

Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example."

Watch her here

SOURCE






HERE'S A ROBOTIC FISH:



KISMET:



CYBORG SITES:

World Transhumanist Association
"The World Transhumanist Association is an international nonprofit membership organization which advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities. We support the development of and access to new technologies that enable everyone to enjoy better minds, better bodies and better lives. In other words, we want people to be better than well."


Robo-eels, critters on chips lead cyborg pack

Robots finally on the battelfield

Here's a rather interesting subject for all my fellow robot lovers:


ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. - The rain is turning to snow on a blustery January morning, and all the men gathered in a parking lot here surely would prefer to be inside.

But the weather couldn’t matter less to the robotic sharpshooter they are here to watch as it splashes through puddles, the barrel of its machine gun pointing the way like Pinocchio’s nose.

The Army is preparing to send 18 of these remote-controlled robotic warriors to fight in Iraq beginning in March or April.





Made by a small Massachusetts company, the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat, years ahead of the larger Future Combat System vehicles currently under development by big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Corp.

It’s easy to humanize the SWORDS (a tendency robotics researchers say is only human) as it moves out of the flashy lobby of an office building and into the cold with nary a shiver.

Military officials like to compare the roughly three-foot-high robots favorably to human soldiers: They don’t need to be trained, fed or clothed. They can be boxed up and warehoused between wars. They never complain. And there are no letters to write home if they meet their demise in battle.

But officials are quick to point out that these are not the autonomous killer robots of science fiction. A SWORDS robot shoots only when its human operator presses a button after identifying a target on video shot by the robot’s cameras.


“The only difference is that his weapon is not at his shoulder, it’s up to half a mile a way,” said Bob Quinn, general manager of Talon robots for Foster-Miller Inc., the Waltham, Mass., company that makes the SWORDS. As one Marine fresh out of boot camp told Quinn upon seeing the robot: “This is my invisibility cloak.”

Quinn said it was a “bootstrap development process” to convert a Talon robot, which has been in military service since 2000, from its main mission — defusing roadside bombs in Iraq— into the gunslinging SWORDS.


The full article

http://www.foster-miller.com/lemming.htm


Be sure to check out my official site!