It seems the Japanese government is now debating on whether or not to start building real bipedal multistory combat vehicles, and I mean real ones, for the actual army. It makes no sense for me to post the 12 hour debate video since it’s in Japanese, but if you understand that language and want to check it out the link is here.
This example of Furby Modding was put together by Julie Watai, a woman who isn’t afraid to pick up a soldering iron and commit surgery on small innocent cute creatures. Even when reprogramming them means skinning them first, with the possibility of damaging the hide to the point where reskinning might be problematic. This particular version includes English subtitles to make it easier to follow along, and for more fun projects see the Hardware Girls segment of her site. And then, just because it was there, a bit of animation she was involved with.
The 2012 USA Science & Engineering Festival will be taking place April 28th and 29th all over the country, with a specific focus at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. There will be a ton of stage performances from a host of people and organizations, and a lot of things happening outside the scope of the time and location of the event proper, such as the Rockville Science Day gathering.
You still have time to finish assembling and charge up your candidate creation for our Future Robot Overlords, and have them ready to show off for National Robotics Week, which runs from April 7th to the 15th. There are special events being held all over, including Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the The National Air and Space Museum in DC, the 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition and the Robot Block Parties being held in multiple cities around the country. I know, I linked to the Robot Block Party being held in San Francisco, because that one is being hosted by Instructables and looks like a lot of fun. There are more events being added every day, for the full list go to Google Calendar.
Just recently the new movie a href=”http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1990314/”>Robot and Frank was at Sundance, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. It is something of a buddy film, with Frank Langella and his robot sidekick as the buddies. Until someone picks it up for distribution, you can catch it on the film festival circuit.
There are some things you can’t cover up with lipstick and powder… and it is my bet the latest incarnation of the Disco Robot Overlord is one of them!!