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Posts Tagged “

Robot

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concept art

Getting Ready for the Final Battle

This looks like the poster for an awesome science fiction film that we'd like to see: a girl in a giant hulking exoskeletal suit of armor with her comic-effect tiny little robotic pal perched on her shoulder. You've got evil signified by the pouring lava on the left hand side of the background, while fighters triumphantly scream past a proud city on the right. Whatever is happening here, we want to know more. More »

11:45 AM on Mon Apr 14 2008
By Kevin Kelly
4,588 views, 18 comments

Latest by themysteriousx: Why are we presuming that the character is a girl? Outside of pre-existing potential reference points, it could be a dude. Personally, I think it is one of the brothers from Hanson. Or it might be Gunter Nelson. more »

art

Giant Robotic Flower Stalks Airport Visitors in Singapore

What does it feel like to be stalked by a giant red flower propelled by a robotic arm? Lucky visitors to Terminal 3 of Singapore's Changi Airport get to experience this first-hand with Daisy, artist Christian Moeller's new exhibit. The flower is actually a fiberglass cargo ship propeller, and it tracks movement around it via several video cameras embedded in the sculpture's base. Cute? Freaky? Moeller, for one, believes this is a comedic and friendly way of welcoming people as they get off the plane. You can watch a video of Daisy in action and decide for yourself. [Christian Moeller main page ]

11:52 AM on Thu Apr 10 2008
By LISA KATAYAMA
684 views, 9 comments

Latest by Silver_Back: This reminds me of this show I used to watch when I was a little kid about giant killer Sunflowers that would track people and shoot them with killer seeds. more »

contest

Win a Copy of Appleseed: Ex Machina on DVD

We've told you all about the John Woo produced, Shinji Aramaki directed, anime version of Shirow Masamune's Appleseed: Ex Machina. We've spoken to the director and found out about plans for a possible sequel, we've attended a screening, and we've given away tickets to it as well. Now, we're offering up not one but two copies of his futuristic cyborgs-in-love story for you to take home for your viewing pleasure. What do you have to do to win? Just leave a comment on this post. Sounds simple, right? Find out more inside. More »

12:23 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By Kevin Kelly
2,497 views, 341 comments

Latest by jckrbbt: I got this DVD when it was released and had high hopes. I'm a huge fan of Shirow and Appleseed is probably my favorite comic, ever. The second film looks much better than the first, but it plays out like more »

concept art

Wall-E Goes Terminator on Your Ass

This summer's animated robot superstar Wall-E threatens to squash us under his mammoth treads and obliterate us with his laser blast. In these new screens from the upcoming game to coincide with the film, the cuddly bot has whipped out some sort of a beam weapon and he's using it to destroy something just offscreen while a terrified Other-Bot cowers in the rafters above. Does cute little Wall-E have a vicious streak that we weren't aware of previously? Click through for more game screens, which showcase some key moments from the film and give more clues to Wall-E's unsuspected abilities. More »

8:40 AM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By Kevin Kelly
1,094 views, 5 comments

Latest by Tim Faulkner: His unsuspected ability is scratching his head? more »

concept art

A Lovely Autumn Walk in the Park with a Robotank

That hulking tankbot might look scary as hell if he were all alone, but somehow those falling leaves make the piece seem calm and serene. Bizarre, isn't it? German concept artist Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe loves robots, gaming, and creating art. He's got everything from concept art, to finished digital designs to his own manga on his website, and he's currently working on a science fiction-themed short film called Dark Elephant by ILM animator David Weinstein. He's a fan of moody and cold scifi shots, and he's definitely managed to capture that in this piece.

11:40 AM on Tue Apr 1 2008
By Kevin Kelly
969 views, 10 comments

Latest by Marcus: @gybryant: Amen. Stabby feet FTL. more »

triviagasm

The Triumphant Journeys of Martian Robots

Since 1960 we've been attempting to explore the red planet, and along the way there have been countless failures and lost spacecraft that attest to just how hard it is to fly those 35 million miles from here to there. However, there have also been success stories, like the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit, who have both overcome mechanical problems, braved dust storms, and sent back enormous amounts of data. Today, after being threatened with a shutdown due to budget cuts, the Martian rovers got a reprieve. They'll be rolling along for many months to come. To celebrate, check out our list of Martian robots and landers who have already served their robotic duty as our slaves, erm we mean allies, on the red planet. More »

3:11 PM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By Kevin Kelly
766 views, 7 comments

Latest by IchabodCrane: I think we should go back and investigate those places where a lander "crashed" Those are the places the where the Martians are hiding! Maybe next time we'll be sure to make the universal sign of the dounut first ;) more »

mars rover

Spirit, the Mars Rover, Left to Die Before Its Time

The brave, unflagging Mars rover Spirit, who has lived on the Red Planet for almost four years, has been given a death sentence by the U.S. government. Right now, the little robot is resting on a sunny slope, waiting out the winter and preparing to do more tests on the Martian atmosphere. But now it looks like Spirit has rolled on its six wheels and done science experiments for the very last time. The U.S. government has forced NASA, this country's national space agency, to cut its budget by 4 million dollars. And that means only one rover, Opportunity, will survive. To say that this is a tragedy is an understatement. More »

7:00 AM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By Annalee Newitz
1,923 views, 37 comments

Latest by technobee: How about a pay for use service? Let people pay to drive the rover around and complete research tasks. more »

triviagasm

Bionic Breakbeats, or The Best Robot Songs

If you're a post-human robot living in a world that's long since been discarded by humanity, you're going to want some tunes to listen to. Or at least process them through your sub-neural micronet. Eventually robots will figure out how to make their own superior robo-songs, but until then we've compiled the definitive list of the best robot songs by humans. More »

11:11 AM on Mon Mar 10 2008
By Kevin Kelly
4,171 views, 35 comments

scifi art

Cyclops Robots Want Our Women

Nate Wragg is a cool artist from Davis, California who draws colorful scenes of monster battles and women-snatching cyclops robots on alien planets. In this 2007 piece, he illustrates a fight between Yeti and Bigfoot using acrylics, gouache, and paper cutouts. Okay, Wragg's actually not just some dude from California. He's a hot shot artist for Pixar — you can see his work in movies like Ratatouille. Click through to see his (maybe NSFW) homage to scifi pulp art. More »

8:20 AM on Mon Mar 10 2008
By LISA KATAYAMA
1,956 views, 8 comments

Latest by strider_mt2k: I like it. (I thought Samurai Jack too.) I've been to Davis, CA. The gentlemen I hung with was a co-worker. He and his wife showed me a great time out there. First and only time I've ever been to a shooting more »

Wall-E Was Inspired By the Sexual Frustrations of Pixar Nerds Wall-E director Andrew Stanton told us that he didn't think about the robot Johnny 5 from Short Circuit when his team was designing the look and feel of Wall-E, which seems hard to believe. Instead, he says his inspirations came the from Luxo Jr. lamp in the Pixar logo, a pair of binoculars, R2D2, and the wacky little robot who talks to you when you're waiting in the queue for Disney's Star Tours ride. Also, sexual frustration. Stanton admitted that Wall-E is "the story of a simple, boxy tractor that falls in love with a Porsche. It's how all the nerdy guys of Pixar feel around these women who are far too smart for them." We're not quite sure what that says about the cold and calculating probe droid EVE. Or the guys at Pixar.

7 comments

wall-e

Andrew Stanton Pimps Out Wall-E, Doesn't Remember Short Circuit

Pixar uber-guru Andrew Stanton was on hand at WonderCon to talk about his robot love story, Wall-E (which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth class), which was inspired by what he calls "the golden age of science fiction," and it's a story he'd been obsessed with ever since he wondered what would happen if we left the planet and "someone forgot to turn off the last robot." He showed off four new clips from the film, and you can read our descriptions of those down below.( We fired up our stealthycam for some video goodness, but the decidedly non-wonderful WonderCon security gave us the clampdown.) More »

2:48 PM on Sat Feb 23 2008
By Kevin Kelly
2,044 views, 8 comments

Latest by Gaiiden: I was the one who asked Andrew the question about Wall•E looking like Johnny Five at Wondercon - gotta admit I was nervous in front of that huge audience but when people were like "whoohoo! Short Circuit!" I felt more »

onigocco

Japanese Smiley-Bots Will Kill You For Your Name

In the movie Onigocco or The Chasing World, a Japanese teenager gets flipped into an parallel world where everyone who has the last name Sato is being ruthlessly hunted down. Of course, that just happens to be his last name. While trying to evade the smiling cyborgs, he encounters alternate versions of his girlfriend and school buddies, and finds himself protecting them and trying to escape from the clutches of the King of Japan. Check out the trailer below, and find out more. More »

2:00 PM on Thu Feb 14 2008
By Kevin Kelly
2,131 views, 11 comments

Latest by mitchel_stevens: so, is everyone else just chilling, watching the evil robo-jawas going on rampages? more »

virtual environments

Virtual Caveman Becomes Humankind's Newest Slave

Cavemen aren't just useful for stupid Brendan Frasier movies and Geico commercials. Scientists at the University of Calgary created a giant virtual hospital patient called CAVEman—CAVE is an acronym for cave automated virtual environment—and made him a guinea pig for all things anatomical. More »

4:30 PM on Tue Feb 12 2008
By LISA KATAYAMA
710 views, 5 comments

Latest by Dug: These "Caves" are usually devices that project polarized graphics onto 3 walls and a floor, with stereoscopic head tracked glasses finishing the effect inside your head. When your inside one, it looks as if the 3d graphics are rendered in the more »

cthulhutech

Cthulhu + Mechas = CthulhuTech

You take a shambling horror from a Lovecraft story, pop a couple of shoulder cannons on it and a replace a few tentacles with laser beams, and you've got yourself a whole new kind of horror: CthulhuTech. More »

10:00 AM on Tue Feb 12 2008
By Kevin Kelly
3,914 views, 31 comments

Latest by Ghede: Three words that will instantly deflate any love I have for this. Ben 10, Vilgax. more »

The Robot Uprising Turns 70 Today Today is the 70th anniversary of science fiction on television. On Feb. 11, 1938, the BBC broadcast its adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R., about androids that rise up against their human creators. Capek's play is the origin of the word "robot," which comes from the Slovak work "robota," meaning work. [ComicMix]

8 comments

bollywood

Another Bollywood Scifi Classic In The Making

Indian mega-star Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) wants to produce the company's most expensive movie ever, an untitled science fiction film about kids whose wishes start coming true. Khan, the star of international hit Om Shanti Om, was supposed to produce and star in S. Shankar's Robot, but bailed on the project. Now he wants to make his own movie to top upcoming Bollywood epics like Time Machine, Love Story 2050 and Robot. More »

10:40 AM on Mon Feb 11 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
751 views, 6 comments

future war

Can a Robotic Weapon Be Programmed to Have Ethics?

Combat robots and computerized missile launchers may one day be better soldiers than humans because they are programmed with ethical behavior and will never engage in friendly fire. You learn about all this and more from videos just posted from the awesome Technology in Wartime conference, held two weeks ago at Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, and organized by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. (Caveat: I'm the Vice President of CPSR, and helped organize this conference.) More »

12:40 PM on Wed Feb 6 2008
By Annalee Newitz
1,059 views, 48 comments

Latest by cde: If we introduce ethics to weapons, wouldn't suicide be an issue? Great, not only de we have to deal with an uncooperative nuke, the nuke's going to get all emo over ending its self-existence, and never go through with it. more »

triviagasm

Behind the Cybernetics with the Next Terminator Generation

Bit by bit, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is giving us secrets about Summer Glau's new model of terminatrix, not to mention the T-888 she has frequent run-ins with. Who knew that Terminators needed to sleep, or could digest food? We just thought they were unstoppable killing machines who never knew when to quit. You never saw Arnold's model wanting to regrow his skin, did you? He could care less if he was naked, or even had no skin at all, he just wanted to end you. We give you a rundown of past (and future) Terminators in our intensively-researched, now-declassified report. More »

11:00 AM on Tue Feb 5 2008
By Kevin Kelly
5,242 views, 41 comments

Latest by guibom: @braak: But what would happen if you're invited to a dinner party, or something similar? If the terminator HAD to pretend it can eat? If it couldn't, it probably would "break" like the kid from AI. more »