robotz!

Say hello to Robo Roach. They should really get in touch with the toy robots initiative, which asks the important questions like “can we turn plants into plant-silicon cyborgs?” They provide instructions on making a Palm Pilot Robot. They make prototypes of some sort of amped-up pogo stick, capable of 9-foot jumps. Wouldn’t you love to ride that thing to work? You should also view the insect telepresence videos.

In other robot news, the Aibo has come down in price, and is making me insanely covetous. It appears that the Aibo keeps a “photo journal” that you can access via PC. So the possibility of a robot dog’s photographic weblog has reared its majestic head. Aibos can also be networked via WiFi, and can be used as an interface for PC applications meaning you can get your dog to bark whenever you have email. Finally, the dog can be remote-controlled via computer: you get a camera feed and you can transmit audio via the aibo speaker. Thus I tilt my head back and fantasize about robot dog telepresence hunting parties humans around the globe gather at a location in robot dog form, exchange wisecracks and then set out to freak out some cats. Good times.

Good god, I sound like a Sony marketing shill. Apologies to my readers, and hey, Sony, just send me the fucking dog already.