Technabob » animal

AT-AT Cat Condo Begs to Be Taken Down by a Ball of String

Conner Flynn — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:00:14 +0000

I’m not sure how many cats are Star Wars fans, but if your cat loves the movies, I bet he/she wishes that this was in their living room. Just look at that thing. It was made for cats to play in, but I want to play in it too.

Billy Appletini is that kind of friend. One of his friends is a Star Wars fan who has two cats, so he made this for them. That’s going way beyond the call of duty and makes Billy an amazingly awesome guy. It took him about a month to build it. And yes it is appropriately called a CAT-AT.

On the inside you’ll find some fake mounted bird heads and a little mini bar. These cats have it all now. I can’t wait for them to bat a ball of yarn around it’s legs and take this CAT-AT down.

[via Craftzine via Nerd Approved]

Hermit Crab Decides LEGO Shell Good Enough for Home

Range — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:30:57 +0000

I know that you can use LEGOs to build almost anything, but I didn’t think that other species on Earth thought the same as us humans. Check out Harry, the hermit crab, who decided that a shell made out of LEGOs was perfectly fine to serve as his home.

Hermit crabs have soft bodies and need to adopt abandoned shells for protection. Harry, who lives in a rock pool in LEGOLAND UK, recently crawled into a shell made out of LEGOs. It’s well known that LEGOs aren’t just for kids and Harry chose the LEGO shell over a bunch of other sea and snail shells available for his perusal.

Initially, the builders weren’t sure that Harry would move into the custom shell, but now he seems quite comfortable in his new home. If there is ever a shortage of shells in the wild, we know that now they’ve got an inexhaustible supply, thanks to LEGO maniacs everywhere.

[The Guardian via DVice]

Bonobo Chat App Lets Man and Ape Converse Through Pictures

Hazel Chua — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:30:17 +0000

Man evolved from apes. This isn’t new information, since the theory of evolution was drilled into our heads early on in school. And even though we’re just a few chromosomes different from these apes, the differences are massive. Apes look different, they act different, and they communicate differently as well. But the intelligence of these primates is advanced, compared to that of other animals.

In recent years, scientists have found new and improved ways to interact and “speak” with apes, through the use of laptops, computer screens and even iPads.

Researchers at the Bonobo Hope Great Ape Trust Sanctuary in Des Moines have developed a variety of custom software in order to communicate with these primates. But they need more funding to make their Bonobo Chat app a reality, and provide each of their apes with personal, interconnected keyboards that they can carry around wherever they go.

They also want to add the ability for the app to automatically translate English speech to Lexigrams that the apes understand, and vice versa. In addition, they want to allow the apes to use the app to interact with their environment, opening doors, operating vending machines and even operating robots. Yes, apes will soon be controlling their own robots from their iPads.

The Bonobo Chat App project is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, with pledges starting at $25.

Death Star Dog Cone: I Have a Very Bad Feeling About This

Conner Flynn — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:00:54 +0000

This Death Star dog will be the ultimate power in the universe. Just toss it a biscuit and rub it on the back (or the belly) and it will fire on the planet of your choice. Unless it spots a cat, in which case, you had better chase your Death Star down before you lose it.

This cute dog’s name is Musha, who just had some minor surgery and so had to have one of those humiliating cones around it’s neck. Since Musha’s owner is a very imaginative geek, they decided to make her cone into a walking Death Star.

It didn’t take an Imperial fleet working around the clock with Vader and the Emperor nagging them either. Instead it was accomplished with just a Sharpie. It looks amazingly awesome. Great work. Good dog.

[Hobo Hiatus via Obvious Winner]

What’s Next for Apple? iPad for Your Horse (of Course, of Course)

Technabob — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:00:41 +0000

I’m sure most of you are way too young to even remember reruns of Mister Ed. The show about a talking horse (named Mister Ed) and his human friend, Wilbur – was popular long before I was born, but I still have fond childhood memories of the show making me laugh when it was on in repeats. Since Mister Ed was the most human of horses, I can only imagine if he were still with us, he’d be hip to 21st century technology, and he’d have an iPad, just like us.

Fortunately, we don’t have to imagine what an iPad for horses would be like, thanks to of the UK comedy team of Dawson Brothers Furniture – who put together this amusing fake commercial for the new iPad (for horses):

I love how its touchscreen accommodates hooves, especially the keyboard – since I have enough trouble hitting the proper keys with my fat fingers. The grocery app that features carrots, apples, sugar lumps, and hay is priceless too. And five books.

[via The Awesomer]

Cod Fish Lamps: Insert Sea/See Pun Here

Lambert Varias — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:00:20 +0000

We’ve featured more than a hundred different versions of lamps on our blog, but I’m fairly certain this is the first one I’ve seen that uses a dead animal. Called Uggi Lights (Uggi is Icelandic for “fish fin”), each lamp is made from the skin of cod fish.

Each lamp is handmade by Fanney Antonsdóttir and Dögg Guðmundsdóttir, who were inspired by the Icelandic tradition of drying fish, which is done by sticking bulbs inside the creatures. Just kidding. The two designers skin cod fish and let them dry on molds, and after 3 weeks the lamps are ready to freak people out. Although they would be right at home in a seafood restaurant or island resort.

The Uggi Lights have been seen in exhibitions worldwide, although Antonsdóttir and Guðmundsdóttir have only sold a few of these lamps. If you’d like to have one of these rare creations, prepare €670 (~$880 USD) and send them an email. If it wasn’t so wrong, I’d like to have a bearskin lamp. Or one of these.

[Uggi Lights via Dude I Want That]

The Badgermin Sounds Exactly Like You’d Think It Would Sound

Technabob — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:00:45 +0000

What do you get when you combine a taxidermied badger with a theremin? You get the Badgermin. Yes, in this world of “if it can be done, why not try it?” somebody actually has created what is likely to be the first ever electronic instrument stuffed inside a dead animal.

The Badgermin is the warped creation of electronic artist and sculptor David Cranmer, and it is exactly as weird as it sounds. The creepy-looking badger has had his guts replaced with the electronics from a PAiA Theremax theremin – which also sounds like some sort of flu medicine, but I digress.

Now that you’ve had a chance to let the image of the Badgermin etch itself permanently into your retinas, take a listen. Just make sure your cats and dogs are out of the room unless you want them to start freaking out.

Oh, my ears! It sounds like the badger has been abducted by aliens (and thoroughly probed.) At least they could have played the original Star Trek theme on it, right?

Badgers? We don’t need no steenkin’ badgers. There, somebody had to say it.

[via Nothing to do with Arbroath]

DarwinBot: The Robotic Dog Sitter

Conner Flynn — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:00:50 +0000

You’ve heard of telepresence, where you can attend meetings while not actually there by using a robot proxy, but using a robot proxy to play with Fido is a new one to me. That’s just what Jordan Correa and his wife have done here. They must really love their dog.

They both work full-time jobs, so they miss their pooch named Darwin. Correa has training in robotics and engineering so naturally he built a telepresence robot surrogate that he could control from work to play with his dog.

It’s called the DarwinBot and it uses a Parallax EDDIE chasis and is programmed with the beta of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4. That makes sense as well because Correa is a developer in Microsoft’s robotics division. It has all of the bells and whistles you would expect from a telepresence bot for dogs, like a treat dispenser, a ball-launching ballista, a ball-retrieving robotic arm, and speakers so Darwin can hear his master’s voice.

He can even interact somewhat naturally with Darwin thanks to the onboard tablet PC, Skype, and a pan-and-tilt webcam. There is also a Kinect camera system on top for obstacle avoidance and a downward-facing webcam for the absolutely necessary ball retrieval. He controls it over the Internet with an XBox 360 controller. Surprisingly, Darwin isn’t freaked out at all by the robot and the mechanical noises it makes. The dog seems to get what is going on and for the most part acts naturally as if he is with his master.

[via Neatorama via Geekosystem]

3D Mirror: Release Your Inner Beast

Hazel Chua — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:51 +0000

People have always had a fascination with the extraordinary: unicorns, fairy tales, dwarves, princesses, and magic mirrors. And somehow, the latter is slowly becoming a reality, although they’re not really magical in that sense.

We’ve already seen what augmented reality mirrors can do to our faces, and while they can be used to correct or modify certain features, they can’t change our faces completely.

However, artist Karolina Sobecka wants to change that, and change it she has. Sobecka has come up with a new 3D visualization tool that replaces your face with a three dimensional image of an animal. What the mirror does is show a reflection of the person in front of it complete with real-time expressions and movements, albeit with an animal for a face.

She calls her project “All the Universe is Full of the Lives of Perfect Creatures,” which is pretty appropriate, if you think about it. Sobecka programmed her mirror by using FaceTracker, Unity3d, openFrameworks, Blender3d, and ofxFaceTracker.

[via Dvice]

The Hundehiet Is Like a Storage Locker – for Your Dogs

Hazel Chua — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:08 +0000

You’ve probably already seen those posters that warn you never to leave your dog alone in your car. The outside temperature may rise, or it may fall, but when your dog (or cat) is locked inside, well – I don’t even want to imagine what might happen to them. You probably don’t either. You can’t exactly just leave your dog outside either while you run your errands because someone might come and steal your pet away.

So what’s Norway’s solution to this? The Hundehiet, which translates to “Dog Den” in English. These are basically storage lockers where you can leave your dogs or cats in while you pick up some groceries. To rent out a space, it costs 10 Kroner (approximately $1.72), which is relatively cheap.

It’s better than leaving your pet in your car but I’m still not very comfortable with the storage lockers though, specially during the summer. But hey I suppose it’s better than nothing. Your dog, on the other hand, may have something different to say about it.

[via PSFK via Pop Up City]

Pig Buddies USB Drive for Nature Lovers

Conner Flynn — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

We’ve seen plenty of USB drives, but this design is super cute if you like pigs. Funny thing, not everyone like pigs, but we all love bacon. Anyway, this concept USB design by Weplaygod is pretty neat and I don’t even like pigs.

The mom pig acts as a USB hub, and just like in nature, the baby pigs can dock with mommy and get some milk, or in this case some data. I guess this would be a good one for farmers or anyone who has a pet pig.

Since most USB designs are pretty boring, I’d like to see this idea expanded on. Say, one large spaceship with some smaller ones in the docking ports maybe. I’m sure it will become a reality one day.

[via Likecool]

Hamster-Powered Submarine Doesn’t Fire Tiny Torpedoes (But it Should)

Technabob — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:00:21 +0000

I have to think all the way back to 2007′s hamster-powered paper shredder to the last time I wrote about a gadget which could run on rodent power. But much like the Flintstones, I’ve always wanted more technology to operate on animal power. So I was happy to see that somebody finally created just what nobody actually needed – a submarine that runs on hamster energy.

That’s right. No nuclear fuel rods here, just good old fashioned fast feet on a wheel. This odd looking contraption called the HPS Hamstar was actually created out of an 3-liter soda bottle, with a hamster cage grafted into the middle of it. The whole thing is air-tight, so it doesn’t leak. In case you’re worried about hammie expiring from lack of oxygen – don’t. The HPS Hamstar has air hoses running into it to keep him breathing and happy. As happy as an underwater hamster in a wheel can be, that is. Here’s a video of the Hamstar’s maiden voyage, in case you don’t believe this ridiculous story:

If you’re interested in seeing how the HPS Hamstar was built, you can check out the project website here.

[via Obvious Winner via Geekologie]

Scientists Tickle Gorillas on Quest for Origins of Laughter

Shane McGlaun — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:00:15 +0000

Scientists are searching for the reasons why humans laugh, and are studying all sort of animals to figure out if other species laugh as well. It’s easy to imagine that gorillas and other monkeys would laugh when tickled, since they are some of the animals closest to humans. One zookeeper says that his gorilla, Emmie, laughs when you tickle her and he says that gorillas tickle each other as well.

Rather than using their hands though, the gorillas tend to use their teeth apparently. I wouldn’t want to be tickled by a gorilla’s teeth. Apparently, when Emmie is in the mood to play she will make a sound that is a lot like human laughter when tickled. According to researchers, many animals will make specific sounds when tickled including rats and some birds.

The researchers are looking at videos online using YouTube and other sites to find what animals do when tickled. Would you tickle a gorilla or other great ape? Those animals can kill a human easily and some even been known to eat people. I’ll pass, thank you.

[via BBC News]

LEGO Bionicle Tiger Is on the Prowl

Technabob — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:00:03 +0000

When I was a kid, there was no such thing as LEGO Bionicle. Heck, I think we pretty much had square and rectangular bricks and the occasional yellow minifig with a construction hat. And while purists may thing that all the fancy parts available in today’s LEGO kits are “cheating,” I’m still impressed when someone can take the parts to come up with something completely new and unique – like this awesome tiger made from Bionicle components.

“Mr. Kitty” was made by LEGO builder Mike Nieves (aka “Retinence“), and it really is an impressive beast – especially when you think about how those Bionicle pieces were never intended to be used for making animals, and most Bionicle creations simply end up looking like robotic warriors. Not this one. Retinence definitely thought outside of the box with this beast. Apparently it was a huge pain to find all of the orange pieces, but he definitely managed to pull it off. If you look closely, you’ll even notice that Mr. Kitty’s shoulder is made from a Bionicle mask. Very clever, indeed.

I just love all of the details, like the striped tail, and the sharpened yellow teeth, but its builder isn’t completely satisfied yet, and plans on refinining his design even further in time for Brickfair 2012. I’d love to see an entire menagerie of fierce animals made from Bionicle parts now.

[via Brothers Brick]

Japanese and Russian Scientists Even Closer to Cloning a Wooly Mammoth

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:00:49 +0000

Michael Crichton would be so proud right now. Scientists from Japan and Russia are all working together on a plan that they think might bring the long extinct wooly mammoth back to existence. According to the scientists, the mammoth went extinct about 10,000 years ago. In August, researchers found a well-preserved thighbone from a mammoth in Siberia which could bring the extinct species back to life.

Apparently, the bone was discovered when the “permanently” frozen permafrost thawed thanks to global warming. Inside this particular thighbone hides some well-preserved bone marrow. Inside that bone marrow is suspected to be DNA that could be harvested for nuclei and then that nuclei could be implanted into an elephant embryo.

Since the mammoth and elephant are closely related, the mammoth DNA-based embryos would then be implanted into elephants for the wait until a baby mammoth pops out.

We heard something similar to this story back at the beginning of the year, but with the potential DNA now in hand, it could make mammoths roaming the planet a reality even sooner. The team plans to study whether or not this is possible in 2012.

[via Google]

Wappy Dog for Nintendo DS Hits Stores, Poop Bags Not Included

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:53:55 +0000

It has been several months since we talked about the Nintendo DS game Wappy Dog. The game is now officially available to purchase just in time for holiday gift giving. If you have kid that wants a real pet, you might start them with this virtual pet simulation. Rather than just a digital pet, Wappy Dog actually has a real robot dog that kids can play with.

The player has to raise Wappy though five different stages of development. The stages range from a puppy up to an adult dog. As the player is able to take care of the pet and as it grows the behavior and voice of the robot pet changes as well. Each of the pets is customizable and comes with stickers.

The robot dog accessory will bark at the player and the game will translate what the barks mean for the players. The pet has a digital mode so the player can nurture the virtual pooch even away from the hardware portion. The game is only for Nintendo DS and sells for $49.99 (USD) including the robot dog accessory. This is one pet that won’t poop in the yard and parents won’t end up having to feed.

HyQ Quadruped Robot Kicks, Trots and Rears Up

Conner Flynn — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:00:26 +0000

If they create anymore quadruped robots, we are going to need to build some robotic zoos to house them. We have BigDog, AlphaDog and now HyQ. HyQ was developed at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), in Genoa. This hydraulic quadruped can do a bunch of new tricks.

Not only can HyQ run and jump, it’s legs are also actively compliant, which means that the robot can change the stiffness of each limb. It’s impressive to watch it do it’s thing in the video. In some ways, more impressive than it’s predecessors.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This ‘bot can negotiate rough terrain, thanks to actuators that absorb shocks and vibrations without damage to the body. It can even kick! HyQ weighs 70 kilograms and can walk and trot at speeds up to 6 kilometers per hour. It can rear up like a horse, as well as squat jump and get all four feet off the ground. This looks like the most capable robot dog/horse yet.

[via IEEE Spectrum]

iPet Companion for People Who Can’t Bear to Leave Their Pets Alone

Hazel Chua — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:00:37 +0000

When I first brought my Shih Tzu puppy home, I spent every waking moment I had feeding, training, and playing with her. Of course, I can only do that during the weekends, because I still have to go to work. A huge lump would form in my throat whenever I’d leave the house on weekday mornings, with my tiny pup staring sadly at me with those earnest puppy dog eyes.

A lot of people probably feel this way because why else would a company come up with something called the iPet Companion? (And no, it’s not by Apple, even though it sort of feels like the name was borrowed from them.)

The iPet Companion actually consists of a set of robotic toys (two, to be exact), a webcam, and a wireless control box that’s linked to your home network. You control the toys via the controls and watch how your pet reacts at home via the camera.

It sounds like an interesting idea, but something just feels off about it. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like it takes out a huge chunk of the fun when it comes to playing with your pets. They probably feel the same way on their end, because your dogs or cats will obviously prefer something with a human touch rather than play with a swinging ball tied to some mechanical contraption.

The iPet Companion normally retails for $850 for cats, and $900 for dogs, but they’re currently running a promo so you can get the system for just $350 to $400. You can also give the iPet a go by checking out their site and playing with some animals housed in some shelters.

[via Gizmag via Dvice]

Art Lebedev’s Svintus Power Strip Pig Has 17 (Sn)outlets

Conner Flynn — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:19:53 +0000

Art Lebedev is harnessing the power of the pig with their new power strip concept. The Svintus Power Strip Pig concept makes a lot of sense as it doesn’t take up a lot of space, yet gives you many outlets to plug your gadgets into.

You get 17 snout-shaped outlets in all, and it even has a built-in circuit breaker to protect your devices. Sadly you can’t buy it right now though since it is just a concept, but this is one that I’d like to see become a reality. It’s perfect to sit in any corner where you have a bunch of equipment, without taking up a ton of space.

If it ever does become a reality, we will of course let you know and keep you posted.

[via Fancy via Ohgizmo]

TARDIS Cat Fortress: Whiskers are Cool!

Conner Flynn — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:30:19 +0000

The doctor gets a lot of tail in his TARDIS. I don’t mean that he picks up cute girls and takes advantage of them within the TARDIS itself. I mean, the relationships are all platonic, he just gets a lot of tail coming through those TARDIS doors. And this TARDIS is no different. Meow.

Of course in this version of the show, the Doctor is a fat cat with a thick coat and the girls he brings into this TARDIS like to climb all over the place, mark it with their scent and scratch at everything.

This creation is the work of Astromark. It’s a half-scale TARDIS made just for his kitty, Kaylee. The detail on the outside is amazing and judging by how awesome the inside looks, I’m sure cats love it. Check out the whole building process over at TARDIS Builder.

[via Craftzine]