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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

“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]

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]

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.

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]

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]

[via Fancy via Ohgizmo]

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]

Scientists have inserted an anti-viral gene into the genetically engineered cats that help the resist the feline form of AIDS. The gene for a fluorescent protein called GFP was also inserted into the cats as well. Apparently, the glowing gene was simply inserted as a way to monitor the activity of altered genes. “We did it to mark cells easily just by looking under the microscope or shining a light on the animal,” said Dr Eric Poeschla, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, US.

The genes for glowing and for resisting feline AIDS were inserted into the feline eggs known as oocytes. Both cats and humans have proteins that typically fight infections that are not able to fight AIDS, whereas the anti-viral gene helps produce a protein that can resist AIDS-causing viruses. The researchers report that there was a reduced replication of the feline AIDS virus in the (glowing) cats with the additional gene.

[via BBC]

Well, it’s either a woman or a really creative and quirky kinda guy. (In short, it could be anyone.)

I think the entire costume is great, all except for the mask that takes the whole Party Animal theme a bit too seriously and literally. It comes with a beverage belt so you can carry all your booze on the go, a shot glass, the shirt, and a pair of checkered shorts. The whole set is available from Amazon for around $40 to $60.

Shoes and booze not included though.

[via Gadgets Matrix]

What I won’t go for without mocking anyone that does it openly is take the dead pet ashes and then send them to Norway for the Skrekkøgle design house to mix into some sort of ink for a printer. The printer is then used to print out a photo of your pet using its own ashes. Exactly how they mix in the ashes is unknown.

The prints look sort of like pencil drawings to me. I can’t really get over how gross printing a picture with the ashes of Mr. Snookums would be. You need to send an email to the Skrekkøgle people if you want to get your photo printed and see how much it costs.

[via PopPhoto]

The guys over at Practical Evil dressed up Dante the Samoyed as the game’s canine protagonist. Not only does he have the fiery shield and white wings, but he even has the facial markings of the game’s dog (applied with dog-safe food coloring, of course.)

If you’d like to dress up your own pooch in the same Amaterasu get-up as Dante, head on over to Practical Evil for full details. Note that it probably won’t look quite as good if your pup is a chihuahua or pekingese.

[via The Mary Sue via TDW Geek]

A company could make a whole line of products based on this gimmick alone. Why stop at gummi bears? What about fried chicken scented earbuds, coffee scented earbuds or bacon scented earbuds? We can do this all day.

You can buy the Gummi Bear Scented Earbuds from Fred Flare for $18 (USD). I wonder how long the scent lasts. I wonder if it blends well with sweat.

JC/DC collaborated with Hong-Kong-based watchmaker odm for this design. It’s called the Gummy Me watch, and is supposed to combine an E.T. with a rabbit. These toy/kitsch inspired watches look like something kids might wear, but JC/DC doesn’t design clothes for kids. The time can be told by staring into E.T. rabbit’s eyes. There’s also a backlight that’s activated when you press the side of the rabbit’s head.

These funky watches come in black, white, red and blue, and ship in a package that resembles a test tube (or some sort of alien transport chamber). They cost $85 (USD) each over at the ODM store.

[via The Trendy Girl]

These sculptures must have taken massive amounts of time (and thousands of LEGO blocks) to construct. The aim of this is to show and bring to life the challenges that are faced by wildlife, due to habitat loss and other threats to their survival.

Hopefully, in the future, this won’t be the only way we’ll be able to view these kinds of wild animals.

The Bronx Zoo will host LEGO-building parties and other special events. If you’re in the area, you should check it out.

[Yahoo via DVice]