Technabob » animatronic

T-800 Animatronic Terminator Bust Promises Not to Kill You

Conner Flynn — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:00:17 +0000

Terminator fans have seen their share of statues and busts, but I am willing to bet that they have never seen the likes of this T-800 bust. It doesn’t just sit there looking pretty. The eyes glow and it actually moves. It’s basically like having a real T-800 (from the shoulders up anyway,) except that it won’t kill you. I think.

This T-800 was created by Animatronics Works Japan and you won’t find a cooler robot head to display. The detail is amazing. Even the teeth were created based on images of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The whole thing is chrome plated using a “six-layer chrome plating” technique to reduce the signs of aging and degradation. It looks like the bidding for this thing starts at 900,000 yen (~$11,000 USD), though there are no bids yet. Does anyone care to guess how much it will sell for?

[via Obvious Winner]

TJ* Animatronic Puppet Puts a Robot Head on Your Desk

Technabob — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:30:22 +0000

If you’ve ever wanted to play with animatronics, here’s your chance to do it without breaking the bank. This low-cost robotic head is the perfect combination of plaything and educational toy.

Designed by Jeff Kessler, TJ* is an animatronic puppet you can easily control. TJ*’s mechanical eyes can move up, down, left and right, and his mouth can move open and closed too. The mechanical puppet is controlled using a programmable Arduino circuit, so you can make it do whatever you want.

TJ* is made from laser-cut MDF wood and three drive servos, and can also be covered with a paper “skin” so you don’t have to stare at his skull if you don’t want (though I think it looks cool that way.) Jeff is also working on an upgrade which will let you add LED eyeballs to TJ*. Now all we need is a metal skin, and we’ll have our own desktop Terminators!

Pricing for TJ* starts at just $50(USD) if you already have an Arduino, and at $120 for a complete system with the Arduino Uno controller and puppeteer’s joystick. For $10 extra, you can request a plastic version of TJ* instead of MDF. Drop on over to Kickstarter and get your pledge in by this Saturday April 14th, if you want to get in on the action. Jeff expects to start shipping out the first batch of TJ* robots this June. Down the road, he’ll also be releasing an upgraded ($200) version of TJ* with the ability to move the corners of his mouth and his brow up and down.

Own Your Own 20-Foot Triceratops for Just $350k

Hazel Chua — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:30:23 +0000

If you’ve always been fascinated with the Jurassic Park movies and somehow wished that you were alive in the era of the dinosaurs, then this might be something you might want to check out: the huge, life-like 20-foot Animatronic Triceratops, available from Hammacher Schlemmer.

This motion-sensing triceratops can detect the presence of any onlookers and react by letting out a loud bellow, moving its head left and right, stomping and scuffing its forelimbs, or opening its jaws while growling. Each eye is integrated with motion-activated cameras that work in conjunction with an interactive software installed that enables the prehistoric recreation to detect and recognize the facial features of onlookers.

This animatronic Triceratops has actually seen a whole lot of the United States, as it has been on tour in different museums all over the country as part of a traveling exhibit. You can read more about purchasing this massive tri-horned animatronic if you’ve got a lot of money–and I do mean a lot of money–to burn by heading on over to Hammacher Schlemmer.

[via Geekologie via Dvice]

Smiling Vehicle Looks Like It’S Had Botox

Lambert Varias — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:08:41 +0000

At the Tokyo Fiber SENSEWARE, the same exhibit that gave us those creepy robot pillow vacuums, Nissan Motor and the Hara Design Institute Nippon Design Center also showed off another weird concept: a model of a car that can smile, i.e. it has a line on its bumper that moves and curves upward.

The effect is achieved using animatronics and a polyurethane elastomer fiber called ROICA, which “can stretch by 500% to 900%, and shows outstanding recovery from stretching.” The car’s face looks too stiff to me though.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As we all know, communication between drivers on the road is limited to simple gestures, like waving or pointing, honking horns, giving each other the finger while mouthing “learn to drive a-hole!”, driving parallel to each other so that they could cuss and yell, stopping and beating each other up, and other similar signs that have ambiguous or negative connotations. In the future our cars will be able to smile and say to the other cars, “Hi there! I have the right of way, but since you’re unaware of the concept, go right on ahead and mess up the flow of traffic.” And if the other cars don’t smile back, hopefully our cars will frown before transforming and begin beating the shit out of those other cars. The future will be awesome, and it all started with this Botoxed car.

[via Diginfo]

Advertise With This Gorilla Robot

Technabob — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:45:42 +0000

When I first heard there was a business called Gorilla Robot Factory, I assumed they’d be some sort of hipster design company, a recording studio, or maybe some Web 3.0 startup. I never figured that they’d actually make gorilla robots. My mistake.

And that’s all they do. But if you’ve got a need for an animatronic gorilla robot, they’ve got you covered. Need a hot pink gorilla? Done. How about blue? Sure. What about basic black? You bet your bananas.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The 6′-6″ tall faux fur gorillas are designed to draw attention to your business, but I think I’d like to get about 100 of them together, start my own gorilla robot army and take over the world. Of course, I’m not sure how much world domination you could achieve by swiveling from side-to-side and waving one hand.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

What are you waiting for? You can get your very own robot gorilla over at the Gorilla Robot Factory for $995 (USD).

Day the Earth Stood Still Giant Gort Robot for Sale

Technabob — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:21:06 +0000

This huge animatronic Gort robot comes to us courtesy of the classic 1951 science fiction flick, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Now, this imposing fella can be yours if you’re ready to pony up the dough.

Up for auction over on eBay (current bid is over $4000), the museum-quality replica is eight feet tall, and features some remote-controlled mechanical moves. It’s big enough that the seller is only allowing local pickups (I wouldn’t want to try and cram this thing into a mailbox either). The fiberglass reproduction was handcrafted by the robot builders at Fred Barton Productions, and has been on public display for the last few years.

I’d like one of these out on our front porch to scare those annoying door-to-door petitioners and religious zealots away.

Even yelling “Klaatu barada nikto!” won’t stop this one.

[Auction Page via Boing Boing]

Robothespian Masters the Classics

Technabob — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:45:08 +0000

Back in the day, I did my stint designing lighting and sets for community theater companies, so I’ve seen more than my share of wooden acting. But this is the first time I’ve ever seen metal acting.

The RoboThespian is a life-sized robotic puppet, designed with one mission in mind — to entertain. Created by UK interactive exhibit builder Engineered Arts, the robot can do spoken parts, singing, story telling, and even some dance maneuvers. Now sit back and enjoy as RoboSapien performs some classic movie moments.

Here he is doing his DeNiro:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And no robot act would be complete without some Aaahnold:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

How about a little salty old Robert Shaw from Jaws:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

RoboThespian does his best C3P0:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I like to think this is a scene from A Clockwork Orange:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While RoboThespian won’t be winning an Oscar anytime soon, he’s might be good enough to pull off a People’s Choice or a Golden Globe.

If you happen to live in the UK, you should be able to check out some of these guys performing at The Eden Project in Cornwall. Otherwise, Engineered Arts rents and sells these robots for use in special events, museums and entertainment facilities, so you might run into one the next time you head out to get some some culture.

Where Do Chuck E. Cheese Robots Go After They Die?

Technabob — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:22:02 +0000

Old robots never really go away — they just come back to life singing new tunes.

The gang over at Boing Boing have introduced me to this strange new trend of taking the old animatronic animal musicians from Chuck E. Cheese / Showbiz Pizza Place and reprogramming them to play modern tracks. The result is at once disturbing and hilarious…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Be sure to check out all the video clips by christhrash, who’s one of the leaders in this newly discovered medium.

Giant Robot Dinosaurs Walk Among Us

Technabob — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:36:42 +0000

This nifty bit of robot footage comes to us from Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Back at the end of 2005, the Institute developed two animatronic dinosaurs (one Tyrannosaurus Rex, one Parasaurolophus) that could actually balance and walk without any external stability systems. This is the first time I’ve seen any footage of them in action, so I thought I’d share it with you:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Every kid’s gonna want one of these. All they’re missing are frickin’ laser beams on their heads.

[via Geekologie]