Technabob » crab

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]

Crab-like Robot Removes Stomach Cancer, Doesn’t Crawl Sideways

Conner Flynn — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:00:04 +0000

Researchers from Singapore have created a small robot designed to remove stomach cancer in its early stages. Ironically, this tiny robot looks like a crab, since it uses a pincer and a hook to do the job. A robot that fights cancer, that looks like a crab, which is the zodiac sign of Cancer. This is some weird and wonderful stuff.

The robot is mounted on an endoscope which gets to the stomach via the patient’s mouth. The pincer grabs the tissue to be removed, and the hook can cut the tissue and cauterize it to stop the bleeding. That doesn’t sound like fun at all, but at least the robot doesn’t leave an external scar, so that’s a plus. Your surgeon would be watching through the little camera in the endoscope, while he controls the robot inside you.

This is a stomach crab gnawing away at your cancer. Inside of you. The future is (almost) here people. It will be at least three years until it is commercially in use.

[via medgadget]

Live Crab Vending Machine: Only in Japan. Oh Wait, This Thing is in China.

Technabob — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 01:23:58 +0000

I guess that China was feeling a little behind the curve from Japan and their wacky inventions, so they decided to come up with their own. What you’re looking at here is a vending machine that dispenses not candy bars or cans of soda, but live crabs.

Yup. This machine holds an army of living crustaceans, all put on ice enough to keep them alive. Sleepy, but alive. The machine was designed to provide quick and easy access to these critters, without a long trip to go buy them outside of the city.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The machine, located in a Nanjing, China subway station sells about 200 crabs a day at a cost ranging from about $2 to $7, depending on the size of the crabs. They already have a second machine in operation, and plan to expand to other cities in the near future.

[via Doobybrain]

Monster Monster Laptop Stand: Give Your Computer Crabs

Technabob — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:44:41 +0000

For some reason, this whimsical acrylic laptop stand reminds me of those pesky headcrabs from Half-Life 2.

The unusual laptop stand helps keeps your laptop or notebook computer cool and encourages better workplace ergonomics. All while looking like a 6-legged crab. Each one is laser-cut from red or clear acrylic, and comes with rubber feet to protect both your computer and your desktop from scratch crab claws. It fits 15″, 16″ and 17″ laptops, but a 14″ version is on the way soon. (Sorry, 13″ MacBookers!)

The Monster Monster is available over at monstermonstermonster.com (go figure) for £26.99 (appx. $44 USD).

[via Design Milk via Inspire me, now!]

Swashbot 3 is a Crabby Homemade Robot

Karen M. — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:25:01 +0000

SwashBot 3 is one crabby lookin’ robot- but most impressively he is 100% homemade. For a scrappy little fellow, he’s got some impressive moves.

SwashBot 3 is the latest RC robot in the SwashBot series, following the cute and crabby SwashBot 1 and the more impersonal, wooden SwashBot 2.

Creator Crabfu, who is also an artist and animator, created SwashBot 3 to be a robotically delicious blend of cuddly, clever, and crabtastic. SwashBot 3′s body is made out of neat moldable plastic pellets called ShapeLock and he has movable LED eyes. He is controlled by a ridiculously large remote control (straight from the Star Trek prop closet) that can move his body and eyes in different directions.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

He can’t cook or anything like some other robots I know, but he’s still really cool – especially for that teeny tiny contingent of folks (like myself) who are San Francisco Giants fans of a certain era and remember the much loved/much maligned Crazy Crab. Best. Mascot. Ever.

[via Laughing Squid]