mechanical on technabob...
filed under: geek art & craft | hacks-mods | just plain fun
 |
If you don’t happen to have enough room for one of those 22-foot tall styrofoam robots to defend the homestead, that’s okay. Thanks to the wild and wonderful creations of robot insect builder TinyMinds, you can get your hands on some little robots which should do the trick just as well…
|
continue reading...
posted: July 8th, 2008
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: design | timepieces
 |
I’ll just start out by saying this: I’m a sucker for cool digital clocks. And this one is a real doozy. UK designer Duncan Shotton’s Digimech clock may look like an LED or LCD timepiece on the surface, but it’s actual a complicated mechanical contraption that creates a 7-segment digital illusion…
|
continue reading...
posted: June 24th, 2008
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: robotics | strange and wonderful
 |
Now I’m sympathetic to those who have fallen on hard times, many of us still find people who beg for money to be irritating. So why someone would go through the trouble of building a robot that begs for spare change is anyone’s guess…
|
continue reading...
posted: May 31st, 2008
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: geek art & craft | robotics
 |
What did the big robot say to the little robot? “Get in me belly!” At least that’s the way this amazing automaton works. The larger-than-life wood and metal robot features a tiny little robot inside its gut, and it looks like he’s the real brains of the operation…
|
continue reading...
posted: April 14th, 2008
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: design | timepieces
 |
This amazing clock combines the 7-segment look of a modern LED or LCD clock, but messes with your head by making the digits come to life with a mechanical movement.
Designed and realized by RISD BFA student Alvin Aronson, the D/A Clock is a clever mash-up between the digital and analog universes…
|
continue reading...
posted: March 12th, 2008
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: gadgets | just plain fun
 |
Seems like a day doesn’t go by when some new bit of USB wackiness finds its way to my computer. Today’s find: this desktop boxer that connects to your USB port.
The pint-sized prizefighter is more sophisticated than your average USB gizmo, letting you throw punches using your computer keyboard…
|
continue reading...
posted: March 2nd, 2008
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: just plain fun | retro | video games
 |
While I cut my teeth playing my Atari 2600, I never realized that I could use mine as a creative solution to completing my homework assignments. I guess I just wasn’t that crafty. Here’s a guy who managed to turn an Atari joystick into a drafting project for his high school industrial arts class…
|
continue reading...
posted: January 2nd, 2008
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: robotics | strange and wonderful
 |
These amazing micro robots measure in at under 1/4 cubic inch in volume, and weigh less than an ounce. Sandia National Labs has developed these tiny automatons which operate on the power of three watch batteries.
Teensy little treads drive the bots over a variety of surfaces (although at a rate of only 20 inches per minute)…
|
continue reading...
posted: September 28th, 2007
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: robotics | strange and wonderful
 |
A while back I had a very popular post about Plen, a little bipedal humanoid robot who happened to be able to rollerskate. While that was all for show, this robot actually skates around as one of its primary methods of locomotion…
|
continue reading...
posted: September 2nd, 2007
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: design | timepieces
 |
A while back, I told you about a little solar system clock from Japan. It didn’t accurately represent the positions of the planets or anything but the time of day (and I’m not even sure it did that right). If you’re looking for something with a bit more accuracy and substance, you might want to check this out…
|
continue reading...
posted: August 27th, 2007
stumble it!
author: technabob
filed under: design | media players
 |
Ok, I’ll say it now. This music player only plays one tune, “Voi Che Sapete,” from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, but it sure looks cool doing it.
The Music Orb is a perfectly smooth wooden globe that contains a tiny mechanical music box…
|
continue reading...
posted: August 3rd, 2007
stumble it!
author: technabob