Technabob » tall

13-Foot-Tall Robot is Stepping Stone to Life-Size Walking Gundam

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:45:39 +0000

Robots are cool and rather fascinating not because they tend to do anything particularly mind-blowing yet, but because they hint at a future where we have robots that will do cool and really useful stuff for us on a daily basis. Hajime Sakamoto, president of Hajime Research Institute, has a new robot in the works that is interesting to check out, not because it does something special yet, but because it’s going to be 13 feet-tall.

The new robot is an upgrade from the nearly 7-foot-tall bot he previously built. A 13-foot-tall bot is impressive, but it is only an interim design apparently. After this bot, Sakamoto plans to build a new one that is 26-feet-tall with a cockpit. Ultimately, he wants to go to 59-feet tall. Unfortunately, there’s no video yet of the new robot, but here’s a clip of Hajime 33, the big ‘bots predecessor.

And here’s a brief history of the Hajime robots, which started out at less than a foot tall.

If you are wondering, that 59-foot tall robot would be a 1:1 Gundam size bot, like the stationary one in currently being reassembled in Japan – except this one could actually walk. That would be awesome. If he is successful, I hope he builds an Atlas Mech after that. I want one with jet packs and a rail gun on each arm please.

[via Twitter via Plasticpals]

World’s Largest LEGO Mario Up for Auction: Its’a Huge

Technabob — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:56:59 +0000

This unbelievable bit of geek art is purportedly the largest LEGO block statue of Mario ever created. It sure looks like it to me. And it’s definitely WAY bigger than this one.

The mammoth LEGO Mario was created by Dirk VH, and is made up of over 40,000 individually placed bricks. All in all, Mario measures over 5-foot, 9-inches tall, and weighing in at over 110 pounds. That’s bigger than some people I know. And I know some small people! Check out the gallery below to see LEGO Mario as he came into being…

The guys over at Netherlands’ Game Mania commissioned Dirk to create this giant Mario for a good cause – The Ronald McDonald House. And all the bricks are glued together so you can actually count on Mario arriving in one piece. If you’ve got a ton of dough lying around, this amazing LEGO creation can now be yours, thanks to the charity auction going on now over on eBay.

[via 8bitfix]

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]

Itower Omega: Give Your iPod a Lift

Technabob — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:53:25 +0000

Usually, I just write off most stuff that mall-dweller The Sharper Image puts out as either too pedestrian, too tacky or both. However, I’m gonna give them a break on this one. Their new iTower Omega is actually quite striking, integrating an entire iPod-ready stereo system into a handsome looking black tower.

It stands almost four feet tall, and has a nice black-cherry wood finish (laminate, though.) A media player dock sits on top and works with any iPod with a docking connector.

The $299 iTower Omega features four stereo speakers, a single dome tweeter, two subwoofers and 60 watts of amplification under the hood. Frequency response is nothing to write home about at 100Hz to 16KHz, and I can’t imagine that stereo imaging will be very good, given the design. However, if you’re looking for a sleek way to incorporate an iPod sound system into your room, this one looks as good as anything out there.