Technabob » turkey

Turkish Iron Man Robot Will Hopefully Not Go Crazy and Kill Us All

Range — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:46:57 +0000

I didn’t expect Turkey to come up with its own Iron Man, but it looks like they did. It was created by a research team at the Sabanci University in Istanbul and is Turkey’s first humanoid robot. They call him SURALP, not Turkish Iron Man, which seems kind of a shame.

SURALP has been in the making for eight years and about $1 million has been spent to construct and design it. The humanoid robot first appeared in a press conference in Turkey, where he was kind enough to perform a little jig and answer a few questions. SURALP is actually an acronym, Sabancı University Robot Research Laboratory Platform, and it stands 5’5″ tall and weighs 250 lbs.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As you can see from the video, he’s actually a little bit on the pokey side, but at least he can answer simple questions with a yes or a no, which is pretty cool in my book. However, there are currently no plans to turn his metal grippy hands into weapons.

[via Plastic Pals]

Have a Geeky Thanksgiving With an LED Turkey Centerpiece

Technabob — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:38:49 +0000

Who says there’s not a way to make Thanksgiving just as geeky as every other day of the year?

The guys over at Sparkle Labs have made a simple PDF template you can download to turn your table into a festival of technological bounty. Just glue the turkey template to some cardboard, cut it out, and light it up with colorful LEDs. Sure, they’d like you to use their awesome Discover Electronics breadboard kit to do that, but unless you have one lying around – you’ll have to just grab a string of Xmas LEDs you’ve got sitting in the closet – or wait until next Thanksgiving.

I know you think you won’t have time for this today, but the frozen turkey you just bought yesterday still has a week to thaw, so why not go for it?

Happy Turkey Day! Give the BlackBerry and iPhone a rest today and eat some stuffing and pie instead.

IPhone Turkey Timer: There to Help With Holiday Dinners

Alisha K. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:09:43 +0000

Cooking a turkey can be a delicate operation, even if you don’t try anything fancy or potentially dangerous, so it’s nice to know you have a friend in the kitchen (and in your iGadgets): this year, let your iPhone do the timing.

The Turkey Timer is equipped with all sorts of helpful features to assist in preparing the perfect holiday turkey (or anytime-turkey), even down to your specifications regarding taste. Prefer your bird on the moist side? Plug in the weight and Turkey Timer will tell you everything you need to know. It’s all based on algorithms. That means there’s some science up in there. Or math. Or both. But it sounds impressive.

And for the low, low price of $2.99, you can tell all your friends and family that your iPhone did the cooking for you. You don’t have to get specific. They probably don’t have one. Suckers.

[IntoMobile via Geeky Gadgets]

Enjoy Some Electronic Turkey This Thanksgiving

Technabob — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:52:28 +0000

If you haven’t already gotten your turkey for tonight’s Thanksgiving festivities, it’s probably too late for you. Unless, of course, you plan on catching your own bird.

This Cass Creek electronic turkey call is sure to attract the elusive birds as it cranks out digitized samples of real turkeys. The loudspeaker can produce a variety of authentic bird sounds including clucks, yelps, “kee-kees”, an assembly call, and even a purr. Who knew that turkeys purred? Sounds like you might end up attracting a few neighborhood alley cats if you press that button too often.

While it’s designed for hunting turkeys, I think it might be just as fun to walk around the your neighborhood grocery store with one of these, occasionally mashing on the buttons as customers grab up their frozen Butterballs and canned yams. (I think I know what I’m doing next Thanksgiving.)