Oct 14 2009 Pop It Like A Beach Ball!: Shape Shifting Bot
iRobot, a diabolical company best known for convincing millions of housewives to allow rug-munching robots into their homes, has now developed an air-filled shape-shifting robot that will climb into your bed and smother you while you sleep.
Unveiled at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) yesterday, this palm-sized troublemaker is being billed as "the first demonstration of a completely soft, mobile robot using jamming as an enabling technology." The "jamming" in question is something called "jamming skin enabled locomotion," which traps air and a collection of loosely packed particles in a package made of silicon rubber. When air is removed from the pocket, the silicon restricts and seems to solidify. The robot consists of several of these pockets, which can be inflated or deflated separately, giving the device the ability to perform simple actions.
The first part of the video explains how the technology works, but the actual bot-test begins around 1:50. Sure, it may look like a harmless beach ball, but do you know how many people drown each year trying to retrieve beach balls that have been swept out to sea? Now multiply that by every single person on earth and you have an idea of this thing's killing potential.
iRobot shape-shifting ChemBot is back, and it's bad [engadget]
Thanks to JKirchartz, hayden, NF, Michael, Tuggis, matt and We'llmissyoujehudah, who vow to pop every last one of these things with fiery arrows. Good looking, guys, but you might wanna brush up on your archery.
Jul 21 2009 American Robots Are Celebrating Today
Be quiet for a second. You hear that? It's your Roomba singing "Oh Happy Day" because today marks the 25th anniversary of the first robotic death in the United States. That's right -- on July 21st, 1984, a factory worker was crushed to death by a robot in Jackson, Michigan. A moment of silence, please. Now, a moment of yelling. I HATE YOU YOU STUPID METALLIC ASSASSINS I WANT YOU ALL TO DIIIIIIIIIE! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE, GHAAAAAAA!!! Okay, so I think I just popped a blood vessel. Also, a boner. Yelling makes me so hot!
July 21 [wordiq]
Thanks to Mike, who will be holding a candlelight vigil/Roomba burning party/kegger tonight in honor of the first U.S. victim.
May 9 2009 Kill It!: How A Roomba Cleans A Room
This is the path a Roomba took to clean a room. As you can see, it's pretty haphazard. But what did you expect -- it's just a stupid robot. Honestly, I'm surprised the little deviant didn't spend the whole time pleasuring itself in the corner by repeatedly running over a power cord.
The shot was taken by shutting off all the lights in the room for 30 minutes and taking a long exposure of the path the Roomba took while cleaning up.
While I despise all things robotic, I've got to admit -- whoever took the pic must have balls of triple platinum. Leaving a robot alone in a dark room for a half hour? That's crazy talk.
Long-Exposure Shot of a Roomba's Path Shows Beautifully Organized Chaos [gizmodo]
Nov 24 2008 ZOMG, Cutest Roomba Driver Ever!
This is a video of a cat driving a Roomba. Really warms the cockles, doesn't it? Speaking of which, what the hell's a cockle?
NOUN:
1. Any of various bivalve mollusks of the family Cardiidae, having rounded or heart-shaped shells with radiating ribs.
2. The shell of a cockle.
3. A wrinkle; a pucker.
4. Nautical: A cockleshell.
That makes no sense whatsoever. Ah, here we go:
IDIOM:
cockles of (one's) heart
One's innermost feelings: The valentine warmed the cockles of my heart.
So, ethically speaking, is it okay to eat cockles because they don't have any? Steam on that one for a minute. Then, admit you just got your ass philosophized off by the Geekologie Writer! You little cockle gobblin' fools you.
Thanks to my brother Frank, whose miniature dachshund Link refuses to ride the Roomba. Seriously little guy, do it for Zelda.
Sep 8 2008 Giant Liverpudlian Spider Didn't Kill Anyone
Remember the giant robotic spider that was supposed to destroy Liverpool over the weekend? Well it didn't. From the reports I've read not a single person was bitten or squished. So maybe we do have a couple more years before the robots finally Tet Offend. Just kidding, a friend's Roomba told me we'll all be dead before Christmas. So you know what that means -- Santa better stuff his fat ass down my chimney early this year.
Search La Machine, Liverpool spider or La Princess on Youtube to see a bunch more of the beast.
Jun 5 2008 Guy Mods Roomba Into Pacmba -- A Ghost Chasing, Dot Eating, Pac-Man Vacuum!!
Using 448 LEDs and a controller unit, this guy modded his Roomba into Pacmba, the Pac-Man Vacuum. It's fairly awesome, but nowhere near as awesome as the Donkba, my Donkey Kong Roomba. Say, who ate the last of my bananas? F***ing Donkba! I swear I'm gonna kick -- whoa now, put the barrel down.
roomba pac-man [hackaday]
Thanks Shawn, Andy, and BK, now you think one of you could come over and get this bastard off me?
