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By Andrew Liszewski

By now you’re probably well aware of the 1/1 scale Gundam statue that currently towers over Tokyo, Japan, but it seems the whole country is making a concerted effort to get its citizens used to the presence of giant robot overlords. Kobe’s Wakamatsu Park is next in line and will soon have their very own 60-foot tall, 50-ton statue of Tetsujin 28-go, aka Iron Man #28. But unlike the Gundam in Tokyo, Kobe’s statue won’t move or anything, but will remain stalwart in a ready-to-defend-the-country-against-Godzilla pose.

I’ve also included a video of the statue under construction after the jump.

[ Kobe Project ] VIA [ TOYSREVILs I LIKE TOYS ]

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By Evan Ackerman

Last week on BotJunkie, we kicked things off with video of a giant robot beetle, got some details on Mech Warfare at RoboGames as well as a look at a bot by Trossen Robotics, found some cute little autonomous robot crab kits, felt a weird mix of grossed out and fascinated with a new SquishBot concept from Boston Dynamics that’s based on a robot snail from MIT, learned about a new generation of military UAVs, got our LEGO on with some modular cubic bots that you can connect together to make whatever kind of robot you want, were saddened to hear that Pleo developer Ugobe has filed for bankruptcy, ran across some cute and cheap robot earrings as well as a cute (but not as cheap) robot bunny, listened to a robot made out of a boombox that plays tapes while driving over them, realized that the real reason making robots is fun is because you can terrorize your girlfriend with them, met Probo the robotic therapy elephant thing, celebrated Earth Day with the news that artificial human intelligence can be good for the environment and with a robot growing grass out of its head, watched Willow Garage’s PR2 robot demonstrating fine motor skills, imagined the possibilities with an entire PC stuffed onto a robot controller board, saw a couple different bots climbing walls with sticky elastomers, said hi to uncanny valley with a picture of a robot friend, ran screaming as giant spiderbots invaded Japan, and ended the week watching an autonomous robot race.

This week, we’ve already posted about a robot that begs for change, tiny little humanoid robot toys, information on designing micromice, robot jazz musicians, and a robot mower that calls for help with text messages.

Enjoy a special “oops I forgot so it’s actually Monday Bot With Stuff” edition Friday Bot With Stuff, after the jump.

[ BotJunkie ]

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You have to be a special kind of city to think that insane videos of a giant squid / robot attacking and duking it out while destroying your beautiful, historic buildings is a great way to bolster tourism. World, meet Hakodate: their official tourism board has produced an amazing series of videos over the past few months that you really just have to see for yourself. Oh, did we mention that the videos worked? Yeah, we’re totally there. Hit the read link for all three videos; our favorite, Hakodate’s winter video, is after the break.

[Via Pink Tentacle]
Source

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By Andrew Liszewski

The thing I like most about these silver plated Transformers cufflinks is the bipartisan approach they take. Let’s face it, the war over Cybertron isn’t going to stop until both sides, the Autobots and the Decepticons, come to some peaceful agreement. And seeing people walk around with just a single logo on their hoodie or t-shirt, showing support for one side over the other, does not help the healing process. These cufflinks however feature the logos of both factions, and tell the world that you’re tired of all the fighting and action-packed battle sequences, and just want to see both sides start working together… to take down those G.I. Joe jerks!!

The cufflinks are available from finkstudio’s shop on Etsy for just $20.

[ Etsy - Transformer Cufflinks ] VIA [ The UberReview ]

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By Evan Ackerman

We started off this week on BotJunkie with a cheap little Wall-E-esque bugbot that you can build yourself, got some details on the SmartMow robotic lawn mower and the Husqvarna Automower that we saw this year at CES, met a little robot called Forknife that is controlled with a cellphone running Android, found out that Boeing now has a mobile system that can shoot down UAVs with lasers, were slight grossed out by a robot that sweats, tried to guess whether an opponent was a bot or not in an Unreal Tournament artificial intelligence competition, watched a multifunctional robot called STAIR fetch a stapler on command, admired some colorful and totally weird bio-inspired robot sculptures, found out that UC Berkeley now has fully armed and operational radio controlled Rhinoceros beetles, were slightly worried after a toy robot injured 14 children in Japan, were even more worried by a new toy robot gorilla that can outrun your kids, met a guy in Vermont who has decided to build his own giant robot hexapod, and finished out the week with a video of (another) gorilla robot chasing a Puegot.

[ BotJunkie ]

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