Each player wears one robotic eyeball on his or her arm. Got the feeling you're being watched?
(Credit: YouTube screenshot/CNET)Miruko is a camera robot in the shape of an eyeball capable of tracking objects and faces. According to its creators, it can be used for augmented-reality games. According to me, it sucks people's souls.
In this particular game captured in the video, Miruko--which has a wireless CMOS camera embedded in its iris--scans the real world for virtual monsters (ooook), fixing its aim when it finds one. Then the player can capture the monster using the iPhone camera, which is connected via Wi-Fi to the wearable robot.
We're still trying to track down more information on Miruko's maker, and on when we might start seeing this eyeball watching our every move.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.
(Credit: Little Island)Oh come on, admit it: you've always craved a tiny robot duplicate of yourself. That's not at all creepy.
Fortunately, a Japanese company, Little Island, is ready to accommodate your narcissistic tendencies. And while you can't use it as an evil robot minion, you can order it around and use it to read your RSS feeds and make VoIP calls.
Yep, not only does it respond to voice commands (something my kids aren't all that great at), it will talk to you in a synthesized version of your voice.
Should you decide to order one, your small wonder will measure about 40cm tall. It has an AC adapter and LAN cables sprouting from its rear end (we've all been there, haven't we?), and an 80GB hard drive. According to the specs, it also runs Windows XP, but without a screen or keyboard.
Honestly, this robot simulacrum is more like the result of a drunken one-night stand between a Cabbage Patch Kid and a PDA than being like, you know, robotty.
The pint-size reproduction will set you back about 2 grand, which, when you think about it, is an awful lot of money to spend to play with yourself.
(Via Engadget )
(Credit:
Fred Flare)
Inside all of us, there lives an inner creep just itching to get out and secretly take photos of unsuspecting members of the opposite sex. The secret book camera, offered here by Keith Carollo and Chris Bick of Fred Flare, definitely confirms that theory. The camera uses inexpensive 110 film and is the perfect size to stick in your backpack or Miley Cyrus-approved clutch purse.
You know what this camera reminds me of? That one scene in Troop Beverly Hills where shevillain Velda Plendor hides a camera inside the Girl Scouts book so Herman can spy on the tragically affluent Girl Scouts of Beverly Hills. Wait, what? You're not as self-deprecating as I am? OK, well I loved TBH and now I can finally live out my cinematic fantasies. Never mind that it's seafoam green and made to look like an antique toy for children--I just so happen to have $55 burning a hole in my apron. Patches?! We don't need no stinkin' patches!
Check out more pictures of the camera after the jump.
... Read moreAs the father of two, I see a lot of toys. And as I'm accused of being slightly immature (I like to think of it as boyish charm), I take great interest in really cool toys.
So when I get the chance to see a new toy concept, I'm all over it. While perusing various Web sites--purely for work, I assure you--I came across Karten Design's bizarre concept for a toy it calls Epidermits (presumably because OMGWTFBBQ?!?! was already taken).
Another Seth Brundle teleportation experiment gone awry? Nope. It's a toy. For kids. Ones you might even like.
(Credit: Karten Design)And you thought the Furby was creepy-looking.
I showed it to a handful of co-workers, and the unanimous reaction was, "What the hell is that?"
Well, here's Karten Design's explanation for creating Epidermits:
"In a world where the value of life decreases daily, where boundaries between real and artificial are increasingly blurred, comes the toy that will truly confuse kids and rob them of any remaining sense of the natural."
Well, you can't argue with that, now can you? Imagine the look of absolute horror when a child opens up one of these at a birthday party. Imagine the terrified cries. Imagine how much the bills for therapy will be.
These techy toys are fully functioning organisms that can be customized with tattoos, piercings, hair, Sharpie marker, what have you.
If caring for Epidermits is too much to handle, or if you have to go to the store, you can also force them into hibernation by popping them in the fridge. Handy, no?
Before you hop in the car to get one, remember that this is just a concept for now. Whether it will end up in a toy store, well, one can only hope.
(Via Boing Boing)
If you're really into robots, maybe it's time a robot got into you. Literally.
A tight fit for anyone's veins.
(Credit: The Daily Mail)This miniature robotic prototype developed by researchers at the Ritsumeikan University and the Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan can be inserted into a patient's body through a small incision.
The doctors use prior MRI imaging of a patient as a sort of internal Google Map. Once it's in there, the robot can be controlled by doctors outside the body to capture images, take tissue samples, deliver medicine, and even perform minor surgical procedures.
As advanced as the robot is, it uses old-school tech. A small cable connects it to a computer so it can communicate while it's in a patient's body, and doctors control it from outside the body with a magnetic field.
An amazing development to say the least, but the sheer size of the bot is enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies. No worries. While it's in there, the robot can probably cure your heebie-jeebatic symptoms.
(Credit:
Akihabara News)
Many of us at Crave aren't animal people, yet we try to keep open minds. But while we tolerate penguins, pigs and even the occasional duck, we draw the line at cats. Yes, cats.
Other Cravers might ascribe our emotional response to sanriophobia, but our feline fixation goes well beyond the evil and mouthless Kitty. So we recoiled at the sight of Willcom's "Nico" phone. (As Akihabara News points out, it probably should have been named "Neko," the Japanese word fo cat.) No matter what it's called, this handset gives us the creeps.
Be warned, a robot war is brewing. The battlefront: Your kitchen floor.
iRobot--maker of the unlikely consumer hit the Roomba--has gone virtually unchallenged as it cleaned up (sorry) the market in automated carpet vacuums. Competitors are starting to come forth, however, such as one from Evolution Robotics. Now, the Roomba may meet yet another formidable opponent on hard surfaces, this one from Europe.
Last year, iRobot came out with the Scooba, a wet-cleaning device, for $400. That has since been cut to $300, but it's still way more than the price of rival RoboMop--a Norwegian-made bot for non-carpeted floors that sells outside the United States for about $56. Shiny Shiny, where we learned of the RoboMop, says it has a 98 percent accuracy rate too. Still, it has a long way to go: RoboMop has yet to prove, for example, that it's got as much personality as the Roomba and Scooba.
(Photo: RoboMop International)
- prev
- 1
- next
