Haven’t you always wished that Mrs. Butterworth would come to life, just so you could catch her and suck the syrupy blood from her veins? That’s almost the reasoning behind MAYA working with two edible forms of robotics: the NanoKrispies, a mobile human-shaped Rice Krispie treat and the more recent work; a poseable hand made from cucumbers.

So far, what we’ve seen is very impressing. For me, the idea that robots could be eaten was, before today, unfathomable. Now, thanks to MAYA, I have this sudden urge to bite into any and all robots. Doughnuts just don’t do it for me anymore.

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Creating artistic tech-inspired sculptures with nothing more than recycled goods and other garbage is a popular form of art these days. Like the City Foundry Bots or those mini-motorcycles made of old watch parts, these sculptures are made in a similar way but take it to the next level: they’re animated.

We aren’t sure what mechanical artist Nemo Gould is going for with these robots but boy are they frightening. The sculpture picture above is called Little Big Man. Check it, where his robotic intestines should be there is a smaller robot inside appearing as if to operate the Big Man.  Very creepy, indeed.  Check out Gould’s site for more information about his work.

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Art Institute of Chicago’s Ed Bennett has designed the ArtBus, a hardware bus and communications protocol for low speed and low data rate command with control of discrete sensors and actuators. It is useful for small embedded systems in kinetic, robotic, installation art or design projects, like Vince’s Arduino sound project, or Ard-e The Arduino Robot.

Though, it is a distributed interface, meaning that different parts of an ArtBus system can be spread out across a space such as a corridor or art gallery, which isn’t like the Arduino at all. However, its virtue is simplicity and it’s designed so near-novice programmers can extend the system for their own uses and share their work with others. So while it may not be the same as an Arduino, it certainly shares some of its characteristics.

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For those not familiar with the term “salaryman,” it’s the Japanese term for male office workers who bend over backwards for their job and work overtime on a daily basis. After this, they crawl their way home on all fours, bickering about how much they hate their own lives. Artist Momoyo Torimitsu, in an effort to address the issue of recent economic crashes in various countries, has created a crawling robot resembling a salaryman.

The video shoes the robot crawling through Sydney, Australia in an effortless attempt to bite ankles. Torimitsu follows it, dressed as a nurse while maintaining its insides by way of an ass-panel opening. She says, “Crawling is the soldier’s motion in the battlefield. I would say this is the business soldier.” So, that’s why she follows it around dressed as a nurse. Now I get it, but it’s still awkward.

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Your house plants are withering. You have two options: put them out in the sun or build a gigantic robotic arm that takes up half of your living space. Lively plants at the cost of sleeping in the bathtub doesn’t sound too bad either.

The Bartlett School of Architecture showcased their “Experiments in Time” exhibit, which included this steel monstrosity strapped with an Arduino Lilypad controller to tilt a disc into sunlight.  Seriously, all you have to do is pick your house plants up, walk outside and place them down on the ground. You’ll be set, they’ll be healthy and you get to spend the night in your bed without sharing rent with a robotic arm.

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Editor’s Note: SEATTLE!!

Scientists have rigged up two monkeys with tiny sensors in their brains. Through a new process, they’ve learned to control a mechanical arm with only their thoughts. Singularity of mammal and machine is nothing new, though this specific study could pave the way for more human-based experiments.

“This study really pulls together all the pieces from earlier work and provides a clear demonstration of what’s possible,” said Dr. William Heetderks.

This test of brain-machine interface technology demonstrates that monkeys which can grab food with a robotic arm once again shows us that putting sensors in human brains could prove beneficial in many areas of the future.

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Up to a year ago when it was outlawed, Qatar camel racers were using children as jockey’s because of their small frames. Not to mention those poor, poor midgets. Weighing only 57 lbs, this Robotic Camel Jockey is much lighter and more aerodynamic then a human, no matter how much you might use the sandpaper on the midgets head.

Both Oman and the UAE have looked into similar robots to aid child (and midget) welfare. We just hope these robots are well protected from liquid. From what we hear, camels are known to be able to hock quite a loogie. — Andrew Dobrow

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My lovely Vietnamese house boy might give a decent facial massage, but I don’t think he would quite compare to this robotic massager. Researchers at the Waseda University in Tokyo have developed the WAO-1 Face Massaging Robot, hoping for its use in the medical field.

The movement of the robot’s arms is programmed using a complex set of algorithms made to emulate the movement for a perfect massage, with six sensors measuring the degree of pressure being issued. No news yet if a home version will ever be available, though seeing as these cost a whopping $70,000, we would think home use isn’t ready quite yet. — Andrew Dobrow

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This marks the second missed Vista release date for Halo 2, and this for an entirely more ridiculous reason. Halo 2 will now no longer be the first Windows Live enabled game because of “an unfortunate, obscure content error which includes partial nudity.”

All we’d like to know is, where could there possibly be nudity included in a Halo game? Does someone’s testicles slip out of their robotic armor or something? Microsoft has issued a patch for the nudity in question, with future titles being properly censored. Supposedly, the nudity in question was “a photograph of an individual showing his bare backside to the user when a particular error occurs.” Oh, so risque. Turn on the TV and you’ll surely see more nudity than that on any channel, including Fox News. — Andrew Dobrow

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A research project by MIT Media Lab’s Affective Computing Group has sprung up RoCo, an interesting robotic computer monitor prototype. RoCo is not your everyday monitor. This monitor will be able to cater to human emotions and needs. How can a monitor cater to human needs?

…capable of recognizing and physically responding to human socio-emotive cues such as postural shifts in principled ways. These cues are inspired by those found in human-human interaction, to foster a more natural, healthy, and productive human-computer interaction.

Ergonomically speaking, RoCo is sure to work wonders. By strategically positioning itself, RoCo encourages the user to sit in a optimal position for their mental state and stature. The RoCo prototype has an articulated neck and head that can fluidly move in respect to its base. Researchers are currently in the works of developing algorithms to let the computer feel your pain. — Andrew Dobrow

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