Mr. Future

Bandai Japan just announced a terrific looking animatronic PC-Pal, based on the Tachikoma robot spiders from the Ghost in the Shell anime series.

The Tachikoma will connect to your PC via USB, and coupled with some custom Bandai software will move, talk, play games, record messages, play music and read your email aloud.

It looks like it will be a Japan market/language product only, and will retail for $114 this coming February. I wonder if they used any of Robo Garage’s Tachikoma work in their design?

“Voice Memo” and Minigame Software Pictured Above

Link (via Tokyo Mango)

Secret Fun Blog points us to a great collection of Tex Avery’s “… of Tomorrow” cartoons

While some of the humor is a little dated, the gizmo-centric picture of tomorrow, presented in glorious mid-century optimism is evergreen.

The House of Tomorrow (1949)

The Car of Tomorrow (1951), T.V. of Tomorrow (1953), and Farm of Tomorrow (1954) are here, below the fold.

Link ( to Secret Fun Blog’s collection.)

Read more

From the makers of the forthcoming Wall-E sanitation robot, Buy n Large Robotics promises to bring us Sall-E the vaccubot, Gar-E the yardbot (fully automated yard solution), Nanc-E the Nannybot (every aspect of your child’s health and happiness has been addressed) and Wend-E the (washing, drying, folding) washbot.

What could make for better eye-candy than personal robots as rendered by Pixar?

They’ve put together a fun shiny (marketing) site for next summer’s CGI robot movie, Wall-E. News tidbits from the site include Buy n Large plans for offering multi-tiered police service, the Buy n Large Xanadou Shopping Euphoria Pill, the “Ms. Nancy” line of teaching robots, and the “BnL Artificial Mate.”

Teaser trailers for Wall-E are here and here.

As for the robots, well, please put me down for one of each.

Link (via notcot.org and FilmSchoolRejects)

There’s a 60-foot (18 m) giant robot in Fujiyoshida Japan, who desperately needs your help.

In a hanger beneath the mysterious amusement park Fuji-Q Highland, the mighty full-scale Mobile Suit Gundam awaits urgent repairs that only you, and perhaps every other visitor to the park this summer, can perform. Time is short, and the Earth Federation is in grave danger, so each visitor will be equipped with a digital tablet to diagnose and repair the colossal mechanical anime hero.

Now, while this is right up Mr. Future’s alley, giant robot troubleshooting and repair does stretch the concept of a traditional amusement part ride a bit.  If nothing else, though, Gundam Crisis (the ride!) promises to be an excellent mix of animatronics, 3D CGI animation, and old-fashioned stagecraft, to help you get your robot-hero-of-the-future fix on.

Link to the official Gundam Crisis Site.

Link to the excellent Robot Watch Coverage (translated).