Mr. Future

“Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.”
- Criswell, Plan 9 From Outer Space

As part of their excellent coverage of the 50th Anniversary of Sputnik, The New York Times is also running an article on the influence of the Space Age on pop culture.

The article runs the whole gamut, from Sci-Fi movies to Googie architecture, but my favorite part of the pop-culture sidebar is the inclusion of this goofy musical tribute to Sputnik clip.

Link - NYT: “When the Space Age Blasted Off, Pop Culture Followed”

Link - NYT: “With Fear and Wonder in Its Wake, Sputnik Lifted Us Into the Future”

Link - NASA: “Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age”

(via Paleo-Future)

If you’ve been working on building your own hysterical robot, we’ve found the comedy venue of your dreams. Japanese entertainment conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo is sponsoring a star-making funny robot competition in Tokyo this fall.Baca Robo (”Foolish Robot”) 2007 takes place this November 4th at the “Lumine the Yoshimoto” theater, with a cash prize of 500,000 yen ($4265.00!).

They’re accepting entries through October 5th, and robots that make it through the qualifying round will have 2 minutes to make the audience laugh. Judges for the competition include Mayway Denki president Nobumichi Tosa, writer/director Shinji Higuchi, and professor Masahiko Inami. According to the official rules, qualifying robots must be autonomous, under 7 feet tall, make people laugh, and must do so without the use of explosives, sparks, fire, or liquids.

As the old robot joke (as told by robots) goes:

“Waiter! Waiter! What’s this robot doing in my soup?”

“It looks like he’s performing human tasks twice as well, because he knows no fear or pain.”

<Ba-dum Bump!>

We can only assume this extends to comedy.

Translated Link (via PinkTentacle)

The Mechatronic Systems division of Kawada Industries (what a name) has improved upon the amazing HRP-2 design by outfitting the robot worker of the future for harsh conditions, from the factory floor to the pouring rain.

Nicknamed Ma-Kun, the amazing new worker robot is dust-proof, water-proof, and has an improved balance system designed to navigate treacherous paths and slippery floors.

The HRP-3 Promet II, a product of Kawada, Kawasaki, and Japan’s AIST, was designed with the goal of developing a humanoid robot with sufficient skills to destroy all humans enter the workforce. Kawada hopes to court employers by offering the Promet II at $120,000 per robot by 2010.

After spending 5 years and $3.3 million to develop the robot, the group wisely hired anime-mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi, known for his work on Gundam and Patlabor, to give Promet his “we got our development money’s worth” futuristic look.

Depending on its task, the robot can be configured to work autonomously or via wireless remote.

There’s a good write-up at Pink Tentacle, and a translated version of a very thorough Robot Watch article here.

UPDATE: Here’s a streaming version of the RobotWatch video files, posted by JapanProbe:

From ABC News:

“A robot will be master of ceremonies for a South Korean wedding this weekend in what its creators claim will be a world first. Hanool Robotics says Tiro the robot will assist at the civil wedding ceremony for Seok Gyeong-Jae, one of the engineers who designed it, at Daejeon, south of Seoul on Sunday.”

“Other robots will be used to guide guests or give performances at the wedding ceremony.”

It’s only a matter of time before the Tiro the wedding-bot catches up with electric monk technology.

Link (via digg.com Image is from Physorg.com)