b1.robot.am spotted these super kawaii robots produced by Megahouse. Nice way to introduce your girlfriend to robotics... Seems that these micro-plastic-chiocolate bots are non made in Tirol but China anyway you can buy one on Strapia Wold at ca $6 each.
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Input your name and genzu.net will generate your very own custom robot! This is a "classic" in the Japanese blogosphere but seems that this site never crossed the Japanese borders...
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This is the video of the tingeypa's submission for the Microsoft Dare To Dream contest. The contest required entrants to build an embedded application using the new Micro .Net framework which allows C# programming on a resource constrained platform. The entry needed to use a prototyping board with touch screen provided Microsoft. My entry was a touchscreen driven programming & execution environment called Brickstick that allows Lego IO to be connected to the prototyping board and programed and run controlled without the use of a PC. All programming and execution is done through the touch screen. This makes it easy to build remote controlled robot with sophisticated features, without the complexity of a complex programming environment. My entry used a number of complex I/O types utilising the I2C bus such as the NXTCam, NXTServo and PFMate, all designed and built by Mindsensors.

OK, now tell me that Japan is not the geek paradise. Now you can buy a kigurumi costume to dress like the famous Asimo: the biped robot from Honda! Ok, you must be less taller than 175 cm but nothing is perfect after all. Tjis costume is sold by several Japanese online shops at 37.500 yen (tax included) and needs 5 days to be delivered. Seems perfect for Comicon!
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Nissin have produced a limited edition of Mini Gunpla Cup Noodles (a brand of instant ramen noodle) to celebrate the 30th aniversary of the Gundam robot anime series. There are 4 different model kits (Gundam RX78, ZAKU II, CHAR ZAKU II and the DOM). These GUNPLA CUP NOODLES (GUNPLA = Gundam Model Kits) will be released the 31th August: the last day of the 1/1 Gundam in Odaiba. It’s quite ironic since the Gunpla contained are in 1/380 scale: the smallest Gundam model kits ever produced by Bandai!
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Japanese robot craftman ClockWork created Hina: an uber cute manga robot based Kondo KHR-2HV (it uses 20 digital servo KRS-788HV).

Via: Nerd With Swag  A man from Ibaraki ken spent 11 years building this eleven meters long funtioning robot!!
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Who said GOD desn't love technology?!  Go to Ebay and save your techno soul!!! Halleluya!!

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Kazushi Kobayashi is a Japanese 3D artist who created a CHUBU 01: a robot from a parallel reality post war Japan, where the bots are the primary transport system. The style of these post-steampunk machines is so unique that the Tokyo Cultuart design shop in Tokyo (produced by the legendary BEAMS) selected it to be displayed in the Harajuku showroom.
The Chubu costs 28.000 Yen (ca $350): a pretty impressive price tag for a kit that needs to be build and colored before being put in our very own mecha collection.
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NetTansorWeb, Bandai's new robot showed during Robot Japan 2008, can be controlled via WiFi and got a videocamera for surveillance. This robot can send you reports to your PC or mobile phone. What make's it really cool is that it can actually blog. The only problem is that after less than 3 hours yoru are away from home the NetTansorWeb is going to sleep since the battery dries out pretty fast...

If you like Takoyaki ( a popular Japanese dumpling, originating from Osaka, made of batter, diced octopus and vegetables) this robot will make your dreams come true: you don't need anymore to go to Japan to eat delicious Takoyaki, just switch on the robot with the super sexy controller and the octopus balls will be prepared and ready to be eat in few minutes!
If they will put a robot like this in a UFO Catcher machine it would be super succefull among Japanese Gamers!!


There are more photos  and a video on Robot Watch.

During Robone contests in Japan I saw many robot wearing anime character costumes, but this one spotted by Robot Watch is on a different level and I think is the first example of true robot cosplay (or maybe I'm just too much in love with Hatsune Miku...) 

I just found this Vocaloid 2 Miku custom version of the Sony Rolly SEP-10BT (the rolling robot that dances while playing MP3, ATRAC or AAC files). I think Rolly can't get any better!!

Next 24 February, during Wonderfestival 2008 Winter , Kaiyodo will sale (three months before official release) the Revoltech Edition of  Guren Lagann from TV anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann created by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami.
The package on sale during Wonfes at the Gainax booth will feature a special "omake": a drill-shaped key (in 1/1 scale) found by Simon: the fourteen year-old digger from Giha village protagonist of the anime.

Yesterday, my friend Sawa from JR Propo, invited my to a really cool shinenkai (new year Japanese celebration party): after a traditional Japanese dinner some of the most famous robot hobbysts started to fight with their crazy robots...  It's has been one of the coolest party I ever attended and I'm really sorry that my digital camera died before I could take some high res photos so I had to use my shitty mobile phone camera...

(via XRC ITALIA) The latest issue of our  hobby magazine has just been released in Italian newstands. A really cool news is the new Hitech Mavin Robot. I first saw this little bot during last Nuremberg Toy Fair and seems that it's finally been releasead in the European market. What I like of this little robot, beside the accessible price, is the fact that you can choose several blocks (modules) to modify the characteristics of the bot: something like a mix between a Lego robot and the Denshi blocks from Gakken with a little retro touch (the design rminds me the Movit robots from the 80's). The only thing missing from the package is a MAC OSX version of the icon–based visual programming software (right now it's just compatible with  Windows).


There is a free contest for the italian readers of the magazine but I just found out that this contest is actually open to anyone and you can win one robot here.

Applications:

- Line tracer, detect and follow line
- Light tracer, interaction with light
- Sound tracer, respond to sound
- Pathfinder, navigate a maze
- Robot sports, soccer, sumo

Sensor Modules Included:

- LCD display
- 7 segment led display
- Speaker
- 3 x Tactile Switch
- Light detection
- 4 x LED
- Touch sensor
 
System Requirements

- Windows Xp
- Intel® Pentium® 3 or better
- 1 available USB port
- CD-ROM drive
- 256 MB or RAM minimum
- 300 MB harddisk space
- XGA display [1024x768]

Hatsune Miku mania seems getting bigger and bigger and we finally got the Miku robot dancing on Vocaloid 2 tunes...  to celebrate Miku chan we added a new widget (on the right column of this page) with a selection of the best songs produced by japanese otakus and posted on Nico Nico!

Original NicoNico video is here.

Today we visited the AM show in Makuhari Messe and we spotted the Robo Catcher: a Ufo Catcher (claw vending machine or toy crane machine)  that features a Robo One class robot (Kondo KHR) . It will be distributed in Japanese videogame centers from november. (Thanks to our shitty camera we used a photo from Robowatch). A prototype version of this ufo catcher has been posted back in february.

Update: a YouTube video of Robo Catcher.

(via) Microsoft and The japanese company Tmsuk on 7h september announced that the will collaborate and introduce “Microsoft Robotics Studio” in the various robots which are developed by the japanese company in collaboration with Waseda University and Japanese government . This will improve the interoperability between the various robots. All the software for hobbystic and  accademic robots are anyway programmed on Windows platform (and it's a pain to swith for example from Robonova to THR 1) so in this case Microsoft is doing something good trying to create a common platform... (this post has been written on a pure !00% Window free Mac).

photo: Robot Impress
Seems that we can finally buy our own Patlabor!
KitaKyushu - July 17th, Tmsuk Corporation (read TEMKAZU) announced the rescue robot “T-53 ENRYU” which has been developed to be used in case of disasters as a rescue robot.  This robot (size 140×232×280cm and 2.95t of weight) looks like coming out from the design sketches of our old friend Junji Okubo (mecha designer of the legendary Steel Battalion for  Xbox and author of the mechabook INDUSTRIAL DIVINITIES). Thanks to the official support of the government it's possibile to acquire an official "robot vehicle number"  so travelling on a normal road is legal for the first time. 


KitaKyushu - Il T53 è un HYPER RESCUE ROBOT realizzato dalla giapponese Tmsuk per essere utilizzato in situazioni di emergenza dove la presenza umana non è possibile.  Questo robot sembra uscito da uno dei disegna del nostro vecchio amico Junji Okubo (mecha designer del mitico Tekki per Xbox e autore del libro Industrial Divinities).
Grazie ad un accordo con il governo giapponese il T53 può anche essere dotato di una speciale targa per robot che permette a questo gioiello meccanico di circolare legalmente sulle strade!
(modello T52 con accanto il pilota)

Finalmente è arrivato il grande giorno, ma prima di correre al cinema vi consigliamo di leggere l'articolo pubblicato sull'ultimo numero di WIRED e visitare questo blog italiano dedicato ai Transformers e farvi una cultura su questa serie leggendaria (e sul film).
Buon Transformers Day e non dimenticate il videogioco ufficiale disponibile da domani per Playstation 3, Wii e tutte le principali piattaforme da gioco.


Altri link da non perdere Flickr (con la raccolta di fotografie scattate dai lettori di Wired), recensione del film (su Multiplayer.it) e l'intervista ai produttori del gioco (da Everyeye).  

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Ecco un video del nostro amico Kazutaka Sawa della ditta giapponese JR Propo.
Ovviamente è un maniaco di robot (il suo nick è Zak) e si coccupa della ricerca e sviluppo dei robot amatoriali che stanno spopolando in Giappone.
Fra il 24 e il 25 marzo ha partecipato all'evento Robo-One a Tokyo (il video invece è stato registrato durante la fiera di modellismo di Tokyo di ottobre).

Il gruppo di videogame hacking canadese Atrium 42  ha creato un piccolo robot che può essere gestito tramite il DS.
Cliccando qui, dopo aver inserito il vostro Nickname, grazie a una webcam potrete provare direttamente il robot che sta nel magazzino del team Atrium 42. I comandi sono molto semplici, ed è veramente divertente come sistema di promozione online.
Qui in basso invece è possibile seguire le operazioni necessarie per il montaggio.
(noi ovviamente abbiamo già ordinato il nostro RoboDS).