It’s been too long since I’ve featured some robots, so I bring you Anna P. Smith’s gear-laden creatures, constructed from broken machines and electronics.
She does some traditional creatures…
And some anatomical anomalies…
Have a look at her gallery. Wonderful stuff!
Expert toy customizer Cris Rose has designed one of the most unique figures I’ve seen this year: the Runcible, hand painted with resin casting. Click photos to enlarge.
Each Edition has something different cast into the clear head, the visual representation of what Runcible is thinking of, as he has no voice.
Isn’t that wonderful? I’m just glad my own head doesn’t work that way.
Rose’s grandfather, a radio repairman, was the inspiration for the series. He says
“Edition A “Grandfather” contains an original 1940/50s radio part of my Grandfather’s – unique and beautiful in it’s own way. I have a limited number of these parts that I’m willing to part with as part of this project, some pristine, some decalyed, but 1 will be incorporated each time an Edition is released. As you can imagine, the uniqueness and sentimental value of this piece is high.”
I love this concept. When my grandmother passed away, it meant a lot to me to keep pieces of her costume jewelry (worth nothing monetarily) for use in future handmade jewelry and art projects. It’s a small slice of immortality and tribute that I find quite meaningful.
More pictures of the process and finished Runcible sculptures are on Cris Rose’s site, along with an impressive gallery of other custom works.
And one of my favorite blogs, Toys R Evil has more photos and information (including the fictional story/bio of Runcible).
Japan’s Business Design Laboratory (site translation tickling the threshold of humor) makes the rather disarming, interactive ifbot.
ifbot comprehends his conversation partner’s words, reacts with a variety of expressions, and can engage in expressive conversations. ifbot displays such emotions as “happy”, “embarrassed”, “angry”, “sad”, “disappointed”, “excited”, “annoyed”, and “depressed” with subtle movements of his eyes and eyelids, and facial expressions by LED. He carries tens of thousands of distinct verbal communication scenes. ifbot aims to provide comforting conversations as a true member of the family.
Do you feel comforted yet?
You can read ifbot’s priceless profile and view an anatomical chart.
He likes “Sweet Dumplings and other sweets…talking and studying earthlings.”
Me too, ifbot. Me too.
The WEEE Man is not only a robot one might expect to see in post-apocalyptic sci-fi; it’s a statement.
The WEEE man, designed by Paul Bonomini, is a huge robotic figure made of scrap electrical and electronic equipment. It weighs 3.3 tonnes and stands seven meters tall – representing the average amount of e-products every single one of us throws away over a lifetime.
If I were in the UK, I’d like to pay WEEE Man a visit.
Roman Sock just posted quite an accomplishment: Falstaff the robot.
This tiny crocheted creature has the most impressive range of emotion I’ve ever seen in a robot creation. Look!
Falstaff is joyful…all is right with the world.
But a simple turn of the head makes him pensive, perhaps nostalgic.
Turn him a little more and he’s positively dejected.
I just want to take him home and make sure he’s never sad again.
I definitely need to keep up with Roman Sock’s posts.
Sometimes there’s a moment of synergy that makes me feel aligned with the universe.
Right on the tail of my Eric Joyner Post, which centered around my desire to live in a world filled entirely with robots and donuts, a friend with no knowledge the post forwarded THIS to me after receiving it from a co-worker:
Source (I hope these kind strangers don’t mind the citation)
Someone out there has made my fantasy a sweet, sweet reality!
Supposedly, we attract the energy we put out into the universe. I guess my personal “Robot and Donuts” energy was strong enough to produce immediate returns! I promise to use this power only for good.
Eric Joyner has a penchant for painting two of my very favorite things: robots and donuts. Even better, robots and donuts TOGETHER, larger than life!
Can I please live in these fictional worlds? I’ll take the possibility of imminent destruction by robots if I can have mountains of dounuts.
Is it strange that I “relate emotionally” to this fellow? I like to be left alone with my treats.
Joyner also has a short animation, in which some of my favorite paintings come to life:
I need this book in a major way.
This combination of imagery does something wonderful to me on a fundamental level.
Toby Atticus Fraley designs custom found-object robots (many of which also serve as decorative lighting). I particularly enjoy the sense of *enthusiasm* he conveys with the use of very simple parts.
These robots love life. Probably more than most of the humans you know.
He also does wonderfully retro inspired sculpture and paintings.
Styrobot has a lot of great attributes. Chief among them is the fact that I could really stand a chance against him in a fight.
Not that I would want to destroy a creation of such meticulous craftsmanship and splendid design. It’s just that tiny, pixie-ish women can rarely boast a chance against anything large and/or menacing.
Maybe I could just…hold him over my head to look tough for a minute, then call a truce.
Inspired by Michael Salter’s Styrofoam Robots, this one was put together by a father and son team from five years of accumulated foam.
So dad, when are we going to make a giant robot from five years of obsolete electronics?
I’m a sucker for cute robots. I wish I had owned a Hootbot in 1985. He’s got a little Wall-E thing going on.
In a time when new robot abilities were part of their allure, I enjoy Hootbot’s utter uselessness. Watch him in “action:”
That’s some damn fine twitching and blinking! Oh Hootbot, I love you.
Now that I’ve found The Old Robots site, I may have to incorporate some kind of regular robot feature.
SheWalksSoftly 
