Steambots promise to delight, terrify

In a troubling development for the eventual war between man and machine, scientists in Germany have invented a steam-powered robot that will presumably be able to fuel itself with wood and water even after our descendants have managed to disable the rest of their mechanical enemies by cutting off their power supplies. Actually, the bot that you see pictured above is just a toy -- albeit an expensive one, at $300 -- that e-tailer Robot Island plans to import and distribute Stateside this summer, and we highly doubt that it's endowed with nearly enough abilities to make it capable of world domination. Still, we did see that movie Small Soldiers, so we know that sometimes even the most benign-looking toys can go bad.

[Via Retro Thing]

[APerson @ May 25th 2006 2:43PM]

Very cool!

[Petey Boi @ May 25th 2006 2:44PM]

Do they come in Blue?

[PodMonkeys @ May 25th 2006 2:44PM]

Thats really neat! I love steam powered devices! Too bad they cost so much tho. :(

The design looks really neat too. Oddly scary, but really neat.

[Todd @ May 25th 2006 2:55PM]

They do not need to have much capability - individually - to dominate the world. The "borg" or "swarm" principal is to dominate by sheer numbers.

[nivid @ May 25th 2006 2:55PM]

what about environmental issues, steam powered engines makes too much pollution..

[Elliot @ May 25th 2006 2:59PM]

Re: the eventual war between man and machine. Can I get preemptive a preemptive copyright/patent/trademark/dibbs on using "John Henry Was A Steel Driving Man" as our anthem when we have to rise up against our cold metal overlords?

[Kowalski @ May 25th 2006 3:09PM]

i, for one welcome our warm metal overlords

[Scabies @ May 25th 2006 3:16PM]

fuel itself with wood and water... steam powered...
Lets hope not, I can just imagine what kind of complaints or lawsuits would arise from the whole "steam is really hot and kids play with toys using their hands" idiocy involved in this design. Cool, though, I'd buy it.
...so long as it doesnt burn me. damn maniacal wood consuming automatons.

[steve @ May 25th 2006 3:26PM]

what if they are programmed for two things
create more steam bots
and
invade

[kbiel @ May 25th 2006 3:28PM]

The Consumer Product Safety Nanny...er...Commission will have a lot fun with this one. Fire, scalding steam and children always equal lots of joy.

[oshean @ May 25th 2006 3:42PM]

Shoulda named 'em Rusty Hot Bots.

[jjwu @ May 25th 2006 3:47PM]

Looks like a souped up Marvin the Paranoid Android from the television version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

[Brian @ May 25th 2006 3:48PM]

WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves.

Old Glory Robot Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.

[Petey Boi @ May 25th 2006 5:00PM]

lol #8

[james @ May 25th 2006 5:06PM]

Well, I for one welcome our robotic overlords...

[Pascal @ May 25th 2006 6:55PM]

Small Soldiers sucked..... Its main problem was that it was advertised and designed for children, but they sadly got a PG-13 rating, which makes it a very awckward thing to try and sell.

[furtim @ May 25th 2006 10:15PM]

At last, the kids can play Jules Verne! Did Jules Verne write stories about steam-powered robots? Well, if he didn't, he should have.

[Jacco @ May 26th 2006 8:20AM]

'All your coal are belong to us'

[james @ May 26th 2006 2:29PM]

I think there should be a law against submitting comments but not posting them until after I post a similar but less-funny comment!