Wall-e
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Robot bears are coming for your grandparents
Not content to simply blame millennials for killing practically everything, baby boomers are now expecting the younger generations to care for them in their agedness. The nerve. Indeed, some 13 percent of the American population is now 65 or older, though a recent report from the Pew Research Center suggests that figure will nearly double by midcentury. Given that the current annual median price of a nursing-home room is around $92,000 (and rising), and because we can't just up and dump a quarter of America at the Springfield Retirement Castle, robots will have to start lending elderly folks a hand. Because if there's anybody who inherently trusts new and confusing technologies, it's the olds.
Ubisoft announces next experimental game for PC, Grow Home
Ubisoft announced a new platforming game for PC today, Grow Home. Developed by a small team at Ubisoft Reflections, the game features a red robot named BUD (Botanical Utility Droid), who travels across the galaxy to find a "new species of flora to help oxygenate his home world." While the game was built and launched internally on PC for Ubisoft employees to enjoy, the development team created it with a game pad in mind, as BUD helps a giant beanstalk-like Star Plant grow and climbs around it using the left and right triggers on a controller. Grow Home's universe features other floating islands, so players can branch the plant out to craft their own "playground in the sky." The game is physics-based and procedurally-animated, emphasizing freedom of movement and allowing BUD to latch on to any object should he find himself plummeting to the planet. Players will be able to launch off of giant leaves, teleport to other parts of the plant and use parachute-style flowers to slow BUD's descent, all while trying to climb two kilometers up to the robot's spaceship. Inspired by Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Pixar's animated film Wall-E, Grow Home will launch on February 4. [Image: Ubisoft]
Robot Hall of Fame inducts Big Dog, PackBot, Nao and WALL-E (video)
It's the sort of ceremony that's so magical it can only occur on even-numbered years. Inventors, educators, entertainers, college students and media folk gathered at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA tonight for the 2012 inductions to the Robot Hall of Fame, a Carnegie Mellon-sponsored event created to celebrate the best of our mechanical betters. This year, the field included four categories, judged by both a jury of 107 writers, designs, entrepreneurs and academics and the public at large, each faction constituting half the voting total. The show kicked off, however, with the induction of 2010 winners, the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, the da Vinci Surgical System, iRobot's Roomba, the Terminator and Huey, Dewey and Louie, a trio of robots from 1971's Silent Running. The first 'bot to secure its spot in the class of 2012, was the programmable humaoid Nao, from Aldebaran Robotics, which beat out the iRobot Create and Vex Robotics Design System in the Educational category. The PackBot military robot from iRobot took the Industrial and Service category, beating out the Kiva Mobile Robotic Fulfillment System and Woods Hole Oceanographic's Jason. Boston Dynamic's Big Dog ran over some stiff competition in the form of Willow Garage's PR2 and NASA's Robonaut to win the Research title. And WALL-E triumphed over doppelganger Johnny Five and the Jetsons' Rosie in the Entertainment category. Relive the festivities in four minutes after the break.
Sony patents method of turning TV ads into interactive mini-games
Sony holds the patent for turning television commercials into interactive video games, taking humanity one step closer a future resembling Wall-E, while the likelihood of Blade Runner fades to a distant, neon second. The patent describes one method of gaming as advertisement as a "commercial overlaid on frames of the television program allowing the user to play the game while the television program is displayed."Sony's patent provides visuals of various implementation processes, some of which include using the PlayStation console itself, along with the PS Eye, the Move or DualShock controllers, or a microphone. The controllers would allow viewers to play mini-games designed to sell products while they entertain, and they would enable people to purchase items directly from the ad. One drawing shows someone ordering a pizza by using the Move to select a large "Buy" button, and another has someone voting for a character with the X, O, square and triangle buttons.The patent also shows a microphone hooked up to the PlayStation console, enabling viewers to vocalize whether they want an action or romantic commercial. Another voice-input idea makes viewers yell out brand names to continue their shows, pictured above.The patent appears to work with internet TVs or screens attached to network-enabled devices, such as the PlayStation. If you've yet to disable your cable and hook up your PC to an HD flatscreen, now may be the time – or maybe consider that Steam Big Picture box when it launches. They can take our TVs, but they'll never take our PCs.Please scream "Joystiq!" to continue.
Robot Hall of Fame voting begins for class of 2012, Johnny 5 learns where BigDogs sit
It's that time again: time for Carnegie Mellon to roll out the red carpet and welcome the crème de la crème of the robotics world into its halls. Since 2003 the school has been selecting the best of the best and inducting them into the Robot Hall of Fame. Past honorees have included everything from LEGO Mindstorms to the Terminator. This year's list of nominees is no less impressive, with celebrity bots Johnny 5 and WALL-E pitted against each other in the entertainment category, while NASA's Robonaut takes on the PR2 and BigDog under the banner of research bots. There will also be two other inductees awarded a spot in the hall in the consumer and education category and the industrial and service field. Best of all, for the first time ever, Carnegie Mellon is letting the public vote on the inductees. And, while PETMAN was snubbed yet again, he's not letting that get him down -- the Boston Dymanic's biped just keeps on struttin'. Hit up the source link to cast your vote before the September 30th deadline and check back on October 23rd to see who's granted a podium speech.
Kanex Sydnee recharging station traces design to an unusual source
Kanex is an accessories manufacturer that has traditionally built cables and connectors for Apple products. The company has recently brightened up its branding and is introducing some new products that are sure to grab some attention. I was able to take some photos of the new Kanex Sydnee iOS recharge station at Macworld | iWorld 2012 last week, and heard a fascinating story about the origins of the design of the Sydnee. %Gallery-146080% First, a little bit of background about the Sydnee. It's designed to charge up to four iPads simultaneously. That means that it supplies the requisite 2.1 Amps of current to four individual USB ports. Sure, you can swap out some or all of those iPads with iPhones or iPod touches, but where the Sydnee really shines is in the area of charging multiple iPads at one time. What's nice about the Sydnee is that it manages to be both functional and stylish at the same time. In terms of functionality, the Sydnee does an amazing job of holding three iPads at the same time while feeding power to them through included USB cables that are just the right length. The fourth iPad (or an iPhone) must sit on the table, uninvited to the party. Now, about the style. As you can see from both the image at the top of this post and the gallery, the Sydnee uses a unique design that allows it to hold three iPads gracefully. There's a clear plastic piece in the center of the oblong "loop" that separates two of the iPads, while the third perches on the outside of the device. If this design seems vaguely familiar, than you must be a fan of Disney Pixar's Wall•E. The Kanex team told me that Sydnee's design was inspired by the Axiom, the huge BnL spacecraft that is inhabited by a "lost colony" from Earth. Whether that story is true or the team was pulling my leg, there is a resemblance, and the design is striking. Sydnee's not available yet, but you can sign up for updates on availability. The recharging station is expected to retail for US$149 when it appears, and you'll be able to get it in either black or white. I just wish it had a Buy n Large logo sticker on the outside...
EZ-Robot releases build-your-own kit, realistic Cylons due any time now (video)
DJ Sures' homemade Wall-E was the beginning of his project to bring personal robotics to the masses: thanks to his company, EZ-Robot. The startup sells kits that let you retrofit that Teddy Ruxpin doll in the garage into a fully-functioning killbot. $235 will buy you a wireless controller, ultrasonic distance sensor, wireless tracking camera, three standard servos, two continuous rotation servos, battery pack and software that'll let you control the bot without having to learn to code. The software also includes vision tracking (facial, motion and color), speech recognition and the whole thing will even integrate with your Roomba -- although we're not sure how far you'll get if you ask it for a sandwich.
Wall-E meets his Canadian DJ maker, turns into a real robot toy (video)
What do you get when you cross a dj with a "Canadian roboticist?" An almost true-to-fiction Wall-E, that's what. In this rendition of garbage-bot gone cute, amateur robotics enthusiast DJ Sures (yes, he makes music) hollowed out a U-Command Wall-E toy and fixed him up with some servo guts. The voice-activated, semi-autonomous modjob has a built-in eye camera that recognizes motion, colors and faces, coming the closest we've seen to replicating the CG-romantic. The whole AA-battery powered affair runs on the EZ-B Robot Controller software shown off by Sures in the video below. And unlike other past re-creations, this little guy knows how to get down without the need for sped up video tricks. Clearly, the Pixar-bred bot's become the unofficial icon of the homebrew robotics community, so where's his official counterpart? You listening Disney? Get cracking.
Wall-E gets a LEGO Mindstorms NXT makeover, tears up the dance floor (video)
Alright, let's all be upfront here. When you saw this Pixar masterpiece you caught yourself thinking, "Destruction of the Earth? Not so bad... if that means I get my own Wall-E." It's ok, other more robotically-adept Quebecers had the same idea. Except they managed to mix it up with a LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit and create a waste-collecting romantic of their own -- sans the devastation of our world. The brainchild of Montreal-based creator Marc-André Bazergui, project w.5 incorporates six NXT bricks, 17 motors and over a thousand parts that let the lovelorn bot reanimate his motorized chassis back into our hearts. It's an impressive feat you can watch below, but note the video has been sped up -- you didn't expect building bricks to move that fast, did you?
Transformable Wall-E gets recreated with some love, Lego and DIY skills (video)
Sure, you'll have seen Lego-based Wall-E imitators before, but few recreate both the cuteness and the basic functionality of the drone quite like this one here. Programmed using Lego Mindstorms, this adorable little creation can transform itself into a box (like the real Wall-E!), pick up and carry objects, look up and down, and even produce and respond to sounds. It can be controlled remotely or left to do things by itself. Follow the break to see it on video.
Interview with the creator of the Apple startup sound
We met them while they were shooting on the Apple Campus, and now the creators of the Dutch site onemorething.nl have posted their interview with Apple sound designer Jim Reekes (who also appears in Welcome To Macintosh). They met up with Reekes while at Macworld in San Francisco a little while back -- he's the guy that programmed most of the sound in the early days, including the famous Mac startup chime and the legendary "sosumi" chime. What's most interesting to me is all of the math behind it -- while making music is traditionally seen as an art, there's a lot of technical know how and information that actually went into the sound's creation. Essentially, you're creating a beep that has to represent a brand, and that mix of technical data with artistic representation is fascinating. Plus, Reekes definitely seems like a guy who's been around both the technical and musical blocks a few times before, and it's cool to hear him pontificate on all of the hard work he did back in the day. It's also interesting to see someone who has such a personal tie to a sound that is so ubiquitous and means so much to so many people -- an "ear-con," he calls it. Very nice interview.
Papercraft Wall-E checks email, dances a jig when new message arrives
We've seen our fair share of Wall-E mods over the months, and yes, we've also seen an impressive papercraft creation or two. But frankly, we've never, ever seen a papercraft Wall-E, let alone a papercraft Wall-E that serves a purpose. TotoroYamada took the time to concoct what he describes as his own personal Mail-E, a servo-equipped paper robot that's programed to check his inbox every few seconds and bust a move when a new message arrives. Cuteness overload is in full effect -- just peek the videos after the break if you've any doubts.
Best Buy selling 80GB PS3 with LittleBigPlanet and Wall-E
Best. Bundle. Ever.Seriously, if you haven't picked up a PS3 yet, there's no need to wait for an oft-rumored price cut. For $399, Best Buy's offering an 80GB PS3 bundled with a copy of Media Molecule's DIY platformer, LittleBigPlanet, and Pixar's cautionary environmental tale, Wall-E. That's about $90 worth of complimentary adorability -- an offer that we find difficult to pass up. Just look at those big button/robot eyes. How can you say no? Awwww.
Wall-E case mod is chock full of adorableness, win
Just look into those cute, bubbly eyes and tell us that you'd still rather keep your plain-jane tower if offered this instead. We know, you can't. While we've seen a number of Wall-E mods over the months, we've never seen anything close to this in terms of sheer incredibleness. So far as we can tell, this robotic PC even opens up his own optical drive, and he can also send out love letters to one "Eeeevvvaaaaa" without human intervention. A thing of beauty, no? [Thanks, Doug]
Engadget HD CES schwag giveaway: Blu-ray discs and more
Although the announcements at CES weren't particularly wonderful this year, the schwag was pretty sweet. In fact at the Blu-ray Disc Association press event some of the best schwag of the entire show was dispensed -- assuming you like Blu-ray Discs, which we do. You'd expect that if discs were given away, the titles wouldn't be anything to write home about. But in this case, the BDA gave out six movies and a few of them were not only the hottest selling this year, but one of them (The Dark Knight) was the hottest of all time. So we're passing on the goods to our favorite people, which is of course our readers. Up for grabs is four sets of the following movies; The Dark Knight, Batman Begins (Limited Edition Gift Set), WALL-E, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Pineapple Express, and Dr. Suess' Horton Hears a Who! We're also including a Blu-ray branded bag to tote 'em in and one lucky winner will also receive some additional schwag. If you're interested, leave a comment below and we'll randomly pick four winners for the discs and one of those four will also get a TiVo doll, a Cyberlink wallet and a few other goodies -- see below. The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, though we'd prefer to hear about your favorite CES announcement. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winners will be chosen randomly. Four winners will receive one (1) copy of each of the following movies on Blu-ray; The Dark Knight, Batman Begins (Limited Edition Gift Set), WALL-E, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Pineapple Express, Dr. Suess' Horton Hears a Who!, and a Blu-ray bag. Approximate value is $239.99. In addition one of those winners will also receive a TiVo doll, REALD 3D glasses, Cyberlink wallet, Samsung notebook and pen, and Rock & Roll beads from The Digital Experience. Approximate value is $5. Entries can be submitted until Monday, January 26th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
HD Wall-E now rentable on the XBVM
One of the greatest movies of 2008 (possibly EVER!) is now available for rental off the U.S. Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Pixar's Wall-E and all his cute, innocent and robot'ish charm can be rented in standard definition for 320 Microsoft points or in high definition for the always expensive price of 480 points. Spendy, but totally worth the cash. And for the seven folks who have yet to see it, be sure to check out The Dark Knight, which is also available for rental off the XBVM. "Let's put a smile on that face!"[Via Major's Twitter]
Disney battles with piracy on affiliate website
We hate to laugh at a situation like this, but it's just too easy. While Disney (and everyone else) fights to keep fraudulent Blu-ray Discs out of the Chinese market, said studio is also fighting another outlet of piracy: a website in which it holds a stake. In an admittedly bizarre twist of fate, Disney has discovered that several full-length, high-quality bootlegs of Wall-E were posted up at 56.com, a site which Disney's venture-capital affiliate, Steamboat Ventures, invested in just two years ago. We always heard that expecting someone to play by the rules when the only rule was lawlessness was a touch insane -- case in point, no?
Blu-ray releases on November 18th 2008
PIXAR's WALL-E is sure to be at the top of most Blu-ray fan's list this week, and while it won't be the biggest release of the year, we expect it to move the Blu-ray charts. The next big title probably won't be that popular with the Blu-ray demographic, but we have given up on predicting the popularity of titles like Warner's sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. For those always looking for a laugh, Paramount is offering up Tropic Thunder, which we hear includes a few references to our favorite HD format. Also this week, Blu-ray continues to get some catch up titles that HD DVD fans have enjoyed for some time like Lucky Number Slevin. This is about the best that November has to offer though, as the rest is filled with unexciting releases, but don't worry, December picks it back up again. WALL-E (Disney) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (Warner) Tropic Thunder (Paramount) Awake (Weinstein) Lucky Number Slevin (Weinstein) Blue Streak (Sony) Revolver (Sony) Southland Tales (Sony) MirrorMask (Sony) National Security (Sony) Encounters at the End of the World (Image) Extreme (Nat Geo) Heathers (Starz) Mad Money (Starz) Paris, je t'aime (First Look) Priceless (First Look) The Universe: Season One (History)
Roomba 530 Wall-E edition proves even robots are corrupted by money
It's 2008 and we've finally achieved the ultimate goal of modern robotics. No, not singularity... better: a cross-promotional marketing deal between the world's leading robots. Meet the Wall-E edition of iRobot's Roomba 530. The special edition Roomba is just like the original 530 only with the addition of that magnificent sticker for a extra ¥5,000 (about $50) premium. 400 units of the limited run vacuumbots are scheduled to go on sale in Japan for ¥,84,500 (tax inclusive) starting November 20th. Tsk tsk, what's Eve going to say?
Wall-E Blu-ray details seep out, it's unsurprisingly getting the royal treatment
To say that Wall-E was a hit for Disney would be grossly understating it, and that's evidenced by the robust Blu-ray release that's being primed for a November 18th release. Unsurprisingly, Disney and Buena Vista Home Entertainment will be releasing this one just before the holiday shopping season really gets going, and we have a hunch it'll probably do some record smashing of its own. The 3-disc BD package will include Digital Copy, Burn-E with Boards (PiP), Cine-Explor with director Andrew Stanton, Axoim Arcade: retro suite of video games with a twist and a few Blu-ray exclusive features including at least one that taps into BD-Live. So, are you going to hand over $40.99 (MSRP) to hear that sweetheart utter "EEEEEVVVAAAAAA!" once more?
