Tomi and Kati Hyyppä created a spunky robotic beetle for Berlin’s Coding Da Vinci Hackathon. Their project took the “funniest hack” prize, and it is indeed amusing. Cyberbeetle is based on museum scans of the Chalcosoma atlas. Just like the beetle’s organic cousin, it dwells in a little wooden box. When it’s on the loose, the box tips up and reveals a “home entertainment system” with infrared sensors that tell Cyberbeetle it’s time to watch TV.
“The Cyberbeetle is usually a rather grumpy creature that crawls slowly and murmurs along the way, but as soon as the TV is switched on, he becomes very cheerful and dances little bit,” the creators wrote. We can relate. (Gif: Prosthetic Knowledge)
Q: What's scarier than an animation designed to employ the uncanny valley to terrifying effect? A robotic face designed to interpret the electrical signals given off by slime mold as human emotion. And also it's wearing a little top hat and scarf, for some reason? Watch the video, replete with…
Here's a pragmatic-ish application for esoteric tech art techniques: À LOUER/FOR RENT, by self-described "inventor of useless things" Niklas Roy. The piece, created for Éspace [IM] Média, a Canadian media art festival, features an "Á Louer" (yes, that's "For Rent" to you) sign installed in an abandoned-looking storefront. Whenever a pedestrian walked by,…
If the above video doesn't make you want to shotgun a beer and punch through a wall, I don't think I want to know you. Set to a soundtrack of ridiculous, chugging heavy metal guitars, we see engineers demo the Unified Weapons Master suit -- a technology that promises to…
