Watch This Autonomous Mecha Fish Navigate A Kiddie Pool

Our brothers-in-arms over at Gizmodo Poland have stumbled upon something magical. Witness Mecha Fish, so named by me because it is a fearsome beast that navigates kiddie pools and cannot be tamed thanks to a kind of rudimentary Bluetooth echolocation.


October 13, 2009

Incredibly Realistic Silver Swan Automaton Was Made In 1700s

If this Silver Swan automaton were invented yesterday, it would have surprised me for its realism, and the fact that it’s made of glass and silver. When I learnt it’s from the 18th century, it completely blew me away.


October 5, 2007
Uncategorized

Magic-Performing 1920s Chinese Automaton

newVideoPlayer("chinesemagician_gawker.flv", 475, 376);It’s not quite Asimo, but this Chinese magician automaton (read: crappy wooden robot) does one thing and one thing only: make other wooden automatons appear and disappear from containers (we don’t count sporting a bad arse mustache as a thing). It’s going to be auctioned off on October 28 at Skinner in Bolton, MA, if any of you are interested. Illusions, Michael. [Boing Boing]