spiders
Robots
Spider-Bot Pumpkin Is A Scary Way To Dispense Lollies On Halloween
9:20AM Sean Fallon | If I wasn’t so worried about traumatising the kids in my neighbourhood, dispensing trick-or-treat lollies in this creepy spider-bot pumpkin would be awesome. More »
Robots
X Prize Team to Send Swarm of Spiders to the Moon
1:53AM Jesus Diaz | Team Italia, one of the organisations competing to land a robot on the moon by 2012, is planning to launch a swarm of spiders designed to move fast and collect data through sensors and cameras. More »
Peripherals
Spider Mouse Is Perfect for Arachnophobes
11:50PM Jesus Diaz | Spider Mouse, Spider Mouse/Does whatever Spider Mouse does/Can he swing/from a web?/no he can’t/he’s a mouse/look out!/he’s a Spider Mouse! Sing this song in your head all morning. You are welcome. [Japan Probe] More »
Gadgets
Spider Drill Piano Produces Symphony of Cacaphony
4:30PM Elaine Chow | Brazilian artist Paulo Nenflidio, who’s currently showing off his work in Arizona, creates weird noise-producing sculptures like this robot drill spider, which ends up sounding as frightening as it looks. More »
Regulars
Image Of The Day: What Glorious Machine Are These Frenchmen Driving?
9:40AM John Mahoney | Children’s carnival ride in a blizzard? Final Fantasy III airship? It’s not what you think… More »
Toys
Remote Controlled Black Widow Spider Probably Won’t Last Very Long
6:00AM Jack Loftus | We figure this RC Black Widow Spider is good for maybe one, possibly two, good scares before a skittish family member offs it with a well-placed slipper to the head. But until then, you’ll have seconds or minutes of fun making this hairy little abomination scurry around the family room on its eight little legs. Requires six AA batteries, one 9-volt battery, about $US36, and a forgiving family that doesn’t instinctively squash something that resembles one of the deadliest spiders on the planet. [Play.com via Technabob] More »
Design
Walking Chair: Evolution Hasn’t Been Wasted on Places to Sit
11:30AM Mark Wilson | It’s called the walking chair, but we know better. This four-legged wheelchair replacement, on exhibit at Robo Japan 2008, is not about traversing uneven terrain or allowing mechanical creations to move more like organic beings. It’s about man fusing with both insects and robots to create a new race founded on pure 80s cartoon awesomeness. (Yeah, we know that insects have six legs and this thing only has four, but let’s not kill the moment just this once, alright?) [Akihabara News via DVICE] More »
Science
Spider Attack Simulator: An Excuse For Scientists to Torture Bees
9:00AM Sean Fallon | I don’t know what’s going on over the pond, but it appears that September is robot spider month in the UK. First we saw the 50 foot robot spider that terrorised Liverpool, and now researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have developed a spider attack simulator that helps determine how bees avoid camouflaged predators. Although, I think its real purpose is to satisfy a juvenile urge to screw with their tiny little minds. More »
Robots
La Princesse, The 50-Foot Spider, Driven into the Abyss
2:15AM Mark Wilson | We’ve been closely following the story of La Princesse, the 50-foot theatrical/mechanical spider that took over Liverpool, and in a tragic turn of events, we’re sad to report that the spider did not go on a killing rampage and was instead pushed into a tunnel to disappear forever. The night included pyrotechnics and fountains, not done much justice by this handheld video, but quite remarkable all the same. Skip to 1:15 for the best footage to begin. More »
Robots
