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Utterly Delightful Twins

Pushya and Pullya are a robotic set that that break away from the conventional norm of obedience. They are not the slaves we expect robots to be and are delightfully mischievous. Pushya is the radical sort who acts erratically, starring in those awkward moments of life; Pullya does the opposite by behaving like the perfect lad. Both don’t follow any of the commands that you dictate and do their free will. Hard to fathom Robos doin that, but like they say Yin and Yang, the good and bad co-exist in this world.

Designer: Paul Grader

Top Ten Robots That You Never Knew You Wanted

Technology maybe overwhelming for most us, but the future generation is so with it! They have the hang of ever little new gadget and gizmo that comes our way. Which brings me to robots; I can’t fathom the need of an electronic being to do chores for us. I can understand their presence in the medical and industrial arenas; but Irona suits Richie Rich the best. However looking at the current crop, I think it’s best to compile a list of Ten Robots that they never knew they wanted.

Designers: Various

Dear Diary, I Love My Robot

Hi, I would have introduced myself, but I don’t recollect my name. This here is Memo, my personal robot, and my only companion. I think I have kids, but I’m not so sure. People say I have Alzheimer and I really think they are loony! Let me tell you more about my friend Memo, at first I had reservations about his geometric form, I mean robos generally have an anthropomorphic shape. It took me time to warm up to his hard lines, but I can vouch for this friend of mine, he takes total care of me.

Designer: Watinee Leewongjaroen

Artistic Robots Have A Future

The year is 2058 and you’re bored of the drab walls of your home. Your change in mood is sensed and from a discreet corner a strange spider-like creature whirs into life and scampers across the wall. You’re about to shriek and then you realize there’s nothing to worry about; it’s just your handy, Artificial Intelligent artistic robot, stamping out a Mona Lisa on the wall for you. Folks, let me present to you the Da Vinci of the future: xirrou.

Designer: Christian Gumpold

Brainless, Heartless Scarecrows

The future of farming is here! It’s scarecrows with infrared ray sensor eye with a 16,529 square meter range for animal detection. Ultrasonic Wave Generating animal approach prevention. Solar panel wings for completely self-powered scarecrowery. Tripod legs for secure sentry standing. Bunnies beware of the shockwave! You gonna get jolted.

Designers: KyungRyul Lim & Miyeon Kim

Don’t Talk To Me, Talk To My Robot

The future of technology simply overwhelms me at times. For instance this Nokia Nia project that designer Sebastian Müller undertook along with the Nokia Research Center in Helsinki. Nia is a robotic communication device that strives to make everyday communication more intuitive. It’s that kinda device that takes care of your e-mails, messages, calls or news instantaneously. It adapts to your needs and executes operations as per your requirements.

Designer: Sebastian Müller

Robots Are Now Precision Surgical Assistants

Robots doing nip, tuck, snip are not new to the medical industry; therefore one would wonder what the agile MIRO is doing here. Well it’s here coz it’s a light-weight, versatile precision surgical assistant that will probably redefine open surgery as well as minimally invasive surgical procedures like endoscopic heart surgery. MIRO weighs almost 10 kg and has dimensions similar to those of the human arm.

Designer: Tilo Wüsthoff for DLR

Robots In The Army Now

As a part of the Inspectorbots series of Wireless Video Inspection Robots, the Delta Unit prides itself at being an affordable surveillance and reconnaissance bot. Its been specifically designed for situations where you would want to call the SWAT or the Hazmat team. Quite like the RC car that you like to play with, the Delta moves ahead and beams back live footage of the hostile scenario to the control center, without putting lives at risk.

Designer: Chris Rogers

Hungry Robots Devour Domestic Pests

PESTS! Arrgh! I know we don’t live in dumpsters, but lest roaches, flies and rats raid our home, getting rid of them can be such a pain in the butt! Instead of going in for toxic options lets look at the 5 alternatives given to us by the cool dudes at Material Beliefs. Lampshade robot, Mousetrap coffee table robot, Fly stealing robot, UV fly killer parasite and Fly-paper robotic clock. Hungry Carnivorous Do-gooders!

Designers: James Auger, Jimmy Loizeau & Aleksandar Zivanovic

The Zohan of Astromech Droids

I’m sure you remember R2-D2’s brief stint as a server on Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge. I bet you’re aware of R2’s fancy-smacy real-world cousin Bar2-D2. But do you know about Ciclope, the hair stylist robot? Hello there, friendly one-eyed comb holder, what are you uh- AHH! ALIVE!

Oh, you pour me haircut coffee. Excellent.

Designer: Maurizio Maiorana

Personal Spy, DJ, Receptionist, and Killer Robot

All this and more in the Spykee series designed by CR. This particular entry is about Spykee VOX, who obeys your commands by voice or remote. It can move around, play music (with a connected iPod), remotely control other electronics, show human emotion (or maybe just robot emotion) with it’s face-lights, and kill things (as shown by the picture with blood spatters all over it (?!))

Designer: Cedric Ragot

Writer Chris Burns Destroyed by Spy Robot

Meet Spykee, construct-it-yourself spy robot. It runs on tracks, it’s got spy gear, and it’s WIFI. It is the dream of all true nerds to have at least one robot companion. Ideally, they’d be happiest with a city college robot, but for those who wish to own their own, here’s the tiny one. Spykee.

Designer: Cedric Ragot

All Terrain Robot Goes Where No Man Dares

Let me give this to you straight…. not all of us are Edmund Hillary to climb high mountains and neither are we adept enough to traverse every nook and crevice to gather data for research. Carbon Emissions and greenhouse gases are environmental issues that keep hounding us. We need to monitor our glaciers in order to predict our eco-future. Tribot offers a safe alternative to keeping a tab on them and researchers can catch the action from a secure distance.

Designers: Jonathan Herrle, Josef Niedermeier & Ralf Kittmann