Awesome Robots

Too lazy to get in the car and head to the local Krispy Kreme? Loosen your belt and get one of these insane machines instead: they crank out 1200-2400 fat-filled mini-donuts per hour.

Android’s little green robot gets a video game makeover in these amusing illustrations culled from around the web. Our favorite, Android meets Bioshock’s Big Daddy.

In this video from RoboGames 2010, we get to see robotic foes taking each other down, sparks and metal flying everywhere – in glorious 300fps slow-motion – courtesy of Casio’s EX-F1 digicam.

Metalworker Des Bromilow built a life size replica of Bender “Bending” Rodriguez from Futurama, complete with cigar and beard. He documented it all in great detail in a slew of posts on his blog.

Designed for eliminating structures in spaces where explosives or wrecking balls don’t make sense, the Husqvarna DXR 310 is a beastly remote controlled hydraulic robot built to perform a variety of jobs.

2 different videos here for Chinese farmer Wu Yulu, who has created an army of homemade scrap metal robots. Some of his self-described “sons” will be at the Shanghai Expo in person later this year.

What better way to share your tunes with a friend but with a tiny robot? You have to decapitate him and poke plugs into his eyes to make him work, but that’s a small price to pay for sharing, no?

Jazz musician Pat Metheny is currently touring with a robotically controlled orchestra called the Orchestrion Project – a wide range of instruments with whom he can freely improvise and control.

If you thought Segways were just for disoriented tourists and mall cops, you’d be wrong. These military-grade Segway robots are used for live-fire practice by snipers among other things.

Segway inventor Dean Kamen shows off his robotic, prosthetic arm, “Luke” on The Colbert Report. Amidst serious discussions about replacing vets’ lost limbs, Colbert still infuses a bit of humor.

Did you know you could still buy this childhood classic? It’s great for taking aggression out on your workmates, and it’s an alternative to playing Roshambo to make your critical business decisions.

Our favorite bleepin’ light-controlled audio synth is back with Thingamagoop 2; it adds analog and digital oscillators, an improved speaker, and an Arduino Programmer jack.

The 59-foot Gundam may have been dismantled, but it’ll get a second lease on life (and some Minovsky particles) in July: it’ll be rebuilt outside Shizuoka station with a beam saber.

Proof that you can build just about anything with LEGOs: Sariel’s Robotic Arm was built in just two days but includes movable fingers (w/thumb) and is driven by a pneumatic compressor.

This Behind the Scenes trailer for Transformers: WfC gets up close and personal with High Moon Studios, but the real treat is behind the devs: the animations are seriously jaw-dropping.

It’s not as tall the “real” Autobot leader, this 2.5 meter, 550 kg Optimus Prime statue can fight for freedom and toy licensing deals any day; it’s made with over 5,000 recycled steel parts.

He may have had a bad motivator, but Luke hit the jackpot with Artoo: this R2-D2 USB Humidifier also doubles as a moisture vaporator, perfect for dry desert planets far, far, away.

Jawas pride themselves on their scavenging skills, but Sandcrawler #94 still rues the day they happened on a stash of Grill-2-D-2s; this Jawa Que is not the droid anyone is looking for.

Mike Winkelmann describes Instrumental Video Nine as simple machines working together to create music, but it’s anything but; we for one welcome our musical robot overlords.

Iron Man’s better-armed half wears monochrome well in this slick 13″ War Machine Armor Statue; it packs a wrist-mounted cannon and shoulder-mounted plasma and gatling guns.

It’s hard to differentiate the gameplay from the cinematics in this Gameplay Reveal trailer for Transformers: War For Cybertron, but that’s a good thing; Autobots roll out 6/22/10.

The “A” stands for alternate reality in Ryan Nagata’s 1945A, shot on a $2,000 budget; in it, the Nazis spring a lumbering diesel-punk surprise on the Allies just before the end of WW2.

Loaded with an arsenal that rivals small countries, this 12″ Sarah Connor figure will send any cybernetic organism packing; includes assault rifle, shotgun, pistol, and combat knife.