Awesome Robots

Fresh from IMAGI (who brought us the Astro Boy and Gatchman teasers), T-28 is a resurrection of the Tetsujin manga; it hasn’t been picked up by a studio per se, but it sure looks promising.

Anyone can build a simulacrum of Wall-E out of Legos, but Korean brick fanatic Gyuta has built a version that can transform itself into Wall-E’s cube form as well as motor around on treads.

Although we love robots and all, this Mr. Roboto Goes Sightseeing t-shirt by Philip Tseng is all about what you can’t see: a portion is printed in UV ink, visible only in direct sunlight.

Those intrepid papercrafters continue to amaze us, this time with a beautifully detailed version of our favorite astromech droid; R2-D2 comes complete with rotating head and legs.

Painstakingly created by Visual Effects student Patrick De Leon, this five minute Buck Rogers short film is a campy mix of real actors and rayguns, robots and futuristic cityscapes.

Done up like a near-future sales pitch (think RoboCop’s ED-209), this Elite Powered Armor trailer for F.E.A.R. 2 shows how to cruise the apocalyptic supernatural streets in style.

Finally, some targets geeks will appreciate: Olly Moss’ has a sweet “Shoot the Baddies” graphic that features our favorite movie and game villains. Note: vote for it at Threadless.

It’s not yet finished or stable, but Project Cloudwitch is a promising indie effort by C2 Estudio; there’s nothing like Robotech-style combat to get our heartrate up. Note: requires Unity Player.

WowWee’s Roborover is like Wall-E meets Oliver Twist, and that’s not a bad thing: this tread-based explorer bot uses IR sensors to navigate, and will even try to follow you in the dark.

Sure, robots could save lives, but truth be told we’ll probably make them serve beer: Jamie Price’s BaR2D2 is an RC mobile bar with an elevator and six-bottle shot dispenser.

There’s a whole mess of spoilers over at /Film today for Terminator: Salvation in the form of Playmates action figures; they ain’t pretty, but they give a peek at the various robot models.

Steampunk enthusiasts, meet the real deal: the Strenco ST-2 Steambot is a German-made robot that uses a Wilesco steam engine to run on water and Esbit hexamine fuel tablets.

Perfect for ethically challenged coders, this Wise Robots t-shirt takes the classic Japanese proverb and gives it a robotic edge: “Input no evil, Process no evil, Output no evil.”

What if Wall-E were real? Anthony Meadows’ Wall-E: Down to Earth (Part 1, Part 2) is a beautifully shot using a JVC GZ-HD3 with music from the soundtrack and Thomas Newman.

Poetically titled 19 Seconds to Find God, this striking LEGO diorama by Brian Kescenovitz instantly makes us think of The Matrix with robots dismembering minifigs left and right.

Didn’t get what you wanted for Christmas? True Jedi Masters won’t settle for anything less than this life-sized R2-D2, complete with retaining bolt, lights and sounds. Limited to 250.

We doubt the Mac vs. PC debate will ever be put to rest, but this Transformers themed short by Nick Greenlee easily puts those endless Get a Mac / I’m A PC commercials to shame.

If you liked the Robocop baddies portrait, this Robocop Poster by Tyler Stout will knock your ED-209’s off: it’s printed on real sheet metal. Click here to get the paper version.

R2-D2 has always been cool cute (unlike Ewoks, who were annoying cute); this chorus line by the R2-D2 Builders Club in California is a uber cool homage to our favorite droid.

V&A Steamworks’ Steampunk Lego Robots are detailed yet actually work, with motorized claws and gun mounts; also checkout their Batmobile-esque Steam Carriage.

Available 12/18 in Japan (Q1, USA), Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 may be the bastard child of two franchises, but hordes of enemies + mecha + tweaked AI = one sexy bastard.

It may not be a speed demon, but this six-legged Hexabot chair may be ideal for career couch potatoes; it was constructed by CMU student Rich Pantaleo for his final course project.

While we’ve never seen the Overman King Gainer anime series, this poseable Revoltech XAN figure looks good enough to eat, with a metallic blue paintjob and 3 sets of extra hands.