Awesome Robots

No, not that Terminator; this dark and foreboding trailer, revealed at last night’s Spike VGA Awards, gives us hope that this videogame adaptation of the upcoming movie won’t suck.

Like Build-A-Bear for geeks, Robot Galaxy lets you build your own ‘bots from a variety of bodies, arms and legs; you can even go online to get new sound effects, eye colors and voices.

Marshall Alexander is well known for his papercraft creations; Series 3 of his FoldSkool Heroes is made for old-school gamers, with cutesy Atari, Pong, and Commodore robots.

A Japanese subtitled version has been up for several days, but above is the official two minute trailer of Terminator: Salvation; Apple also has an HD version for download here.

Larry is a firebreathing “robo dog” by industrial artist Lyle of the Mutoid Waste Co.; it’s powered by a Citroen 2CV engine and was made entirely out of old scrap in four weeks.

We first mistook this for an Iron Man statue, but it’s actually a villain from Marvel’s Thor universe called The Destroyer; true to form, it’s studded head to toe with rivets and spikes.

Colombian Mario Langer has a thing for robots; his junkbots seem to be made from all manner of salvaged components, including mouses, webcams, suction cups and alligator clips.

Designed by Tim Doyle, these three color posters of OCP baddies and the meme-inspired Robocop on a Unicorn bring back fond memories. Now, if only he’d do a 6000 SUX print…

Perfect for desk jockeys, My Robot Calculator not only does arithmetic but sports two clamps for hands that hold pens and knick knacks; he also has a magnetic back for paperclips.

Futurama’s “A Tale of Two Santas” is one of our favorite episodes, so we’re itching to get our mitts on this two-fer, which includes both the bad and the ugly: Robot Santa and Santa Bender.

Fox NFL Sunday might want to rethink Cleatus’ contract; he meets The Day the Earth Stood Still’s supersized Gort with predictably explosive results in this short but satisfying trailer.

We rely on the Terminator series of films to get our post-apocalyptic fix, so this animated poster just makes us giddy: the transition from downtown LA to a T-101 is brilliant.

He may be limited to a single motor, but for $30, Co-Robot does a fair amount of domo arigato, Mr. Roboto: the little guy walks, dances and even picks himself up if he falls.

Plasmic Bricks is a jaw-dropping collection of sculptures by Bryce McGlone, whose biomechanical creations push the limits LEGO art; his most recent piece is based on Giger’s Li II.

Lucky enough to be in Singapore 11/22-23? Anime Festival Asia 2008 is a must see: Bandai, Kotobukiya and Medicom will all be dropping exclusive toys from Gundam, Tetsujin and more.

Alright, so these Transformers Mighty Muggs don’t actually transform, but we’re really digging Hasbro’s versions of our favorite Cybertronian robots; it’s a set of 4 individually packaged figs.

Simultaneously cruel but a bit funny, this lopsided battle pits ALCNON, a 1.3 meter, 16 kg robot against a much smaller opponent; it’s like David vs. Goliath, minus the slingshot.

With spinning saws aplenty, Grendizer is at the top of our awesome robots list: directed by Paolo Lamanna, the action-packed video above also has Cinema 4D outtakes at the end.

Check out these leaked pics while they last: they show off concept robots from upcoming Terminator prequel Salvation, including the precursor to Arnie Schwarzenegger’s model.

Created for Saturn (think Best Buy for Germans), Evolution of Technology mixes robots and biology to explain survival of the fittest; apparently, we all evolve into hot, blue-skinned babes.

No, these actors haven’t gone mad: the desk lamp above is AUR, an MIT robot that uses a hybrid control system that lets it react to and interact with on-stage performers.

Arriving this month, Nineballs Seraph should have Armored Core fans excited: this snap-together kit stands 8″ tall and features 30 articulation points; it’ll even accept parts from other ‘bots.

Despite his name, HPI’s G-Dog isn’t packing any attitude; made with aluminum and powered by nine servos, he can sit, beg, crawl and even roll over to its side using a Playstation-like joypad.