The gadget's apparently based on a Japanese show about "a high school boy, his transforming cell-phone robot, and his six detective partners that fight against an internet-based criminal organization." Guess it might not be too upset if I compared it to a Transformer after all then. I'll still keep the "cute" remark and the $135 I'd pay for the phone to myself though. [XL-Shop via Technabob]

As part of the 6th ROBO-ONE GATE competition, biped robots learned and performed routines in front of a live audience. That lead robot from the Doka Project? She didn't win. Instead, second place went to this guy from Black Tiger Neo, performing Thriller:

(Disregard the fact that Thriller is not a 1:1 choreographic interpretation.)

And the winner was Ryuki Ⅱ, performing Joyful, Ikimonogakari.
Personally, I think those big feet are cheating, but picking on any of these robots feels like jeering a preschool dance recital. See more entrants at: [Biped Robot News via HackaDay]

Miss Baillie's invention solves one of the biggest problems in veterinary medicine. That is, once your hand is up an cow's butt you can't really see anything you're doing. Now, with robotic organs and a monitor, she can teach students exactly what they should (and definitely should not) be grabbing.

On a related note, Miss Baillie claims she is also working on a 'Haptic Horse.' Kent Smith may well have some ideas for her, as evidenced by this September Photoshop Contest entry:
If you'd like to be put in touch, Miss Baille, please let me know. [Wired]

Toyota's delivery bot uses stereoscopic vision and laser rangefinders and speech recognition to find its way through a sea of cubicles. [Plastic Pals via UberGizmo]

Aside from supposedly being the fastest runner and best jumper among similarly constructed robots, ROPID also responds to voice commands, with either action and speech. It's so talented and cute that I don't even suspect it could have an evil side, but I guess we'll see about that when it turns into a Christmas must-have toy seasons from now. [Robot Watch via Dvice]

Basically the the virtopsy bot (yes, "Virtibot") manipulates and dots the body with markings in order to measure and take a bunch of stereo images with its array of cameras. While the external structure and markings of a body are being documented, a CT scan takes care of the innards. The final 3D image is created which pathologists then use and abuse without worrying about deforming a deceased body. If need be, the Virtibot can use a needle to extract fluid or perform minimally intrusive biopsies.

Aside from being far neater than a traditional autopsy, virtual autopsies allow for archiving of the 3D bodies for later medical analysis or case comparison in the event of criminal trials. Not to mention that there'd never be another "Oops, I didn't mean to make that incision" hilarious coroner moment again. [New Scientist via Pop Sci]

The design, however, is pretty. It also makes sense:

Robot is created for gathering rubbish from street territories of shopping centers. Robot can gather big rubbish using manipulators. Two web cameras and sensing length element help to make estimate of the territory and find where the rubbish is. Scope of small rubbish creates by two diagonal sweeper-collectors, that sweep just close to the edge. Tank is put away from robot automatically.

It would be nice to see it implemented. New York, for example, needs a few hordes of these robots. [Coroflot via Treehugger]

It appears that Zaojun would have a tactile surface which you can rub to turn it on (yes, lewd joke intended). According to the designer, the receiver is made out of a Kevlar membrane which allows it "to answer your calls or listen to music." I also assume the integrated Bluetooth helps with this. You should be able to control the guy remotely with its router of sorts. It has some wireless charging capabilities, too.

It doesn't appear that Zaojun is coming anytime soon, but it looks and sounds mighty cool. In the meantime, I guess there is always those real life personal assistants that do more than just sit on your desk. [Coroflot via Design Blog]

In this particular game, Miruko scans the real world for virtual monsters (ooook), fixing its aim when it finds one. Then the player can capture the monster using the iPhone camera, which is connected via Wi-Fi to the robot. [Pink Tentacle]

There's trouble in paradise, however. Carl writes that Joules "does all of the pedaling," which sounds like the start of every sci-fi plot in which overworked robots rebel against their makers. Besides that little hiccup, this is a really cool project, and sort of cute in a weird nerdy way. [Endless Sphere Forums via Engadget]

Dubbed Ridge A, this magical spot in Antarctica provides such a clear view of the heavens that a "modestly-sized telescope there would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth." Scientists will be using the knowledge gained from the first Antarctic robotic viewing station, the PLATeau Observatory, to set up another 'bot operated observatory station in this dry and cold place:

The simple observatory is, in the words of University of Arizona astronomer Craig Kulesa, a steel shipping container that scientists "cut in half and insulated the crap out of."

Well, not everything has to be high tech, right? Hacked together or not, the robot-manned observatories are significant not only of the data they provide, but also because of the savings in comparison to a space mission for the same photos:

Getting a kilogram of anything into orbit costs thousands of dollars. The cost of getting a kilogram to Ridge A is about $10.

This means that the National Science Foundation is getting a heck of a lot of research done without the benefits of a NASA-sized budget. Not to mention that robots are far cooler than rockets anyway. [Wired]

In 2005, Jackson planned a series of shows in Las Vegas and planned, among other spectacles, a 50-foot mecha that would terrify people flying into McCarran airport as an advertisement for his show.

When he couldn't get enough money, he downscaled the idea to a Godzilla-sized robot that would stand at the entrance of a casino, with a moving face that shot lasers.

The money never materialized and Michael moved away, so it never got built. Oh, what a spectacular doom that would have been, drunken frat boys crushed by a giant moonwalking robot. [The Guardian]

Developed by the University of Tokyo, two baseball robots, a pitcher and a batter, play head to head in near perfection.

The pitching robot uses an arm from MIT and a three-fingered hand developed in-house (that's so nimble it can open and close 10 times per second) to release a strike zone pitch 90% of the time. Meanwhile the batting robot offers intense competition by wielding a 1000fps camera that can track the pitch in realtime, connecting with the ball almost every time it flies in the strike zone.

But before you get too excited, know that the pitching bot only throws the ball at 24mph. So it's likely that a classic batting cage bot could strike out more MLBers than anything coming out of the labs...for now. Researchers hope to increase pitch speed to 93mph soon and work curve balls and sliders into the mix. We'll see how well the batting robot (and puny humans) can keep up then. [Mainichi via Pink Tentacle via CrunchGear]

First, they saw chairs littered around rooms. Then they saw us. [CMU]

Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born.

Developed by researchers from Israel's Technion University, what makes the robot feasible is that it isn't self-propelled, saving size and engineering complication. Instead, the bot takes advantage of a magnetic field from outside the body, meaning that doctors can not only guide but also propel the the vein crawler forward at 9mm/second. And the robot shouldn't run out of power mid-procedure, stalling it in your body as it drifts for your brain.

When the robot needs to park, those little arms can spring out *shiver* and grab onto vessel walls *shiver*shiver*shiver*shiver*shiver*shiver*shiver*.

Now researchers are looking at beefing up the bot, adding extra tools and even a camera to the mix. And as scary as a robot-filmed reality show starring my aorta may be, it sounds a lot better than having several layers of flesh peeled away via scalpel. [The Inquirer via Newlaunches]

The robot makes the soup, which customers order from a computer screen, where they can switch up the amount of soy sauce, saltiness and richness to make the perfect broth. Uchida hasn't quite figured out how to completely replace humans yet, however, since they still make the noodles and add the toppings, though automating those tasks is next on his list. Still, even using meatbags, the entire process of assembling a bowl of ramen takes just two minutes. Yeah, faster than crappy instant noodles. [Mainichi via New Launches]

If pretending to rock is so hard that you have to pretend to pretend to rock, you should just go and eat your way up to 800 pounds and give up on life. [eBay - Thanks Ben!]

It launches in September for just $99, and is meant to be a social media companion. Your friends can interact with it via your Facebook page, and it can read messages off of Facebook to you. Its eyes reflect its mood, and will memorize 10-15 short vocal commands.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.It doesn't actually seem to do much, but it is kind of a neat toy for office workers and people who are in front of their computers all day. [MyDeskFriend via GetRobo via Technabob]