Automata

We’ve Got Booze, Dames, and Robots in the First Episode of Scifi Noir Automata

Automata is a classic story of two hardened detectives solving crimes and scoring ladies in Prohibition-era New York City. Except this time, one of them’s a robot, played by Doug Jones. The first episode of Automata, Van Alan’s free, five-part scifi series based on the Penny Arcade comic series of the same name, is now…

io9 Beth Elderkin Jun 14

Watching This Lego Figure Perpetually Mow Its Lawn Is the Most Relaxing Thing

A few years ago, Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks created an animated Lego version of the tragic Greek figure, Sisyphus, perpetually pushing a giant boulder. Using the same building techniques, Allemann has created a modern version of that character, who now spends eternity perpetually mowing a lawn that will never stop growing. https://gizmodo.com/watching-a-lego-sisyphus-perpetually-push-a-boulder-is-1745614147 The kinetic…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski Oct 13

Trailer Released for Automata, a Sexy Robot Noir Based on a Webcomic

Penny Arcade has released the debut teaser trailer for Automata, a robot detective series based on their popular webcomic, with Hellboy’s Doug Jones as the investigative automaton. The series, which got over $500,000 on Kickstarter, takes place in an alternate Prohibition-era America where robots (called automatons) are the new liquor. Hated, feared, and regulated. No…

io9 Beth Elderkin Jul 2

New Doctor Who Set Pictures Tease a Fateful Return

Another Spider-Man villain is confirmed for Homecoming. A new Jetsons TV show could be in the works. Rosario Dawson has already exited New Mutants. No one can get their story straight about Spider-Man’s role in Venom. Plus, a new clip from the next episode of Preacher, and behind the scenes on The Last Jedi. Spoilers…

Television James Whitbrook and Gordon Jackson Jun 30

Watch This Fighting Automaton Battle a Dragon, Crab, and Rooster

Paris is the only place you can see Le Défenseur du Temps, a beautiful living sculpture, up close, but the internet is the only place you can see Le Défenseur du Temps at work. This fighting statue is now motionless everywhere except in video. Le Défenseur du Temps fought for our amazement and amusement from…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 28

Automata Is Brilliantly Original Science Fiction, Ruined By Cliches

We all cry out for original genre movies that aren’t just cashing in on existing franchises. But it’s sad when an original film comes out, and it just rehashes the classics, even more slavishly. It’s even more heartbreaking when you get a movie like Automata, which has a clever, original idea. And smothers it in…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Oct 10

The First Automata Trailer Is Finally Out and It Looks Spectacular

If Blade Runner and I, Robot gave birth to a new movie starring a bald Antonio Banderas, it would look just like Automata, the latest vision of our inevitably dystopian future. That future—or at least the way director Gabe Ibáñez has imagined it—also looks pretty dang awesome. Well, spectacular is probably a better word The…

Movies Adam Clark Estes Aug 20

Automata Trailer Shows Off A Robot Action Movie That Gets Robots Right

We’ll be honest, we did not know much about Antonio Banderas and Gabe Ibáñez’s Automata, but this trailer has us very, very excited about this robot movie. From what we can tell, Automata appears to be twisting around Asimov’s laws of robitcs, which is great. Also, we’re really happy to see that the robots look…

Trailers Meredith Woerner Aug 20

Tour the Wondrous, Hand-Cranked World of a Modern-Day da Vinci

This gorgeous experimental film by director Joey Bania explores the unique and dazzlingly creative world of Blair Somerville, resident inventor, tinkerer, and self-described “organic mechanic” of Popotowai, New Zealand. The film, which mixes elements of documentary film making with time-lapse motifs and stop-motion animation, focuses equally on the fruits of his endeavors (the hand-cranked tin…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Sep 17

The Human Printer: An Automaton Powered By Art Students

“Machines have less problems,” Andy Warhol famously said in 1963. “I’d like to be a machine, wouldn’t you?” Andy was born a few decades too early to see it through, but a group of art students, who go by the Human Printer, are now living his dream. The Human Printer, or HP (see what they…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Apr 24

This Neat Lego Automaton Can Draw Portraits

This is Legonardo, an automaton capable of drawing portraits. Obviously, it doesn’t have the complex clockwork used by automatons of old, like its Swiss counterpart made by Pierre Jacquet-Droz and Henri Maillardet in the 18th century. But it’s pretty neat anyway. Legonardo is made of Lego Technic bricks and powered by Lego Mindstorm controllers hooked…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Feb 25

Does this Marie Antoinette automaton dream of mechanical cake?

David Roentgen was the 18th century’s most celebrated cabinetmaker, famous for adding mechanical fittings and secret drawers to his ornate furniture. In 1784, he surprised his patron, France’s King Louis XVI with this marvelous automaton of his queen, Marie Antoinette, playing the dulcimer. The mechanical proficiency of this device is quite remarkable; even today, we…

io9 Lauren Davis Jan 19

This 200-Year-Old Mechanical Caterpillar Does Everything But Turn Into a Butterfly

Robots are so commonplace now that we use them to entertain kids at amusement parks. But even though modern technology has given us artificial lifeforms that can walk, talk, and even fly, there’s still something utterly fascinating about pre-electronic mechanical automatons like this Vers de Soie caterpillar dating back to 1820. https://gizmodo.com/how-can-this-1890-automaton-produce-such-surprisingly-r-5966510 It’s almost 200…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Dec 25

How Can This 1890 Automaton Produce Such Surprisingly Realistic Bird Songs?

It’s hard to look back at 120 year old devices like this and think of them as technology. Where’s the touchscreen, the OS, the battery? But this 19th century automaton that produces remarkably authentic bird songs would have been cutting-edge tech back then. And even now, it’s still pretty damn impressive. Originally created in Paris…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Dec 7

This 450-year-old clockwork monk is fully operational

This stern mechanical monk is a marvel of early automation; likely built in the 1560s, it is a completely self-acting device, with all of its clockwork mechanisms hidden beneath its cloak. Today, the clockwork monk can still scoot about, moving its mouth and arms in silent prayer. The origin of this automatic wonder is a…

io9 Lauren Davis Nov 3

10 Hilarious and Unsexy Historical Erotic Toys

Back in the day, our ancestors didn’t have access to the cornucopia of smut that is essentially the entire internet. No, in terms of prurient high technology, they had to make do with bizarre clockwork doohickeys that depicted tiny manikins furiously humping away. Here are ten of our favorite sexual automata of yore. (NOTE: This…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 11

The 5 Most Unpleasant And Undignified Ways To Die In Ancient Times

Antiquity was the pits. For every advancement in philosophy or mathematics, you had half a dozen crazed aristocrats high on mercury potions trying to remove your limbs in bold new ways. Here are five particularly egregious ways to kick it centuries ago — they involve (among many things) honey, wine, eels, and inappropriate touching. 1.…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 6

For $5,000, you can own a terrifying band of hillbilly robots

Hey hypothetical insane billionaire, do you have five large burning a hole in your tissue box pocket that just needs to escape? Have we got the purchase for you — a musical band of four leering animatronic yokels, courtesy of that miracle machine eBay. Mount these guys on your flatbed hovercraft and show those stuffed…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 7

Watch This Creepy Robot Made in the 18th Century Come to Life Again

Back in the 18th century, this automaton called ‘The Writer’ was built by Jaquet Droz. After more than 200 years, the robot has been reanimated and it’s way creepier than any robot made today. Apparently Droz had made other automatons but only three survived, others could draw or play the piano but it’s this ‘Writer’…

Tech News Casey Chan Jul 9

Who wants to own this creepy robotic version of da Vinci’s The Last Supper?

Do you have $15,000 to blow on disconcerting old automata? Well, have we a bargain for you! For a mere $10-$15K, you can win this automaton recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, complete with a tiny mechanical Judas plotting away. Here’s the auction description and a nine-minute video detailing the weirdness: The Lord’s…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 28

Automata

We’ve Got Booze, Dames, and Robots in the First Episode of Scifi Noir Automata

Watching This Lego Figure Perpetually Mow Its Lawn Is the Most Relaxing Thing

Trailer Released for Automata, a Sexy Robot Noir Based on a Webcomic

New Doctor Who Set Pictures Tease a Fateful Return

Watch This Fighting Automaton Battle a Dragon, Crab, and Rooster

Automata Is Brilliantly Original Science Fiction, Ruined By Cliches

The First Automata Trailer Is Finally Out and It Looks Spectacular

Automata Trailer Shows Off A Robot Action Movie That Gets Robots Right

Tour the Wondrous, Hand-Cranked World of a Modern-Day da Vinci

The Human Printer: An Automaton Powered By Art Students

This Neat Lego Automaton Can Draw Portraits

Does this Marie Antoinette automaton dream of mechanical cake?

This 200-Year-Old Mechanical Caterpillar Does Everything But Turn Into a Butterfly

How Can This 1890 Automaton Produce Such Surprisingly Realistic Bird Songs?

This 450-year-old clockwork monk is fully operational

10 Hilarious and Unsexy Historical Erotic Toys

The 5 Most Unpleasant And Undignified Ways To Die In Ancient Times

For $5,000, you can own a terrifying band of hillbilly robots

Watch This Creepy Robot Made in the 18th Century Come to Life Again

Who wants to own this creepy robotic version of da Vinci’s The Last Supper?

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