Not that I’m obsessed over this movie or anything, but the folks over at io9 (via Metblogs) have video of a life-size animatronic of the robot Wall-E in action. He seems to have a wide range of motion and is very expressive, at one point rolling up to the camera, raising up a bit, and waving.
I’ve heard he’ll be making the rounds of the talk show circuit to promote the movie. He should also be making appearances in Disney theme parks no doubt giving Push a run for his money.
When the space shuttle Columbia broke up during reentry on February 1, 2003, one of the experiments it was carrying was called CVX-2 (Critical Viscosity of Xenon). It was designed to study the way xenon gas flows in microgravity. The experiment ran for 370 hours and the CVX team was able to download about 85% of the data while the Columbia was in orbit, confirming that it was working as expected. The complete dataset was stored on a 400MB hard drive that was part of the test apparatus carried on the shuttle.
It was initially thought that the hard drive did not survive the reentry, but when it was discovered to be largely intact albeit severely damaged, the project team sent it to a data recovery service. The contents of the drive came back about 99% complete, but it still took several years to analyze the data. The results were published just last month and confirmed that xenon experiences a sudden change in viscosity known as shear thinning when it is stirred vigorously. This effect is what allows whipped cream and ketchup to from flowing smoothly like a liquid to holding their shape like a solid.
While this wasn’t necessarily an earth-shattering experiment, it was fortunate that it could be completed as the lead investigator, Robert Berg, expressed in this Scientific American article:
He notes that the experiment could have only worked in microgravity, to prevent the xenon from settling under its feather-light weight. With NASA’s priorities shifting away from basic research, he says, “this is the sort of experiment that won’t be duplicated for a long time, if ever.”
In what has now become tag-team Ultimate Wall-E posts, a friend posted this morning about Gizmodo’s coverage of the upcoming toy at last weekend’s Maker Faire. Their story included a video of a rep showing off the remote control and talking about Wall-E will be able to do, but there wasn’t much of an actual demonstration because Wall-E was sitting on a small table in loud and crowded room.
Engadget also had a story from Maker Faire about Ultimate Wall-E that included a video (from Techie Diva, embedded below). This video better showcases Wall-E’s range of motion, including his head, arms, and eyes. The rep also demonstrates his collision avoidance and directional sound sensors. And while not implemented in that prototype, the rep explained that he’ll also respond to small number of voice commands.
After seeing this new video, I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these.
Update: A friend pointed out that video changed at some point. It would appear that the embed code I got from Engadget points to the most recent Techie Diva video instead of this particular one. (Incidentally, the original Techie Diva story is showing the same incorrect video) You can find the original video at Blip.tv.
By the time I started watching Six Feet Under, it was nearing the end of its run on HBO. In reading up on the show, I found out that house used as the funeral home in the series was not that far from where I lived. In fact, my daily commute brought me relatively close to the neighborhood it was in, so I made a mental note to go find it at some point. Well, I was never a very good note-taker so I soon forgot about it.
Jump ahead about a year-and-a-half. I got a new job closer to home. About 2/3 of the new commute was the same as part of the old commute. Instead of getting on the freeway, I stayed on surface streets, which meant that I now had to drive through the neighborhood the house was in, but I still never took the time to go looking for it.
Over time, I started trying different routes to work and finally settled on one that I have been using for a little over a year. So, not too long a go, I was on my way to work and happened to look to my right as I was passing through a particular intersection, and there it was. I can’t believe I have been driving by it nearly every day for over a year and never noticed it. The Fisher & SonsDiaz sign may be missing, but the house itself is pretty distinctive.
On the left is screen capture from the pilot episode. On the right is a photo I took.
If you’d like to see it for yourself, the house is on the southwest corner of Arlington and 25th St. in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles.
This post is inspired by a series of posts made by a friend. Given that today is my birthday, it seems like a fitting time to look back at one of my favorite memories. As it happens, this particular memory is centered around a birthday, just not one of mine.
Disneyland celebrated its 50th birthday on July 17th, 2005, however my story actually begins the day before. Disney was letting as many people as they could fit into Disney’s California Adventure stay the night in that park with the promise that they would be allowed into Disneyland before everyone else the following morning. Read the rest of this entry »
