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.
Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E is still about two months from release, and I am definitely very excited to see it. However, I (and several of my friends) have also been anticipating the merchandise. Being a movie about a robot, there is strong potential for some really cool toys.
For example, some friends have a voice activated R2-D2—a Wall-E version of that seems like a no-brainer. Well, last night I came across this Gearlog story (by way of Engadget) that would appear to be just that.
Ultimate Wall-E is a programmable robot with 10 separate motors and sensors that will let him react to his surroundings. He’ll be out sometime this summer for $190 but will be introduced to the public at Maker Faire this weekend (not the 29th as mentioned in the Engadget story).
I didn’t hear about Spore (official site) until a coworker described it to me after E3 last year, but what I heard had me intrigued. I read a little bit about it online and maybe saw a screenshot or two, but I largely forgot about it except that I knew I wanted to play it.
