Well, it’s not exactly as advanced as you’re used to seeing in sci-fi movies, but China’s colorful robot-themed restaurant can be a sign of things to come.

They’re probably going to render us extinct one day, so we might as well enjoy their servitude, while it lasts. A unique restaurant, in Harbin, China’s Heilongjiang Province, has 18 different robots doing all kinds of jobs, from ushering in guests to waiting tables and cooking various dishes. All the robots were designed and created by the Harbin Haohai Robot Company. Chief Engineer Liu Hasheng, they invested around 5 million yuan ($790,000) in the restaurant, with each robot costing 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($31,500 – $47,000). With an average cost per dinner of between $6 and $10, they won’t be recovering their investment anytime soon, but it is great advertisement for what the robot company can create.

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Invented by MIT’s Kelly Dobson, the ScreamBody is an ingenious device that allows you to let out all your rage and frustration without having to worry about it being socially inappropriate.

As a kid, I watched a lot of cartoons where characters would just scream inside a paper bag, because they couldn’t let out their pain at that exact time, and just “unload” all the screaming later. I remember wishing something like that existed in real life. As it turns out, it actually does, and it’s called a ScreamBody. Invented back in the mid 2000’s, by former MIT student Kelly Dobson, this strange-looking piece of equipment is actually a portable space for screaming that contains all of your loudly-expressed emotions and releases them at a later time. Exactly like they did in those cartoons I liked so much.

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Mint Pass, a Korean tech company, revealed one of the craziest hard-disk concepts I’ve ever seen.

Named Mint-Hard, their new gadget will be shaped like an ice-cream and will be used as an external hard-drive. Users will be able to stock data on the ice-cream part of the device, while the stick is actually a USB-stick that can be used to transfer data.

Mint Pass plans to release its ice-cream hard-disk in the following flavors/sizes:

Chocolate (120Gb HD/ 8Gb Flash)

Strawberry (80Gb HD/ 4Gb Flash)

Vanilla (60Gb HD/ 2Gb Flash)

via Mint Pass

Designed by the people at Innerspace, The Seabreacher is a luxury, two-person submarine that looks and acts like a dolphin.

To tell you the truth, when I first saw photos of the Seabreacher, it reminded me of that super submarine Lucas piloted on Seaquest. Tou remember Seaquest, right? I loved that show.

The Seabreacher was created as a toy for millionaires in search of marine thrills. It comes in different colors and can execute jumps and rolls, just like a real dolphin, thanks to a 1500 cc engine, that can develop 215 hp. This beauty drives like a jetski when it’s on the surface, but can also go underwater for long periods of time.

The Seabreacher is anything but cheap, ranging from $48,000 to $68,000

Photos by REX FEATURES

via Telegraph.co.uk

The Cloud Project has found the perfect way to get people more involved in the burning issues like cloud seeding and nanotechnology.

Normally, most people would be less than interested to discuss such problems, but when ice-cream is involved, they become a lot more communicative. Using an old ice-cream truck with an industrial water-spray mounted on top, Zoe Papadopoulou and Cat Kramer managed to attract quite a crowd. Their plan was to shoot out liquid nitrogen mixed with ice-cream flavors, thus creating ice-cream flavored clouds.

In reality cloud making is really not that simple, but the concept really attracted the public and made them more aware of the problems we are facing. Real ice-cream was handed out together with important information regarding nanotechnology and its use in our society.

via Like Cool

This could be a sign of things to come, in a few years, desk-embedded computers may not seem like a novelty.

Designed by Marlies Romberg, a young graduate of the Utrecht School of Arts, Dear Diary 1.0 aims to be a fusion between the real world and the digital world. Here’s how Marlies explains her artwork:

“Personally, I am fascinated by how the world is changing into a digital world. To me it seems that; the digital world is personal but not private at all. For example, when I Google to find information about a friend, I will most likely find information about his life, his pets, his company and maybe a review on a digital camera that he has recently written. Notice that the digital verb ‘Googling’ has recently got the status of a real verb in the Netherlands. Just another example how the two worlds become one.”

Perhaps the coolest thing about the Dear Diary 1.0 is the porcelain and silicone Signet USB stick.

via Moco Loco

Wouldn’t it be great if you could take your trusty Xbox 360 with you anywhere and play your favorite games at any time? Well, thanks to Ben Heck, now you can.

Called the Xbox 360 Portable, this little gadget was created by Ben from a scratch redesign and has the following features:

* Built-in Ethernet port
* Built-in WiFi adapter
* Digital pushbutton volume control rather than a clunky knob
* Flush-mount DVD door and side panels
* IR sensor for the remote control
* Two user USB ports
* More air holes
* Jasper motherboard.

The two units Ben built so far are already spoken for, but check his website as he plans to get back to building these beauties as soon as he gets back from vacation.

Make sure to check out the video of the Xbox 360 laptop at the bottom.

The smartest autonomous robots in the world prepare for one of the most important robot competitions in the world, the World Cup of RoboCup.

Brilliant minds from all round the globe build soccer-playing-robots and compete in the RoboCup, to promote the development of artificial intelligence. This year, the weekend-long contest was held in the Austrian city of Graz and the protagonists tried to put on a show worth watching.

The Soccer World Cup for robots is not as young an event as you might think. It dates back to 1993 and, across the years, it took place in countries like Japan, Italy and USA. There are different league matches, from the standard to the smaller than 180 mm league.

In one of the leagues, teams use identical robots, and have the task of developing a software that can allow the machines to move autonomously. The dream of the developers is to one day create an entire team of autonomous robots that can defeat the human winners of the Soccer World Cup.

Photos by Reuters

via Telegraph.co.uk

Developed by scientists from Waseda University, Kobian can show emotions, perform tasks and is could be the nurse of tomorrow.

Kobian can express seven human emotions using his entire body. To show happiness this amazing humanoid opens his mouth and eyes wide and raises his arms. When it is sad, Kobian closes its eyelids, bends forward a bit and brings one of its arms to the forehead.

Researchers first presented Kobian in 2008 but back then he could only express emotions using its head. Some people complained its reactions were hard to read, so they constructed a more expressive body. Now this amazing robot recognizes its environment and is able to perform tasks.

Designed to take care of the elderly, Kobian might just be the future of nursing.

Photos by AP

via Daily Mail

I’m a big fan of crazy pc-case mods, and this log computer case has to be one of the most original I’ve ever seen.

Though it may not be the most environment-friendly pc case out there, the log case is still bad-ass. A crazy modder hollowed a log, made some slots for the pc components and thus created one of the weirdest computers I’ve ever seen.

The Log Computer is fully functional, although it does present some danger in case something overheats. But then again, who gives a damn about safety when you have something as cool as that in your home. It may not be as polished as the Wall-e pc case or the organic pc, but it’s definitely just as interesting.

via Tech E Blog

We’ve already posted some photos of the completed life-size RX78 Gundam, during the day, now we though you might enjoy seeing it in action at night.

Just like the Japanese said, the real-life Gundam in Odaiba’s Shiokaze Park has lights radiating from various body-parts, which make it look way much cooler when the sun sets. Check it out:

via Pink Tentacle

Designed by the guys at RoBe: Do Robotics, Three is the third software-ready autonomous computer to hit the market.

What’s great about this simple-looking robot is it allows you to use any netbook as its brain. Just place it on Three’s alluminum mount, connect it via USB and you’ve got yourself a controllable robot that can do whatever you program it to.

Three is powered by two 120 rpm gearhead motors and can be controlled via any Mac, Linux or Windows PC, through a variety of software languages like CC++, Flash AS3, Java, Python, Visual Basic and others.

The custom-built, 6.5 inches-tall Three robot is available for purchase at RoBe: Do’s official site for the introductory price of $399

via Gizmag

One more step towards turning ourselves into regular vegetables, the iShoes.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for progress, but some of these ingenious inventions are misunderstood by users and end up “helping” us in a very bad way, if you know what I mean. For example, these motorized shoes could make walking obsolete if they go into mass production, so the little exercise we did by walking to work, or to a shop, will be lost.

The iShoes are very easy to maneuver, you just strap them on to your shoes, and accelerate by pressing a button on a handheld remote. Using the iShoes you’ll be able to ride at a speed of 13.5 mph, turning a 20 minute walk into a 5 minute ride.

They are relatively easy to use, most people are able to ride at full speed after only a day or two. The iShoes run on Lithium batteries that take about 2 hours to charge and last about 30 minutes or 2-3 miles. They’re also able to take you uphill, thanks to their powerful 500 watt motor.

Unfortunately, the iShoes are designed to be used only in dry conditions, so they’re of no help if you want to use them on rainy days.

via Hacked Gadgets

Don’t know what you were expecting, but this is not some high-tech, revolutionary vehicle. It’s just an interesting home-made amphibious bicycle.

Li Weiguo is the man who designed and built this floating bicycle, and the girl riding it in the photos is his daughter Li Jin. His amphibious bicycle has eight water buckets that act as pontoons and adjustable vane wheels that provide the driving power. It might not look as good as other custom made bikes, but at least you can ride it on water and land alike, and that’s the whole point.

The amphibious bike was presented on May 30 2009, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

via China.org.cn

The last thing I want happening to me in a public toilet is be seen by strangers while I handle my business, but people in Lausanne.

Relax though, if you behave inside, everything will be ok. This glass and steel structure features a voir button on the inside. The toilet windows are transparent when it is vacant, but turn opaque when someone enters and presses the button. Now, to prevent a person overstaying their welcome, the transparent toilet also has a motion sensor, and if it doesn’t detect any movement, for a long period of time, OR if it detects too much movement, the window turn transparent.

Talk about getting caught with your pants down, huh?

via Pasta&Vinegar