I saved this one for the last day of Robots in Music Videos week, or whatever just happened, because it is extremely epic. Just check it out and agree.

Beck had four dancing Sony QRIOs in his video for Hell Yes, which is pretty cool. At the time, there were only four QRIOs in existence, and are all present in the video. I will post more on QRIOs in the future.

Here we have Flight of the Conchords – The Humans are Dead. Apologies on the credits sequence but this is the only version in which they were dressed as robots that included the binary solo. I feel it is my duty to point out that it isn’t true binary but I guess that’s covered by artistic licence or something. Anyway, 7/10 for the robot suits, but there weren’t enough flashing buttons for my liking.

Enter Daft Punk, robot DJs from the future. Okay so it’s just a couple of French dudes in shiny helmets really, but they certainly do produce some thumping noise, eh kids? There’s a robot in this video mooching around Byron Bay. Check it out, yo.

Today we will be viewing Kraftwerk – The Robots. Whilst Kraftwerk weren’t actually robots, they might as well have been. Humanoid robots. Grumpy humanoid German robots. Here they sing about how they actually are the robots, so, who knows? I don’t think anyone actually does. Enjoy.

Next up we have Bjork being a robot in All is Full of Love. This video is really well made and reminds me of the robots in I, Robot (which wasn’t so great). The song is bloody good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA

Okay, so I am actually now on holiday in Egypt. If everything has gone to plan this post will magically appear on Monday morning and there should be one tomorrow and the next day and so on in that fashion until I get back. If the posts dry up, you know I have failed but rest assured I won’t give a crap because I will romping about in the sand, bazaars and swimming pools. Also, I have to say that what follows is a series of short posts because I was too lazy to write lots and lots.

Oh and there’s a theme – music videos. Robots in music videos. Yeah, that’ll do. Robots in Music Videos week.

First up is Beastie Boys – Intergalactic. An excellent robot with a forever awesome song.

BloodKeith, a robot hobbyist from China, has designed and built himself some pretty sweet robotic hands. The hands themselves have 7cm long fingers, with 5cm for the thumbs, and the fingers are simultaneously controlled by a single servo. The videos on his blog show the hands grasping various objects and opening/closing at different speeds. The first two videos that demonstrate speed are particularly creepy and, at 3am, concerned me greatly. The hands also remind me of the Terminator hand in Terminator 2, but made out of Lego.

BloodKeith’s blog [translated] via Plastic Pals

Muscle Jaw, om nom nom

I spotted these really cool papercraft robots on some dude’s livejournal and had to find out a little more, mainly as to why they sound like they might be a painful case of groin growths. There’s some info over at the Paperoid website – such as all the different robots available, what their skillsets are – in classic not-quite-there translation from Japanese to English. There’s even an untranslatable comic about the Paperoids available, which I highly recommend if you like to be confused beyond confusion itself whilst looking at trance-inducing colours. The models themselves are cunningly crafted into a handful of coloured tubes, that once cut and bent as directed turn into the mighty little paper robots.

You can grab some of the characters in the UK from twentytwentyone, here is Muscle Jaw, you can find others using searching prowess.

NASA and GM have combined forces to advance crappy Robonaut 1 (with his Star Warsesque head and his creepy fake muscles) into the sleek killing machine that is Robonaut 2, or R2 as he is known to his friends. Did I say killing machine? I meant humanoid telepresence-based space hero, so easy to get those mixed up.

R2 will be able to use the same tools humans use, things like hammers, staplers, sellotape, a bow and arrow, wiimotes, sticks of dynamite, spoons, lego, window spray, frying pans and, of course, big and dangerous guns. Probably with lasers and tiny rockets that make you go all dead. But that doesn’t matter as R2 will be floating above the world in the spaceosphere, hooray! Except that he will also be on Earth, forced to work in GM’s factories making sure people don’t get pwnd by those reckless and emotionless robotic arms. I’m not suggesting R2 might be dangerous or anything, but have you seen those lasers coming out of R2′s knuckles? My suspicion is suitably piqued.

R2 looks pretty cool too, what with its big shiny head. Rather like Master Chief from the ever popular youth video arcade game ‘Halo 3: Killing Stuff Lolz’. Go on, check out the likeness here. Okay, that was just a funny picture I found, real likeness here.

Okay, I am going to leave you with one more video before I go and hide, fearing that R2 has read this and is looking out for me. This is why we must fear. Meet Boba Fett Robonaut 1 (and Robonaut 1 doesn’t even have any friends to call him R1 either).

Robonaut 2 via Engadget via BotJunkie