What we know: Designed by Nathaniel Mellor, these robotic heads (which look like the artist himself) can be yours for $75,000. It’s part of an installation piece called “Giantbum.”

What we don’t know: Why? Why??? WHYYY?????

[ Art | Basel ] VIA [ Engadget ]

I swung by the Automatic benefit art show for RoboGames 2010 last night, and was astounded by the variety and quality of robot art on display. Not only is it all awesome, most of it is for sale, and proceeds go to support your favorite robot competition. Also, if you go, one of the curators will molest you while two robots take turns humping your leg. Seriously… If it happened to me, it can happen to you.

The Automatic benefit closes tonight; the gallery is open from 5pm to midnight and there will be booze after 7. You’ll find it at the lowerDeck Gallery, 2295 3rd Street in San Francisco.

Check out a bunch of awesome robot art from the show, after the jump… If you’re interested in one of the pieces, I can put you in touch with people who will happily take your money. (Read more…)

By which I mean, this is my brain, most of the time. Obviously I need more ventilation. And no, I don’t need your help with that, thanks.

VIA [ Gizmodo ]

Sometimes, I feel like there just isn’t quite enough computer generated robot violence in the world. And then I see something like this, directed by Fede Alvarez. And it makes me happy.

There’s also a music video.

VIA [ Robots Dreams ]

I wouldn’t put it past Data to do a little bit of experimenting, but C-3PO? That’s shocking. I am officially scandalized. And so is R2-D2, who’s probably going to come after Data with that silly little tazer of his. This shirt was designed by Joanna Mulder, and you can pick it up for $20 on her Etsy page, if you hurry.

VIA [ io9 ]

Most robots aren’t what you’d consider to be inherently artsy, but they have no trouble following really complicated directions involving tedious and repetitive tasks. Like making mosaics. Which, you know, doesn’t really require any talent, so to speak, just a lot of time… It’s kinda like big paint by numbers. Perfect for robots! A company called Artaic is employing an industrial robot arm to pick and place little colored tiles to create as big a mosaic as you want, of anything you want, whether it’s a picture or an actual piece of art. Prices start at about $165 per square foot installed, which seems like a lot but is apparently quite competitive, especially considering how fast the robot can churn stuff out. Here’s a vid; the actual mosaicing stuff starts at about a minute in:

[ Artaic ] VIA [ Robots Dreams ]

These incredible paintings from artist Brian Kappel show us what we have to look forward to when robots are in charge. It’s gonna be great! It’s real artwork, though, which means that sadly, you’re not going to be able to spend 15 bucks on a copy for your living room.

Couple more pieces, after the jump. (Read more…)

Okay, just for the record, Pez doesn’t count as candy. And the only circumstances in which I would be willing to subject my body to Pez is if it came out of this:

Oh, and remember the robot with unquenchable rage from back in August? He’s back. In a game. Where you unleash him upon all the rest of the bots with stuff, many of which are sort of animated. Anyway, it’s a solid few minutes worth of mindless fun. Check it out here.

As always, you can catch the other Bots With Stuff from last week over on The Shoebox Blog, including a robot with 5 golden tickets and a robot with a job as a henchman. This henchman.

[ Bots With Stuff ]

At least there’s only one robot … Otherwise, I’d be worried about crossing the streams.

As always, you can catch the other Bots With Stuff from last week over on The Shoebox Blog, including a robot with really bad acid reflux and a robot with robot #11’s really cool jetpack.

[ Bots With Stuff ]

This is some test footage of a Bad Robot, called Bad Robot, from Bad Robot (the short film). It was directed by Ruairi Robinson, who’s also working on Akira, and is currently in post-prodution. Nobody seems to be sure whether Bad Robot is a sci-fi comedy or sci-fi horror, but I do know one thing: Bad Robot is Evil. How can I tell it’s evil? Two things: the smile accompanied by the beady red eyes, and the fact that it’s dancing to Shirley Temple, who as you can plainly see, heralds directly from the dark side:

See? It’s not the unnatural cuteness or the song about animal abuse that scares me… It’s the fact that she takes a spoon with her at the end. A spoon. The horror, the horror!

Oh, and there’s also this poster:

“Soon every home will have a robot helper. Don’t worry, your kids are perfectly safe.”

Now do you believe me? Look for this in 2010.

VIA [ io9 ]