Have you ever taken a look at one of those dancing stuffed children’s toys and wondered just what the insides look like? Well, if you’re reading this site, then it’s a safe bet that you’re not alone. (However, if you’ve ever looked at something which was alive and wondered what the insides look like, you’re definitely in the wrong place.) Artist Matt Kirkland has taken that extra step and actually opened up 25 toy robots and exposed their inner workings for all to see.

I have to say that I never really expected something so dark and menacing to come out of Barney (or maybe I did). You have to check out the full gallery, as some of those bots are just downright creepy without their furry exteriors.

[ MattKirkland ] VIA [ RobotLiving ]

When I think about the kind of robot companion that I’d like to have, I usually thing of something big and menacing. However, other people tend to go for the cute and cuddly route, which is why Sega created the Dream Dog DX Golden Retriever.

This new robo pooch looks to be one of the best of its kind that we’ve seen. I’ve just never bought into the whole futuristic-looking animal robots, as they just end up looking very cheap and, well, plastic. But looks aside, the Dream Dog DX can respond to voice commands such as sit, roll over and speak. He even nips at your fingers when you play with his nose and will make very realistic dog sounds. If cute bots are your thing, then you can adopt one of these in September for around $276.

[ SegaToys ] VIA [ Dvice ]

This, right here, is why I love robotics. And why I wish I was better at the DIY stuff. These cheap and crappy R/C cars have been outfitted with a few simple sensors and microcontroller brains that enable them to follow walls and avoid obstacles. Apparently the programming is pretty simple, but the results are incredibly cool, especially when you get two of them together:

The logic controlling the cars can obviously be made as complicated as you want, but the great part is that it doesn’t have to be very complicated at all. The designer has started teaching the cars to drift through turns; you can check out some video of that here.

[ Wall Racers ]

Ping Pong. It’s a serious sport, believe it or not. Serious enough, apparently, to deserve a dedicated ping pong robot, replete with dramatic ads and cliches:

The Robo-Pong 2040 doesn’t actually play ping pong with you, but it can fire those deadly little balls at you all day long at speeds of up to 75 mph. It can replicate pushes, chops, serves, counters, smashes, lobs, fast loops, and more types of spin than you can whiff a paddle at.

The Robo-Pong 2040 will cost you about $700 without the table, but it does come with a package of Robo-Balls.

[ Robo-Pong ]

This Wall-E toy doesn’t appear to be either of the models we’ve seen before, and the Eve toy is definitely new. Called the InterAction Wall-E and Eve, it looks like bringing the toys near each other gets them to start pining for one another. Say it with me now: awwww. The toys also light up and make sounds and stuff; Wall-E moves his arms and head, while Eve has light-up eyes, movable arms, and makes whooshing and laser noises when you pick her up and fly her around. Looks like fun to me; I’ll be picking myself up a pair for an unknown price when they show up sometime this summer.

VIA [ Electric Pig ]

Alright, with everything that’s been going on with Pleo in the last week, it’s high time for a disgustingly cute Pleo video. And we’ve got one for you… Here’s Pleo exploring Sea World; make sure to stick around until at least two minutes in:

This particular Pleo is named Pixie, and it seems like she’s something of an ambassador. Her humans take her around to places like Sea World where apparently she becomes a bigger attraction than the “real” animals, even for the animals themselves:

“One of the trainers slapped the window and once a dolphin came over she pointed to Pleo a few times. Once the dolphin indicated it saw it and came down to Pleo’s level, she blew her whistle. They can hear the whistle through the thick glass. And blowing the whistle told the dolphin, “Yes, that is what I wanted you to do! Good job!” From that point on, it was ALL the dolphins. They were not asked or told to stay around, wave their flippers/tail, open their mouths, etc. They stayed around because they wanted to.”

Say it with me now: “awwwwww!!!”

[ PleoWorld ] VIA [ Engadget ]

Disney brought the Wall-E toys that we wrote about last week to Maker Faire, and I took this video of a demo of the Ultimate Wall-E… It’s pretty much what you’d expect, albeit (okay okay) slightly cuter than I might have thought:

The other toy, the much smaller and less sophisticated iDance Wall-E, looks just about as detailed as the Ultimate Wall-E.

He’s really quite a spunky little guy… He’s able to dance, sort of, and he makes some noise, and although you can plug your MP3 player (or whatever) into him, he won’t do anything as cool as sync his movements to it. He did have a habit of falling over backwards, but maybe that’ll be worked out by the time these toys come out this fall.

[ Press Release ]

Maker Faire was this weekend, and I’ve got tons (TONS) of robot footage, including some wicked awesome video of ComBot battles. It’s kinda 3am, though, so I’ll be posting some of that tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure and put up this little gem from the very end of the ComBots tournament, when Ugobe decided that it might be fun to bring a Pleo along to watch the action. Just a warning: if you have a soft spot for cute and cuddly robots, you may not want to read this entire article.

This is Pleo. You remember Pleo, right?

Pleo is sweet and cuddly.

Pleo likes to snuggle.

Hey, what are you doing…?

Wait, what’s Pleo doing in the middle of the Combots arena? Oh. Oh no. Please don’t, not Pleo!

Video after the jump. It’s pretty graphic. (Read more…)

It was bound to happen sooner or later… With Wall-E’s theatrical release only a few months off, here comes the merchandise, courtesy Pixar’s parent company Disney. Two Wall-E robotic toys will make their first appearance at Maker Faire this weekend, and all kinds of other Wall-E, uh, stuff, is in the works including “additional WALL·E-inspired robots, action figures, playsets, a role-play WALL·E robot arm, novelties and collectibles.” I’m a little bit leery of this kind of thing, since I can’t help but feel that it cheapens the movie (which isn’t even OUT yet) slightly. But, we’ll see I suppose. Here are descriptions of the two toys:

The Ultimate WALL·E is an advanced robot that truly brings the character to life. Designed and developed through a close collaboration between Disney, Pixar animators and Thinkway, the Ultimate WALL·E features 10 motors, giving it a high level of movement and animation. The remote control makes it easy for kids to program WALL·E’s movements. An innovative touch programming system lets kids direct WALL·E simply by making patterns on the remote’s touch pad. With voice activation and a follow-me mode, WALL·E can follow the sound of a human voice and detect someone entering a room. He also has several emotional states and an easy system for programming thousands of combinations of movements with the remote. Numerous sensors allow him to detect and respond to his environment, including infrared sensors that allow him to detect obstacles and steer around them, sonic ears that detect sound direction, and touch sensors. The Ultimate WALL·E is also MP3 compatible and features built-in speakers. USB cables and rechargeable batteries are included. The Ultimate WALL·E will debut this fall at ToysRUs and www.disneyshopping.com; SRP $189.99.

The iDance WALL·E talks, dances and has animated eyes that move and groove to the music. Its audio in-jack works with any iPod or MP3 player. It features sound activation functionality, action and play. It will be available at ToysRUs, Target, Wal-Mart, Blockbuster and www.disneyshopping.com this summer; SRP $24.99.

I’ll be at Maker Faire this weekend, so I’ll make sure and get some pics and video and you can see what you think of these things.

[ Press Release ] Thanks, Brian W.

Maybe this little guy is kinda dumb, but whatever… The only things I love more than robots are small fuzzy animals, so I just had to write about this. His name is Hal, and he’ll do a little dance while singing “Mr. Roboto” by Styx. He’s $10, which makes him a super easy gift guaranteed to provide no less than 15 seconds of entertainment.

The picture of him is also very long.

Like, totally disproportionate to his entertainment value.

And if I don’t fill up the space, it’ll turn the formatting all wonky.

You know, I’ve always been more of a gerbil person.

Although currently I am a snake person.

And snakes and gerbils are unfortunately incompatible.

They do have robotic snakes, though.

Maybe I should buy one, and feet this robot hamster to it.

Om nom nom robot hamster nom.

[ Hal The Dancing Hamster ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]