Robot Living and Lethal Toys: Every Healthy (Sick?) Boy's Dream Come True!

It's still the middle of the Obon summer holdiays and I'm at my folks in law's house. They don't drink, smoke nor gamble so I am having a merry Christian time (they aren't Christians and neither am I!)


This sitting around and doing nothing besides eating and napping all day gives me the chance to catch up on the back log of cool websites that I've wanted to introduce over the last year but just didn't have the time.

Well, today my geeky friends, you're in luck! Today I want to introduce a site called "Robot Living." Good blogs are supposed to be focused on one topic and this blog certainly fits the bill. My blog is, unfortunately, all over the place. If you are interested in robots and stuff like that, then at Robot Living you've died and gone to Robot Heaven!


At Robot Heaven they have updates on all sorts of robot stuff... Things you'd never even dream about. It's sort of like the Jetson's come true.


In a recent posting, they introduced a drone helicopter that you can buy. This, my friends, is a very disturbing toy. 

The Vanguard helicopter. Is that a mean looking

toy or what?

Now, every boy wants a helicopter that they can fly by remote control. Every kid dreams of flying in the skies. Every kid dreams of having a drone helicopter that has a 37mm grenade launcher and a 12 gauge shotgun on it that you can use to kill other kids or your neighbor's cat... Wait!.... What!? 


From Robot Living:

A new robot helicopter by Vanguard Defense called Shadowhawk has been released.  Shadowhawk has a range of 35 miles and can fly up to 70 miles an hour.  It can come equipped with a turbine or piston engine.  All models come with a Sony FCB EX-980 CCDTV camera as well as a FLIR Photon UTAM-32 Thermal Camera.

If you are in the military, then you have the option of adding a Taser XREP,  40mm, 37mm grenade launcher or 12 gauge shotgun with laser designator.  Yes, you can now get a robotic helicopter with a grenade launcher!  Now hold on a minute, get those ideas of launching hand grenades at your neighbor out of your head.

We are not quite sure how this will play out in regards to licensing if you as an individual want to use one.  Considering the News Corp’s The Daily has a drone and may or may not need licensing. Kashmir Hill from Forbes states:

Hobbyists are basically free to use drones as long as they keep them under 400 feet. At this point, civil and commercial use of drones is only allowed for research and development purposes. “Not for compensation or hire” says one FAA notice. To get government permission to use a drone (for non-hobby purposes), a private entity has to jump through hoops including getting an airworthiness certificate — meaning the thing is safe to fly — and an experimental certificate, approving the planned use of the unmanned system (uses are currently limited to research and development, marketing surveys, or crew training).

See? I told you that this was a disturbing toy... Not only is this a lethal toy (no problem there - I loved dangerous toys when I was a kid) but the idiots in the government have to make these toys have licenses too. Talk about being anal retentive!... I have to fly my toy helicopter so that it can "jump through hoops" in order to get a certificate!? Who needs a certificate to fly a stinking toy helicopter? What a bunch of jerks!


Hell, it's probably more fun to build your own dangerous toys by yourself than buying this piece of crap and then having to get a license for it. These morons in our government have to tax us for everything! I just hate it!

Vanguard Defense has already won a bid to supply Mongomery County in Texas with the Shadowhawk for it’s Homeland Security efforts.

Oh, now the story gets even more disturbing! Think about this: Why in the hell does Homeland Security need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on toys that can fire hand grenades and shoot shotguns at the domestic populace?

Now that I read this sh*t about this idiocy, I'm pissed off. Judging from a different model that doesn't have lethal abilities and sells for $50,000 each, I'd guess that this toy sells for over $70 ~ $80,000 each.

Go to the manufacturers homepage to see more about this insane toy.

Lethal toy helicopters for domestic police work!? Seriously, the United States has gone completely stark raving mad. I'm glad I left that nuthouse decades ago...

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Robot Living is cool. There's stuff there everyday that will either blow your mind or make you think "WTF!?" I suppose either one is more interesting than 97% of all the other stuff on the Internet you see nowadays.

If you go there don't tell them Mike sent you. I'm trying to hide my identity! ;) 

Giant Robo (ジャイアントロボ) and the Romanticist Japanese

Yesterday, I wrote about the world's first robot marathon that was held by Japan. See that article and some very funny videos here.

Japan has always had a certain flair for robots (be they real, giant or otherwise) and when I was a kid growing up in America, we always thought it was strange. Even though my mom was Japanese, us kids living in the Midwest USA thought these Japanese cartoons and TV shows were not cool.

How little did we realize that this 60's Japanese Kitsch was extremely cool.... The ones who weren't cool were us dorky kids who wouldn't recognize cool if it came up and slapped us in the face!

When a good friend and regular reader sent in a Youtube video link to Giant Robo for me after reading that article about the robot marathon, I clicked on it and watched. "Ah!" I thought, "I remember this TV show! His finger is a rocket!"

A few seconds later, when the theme song to Giant Robo came through the computer speakers, my wife heard it and ran over like an excited little girl and exclaimed, "I loved this TV show! When it ended, I cried and cried!" (She almost started to cry too!)

When my wife said that to me, tears came to my eyes! She reminded me of my mother; and, her emotions remind me, once again, just how romanticist and delicate the Japanese can be.

I love this country and these people. 

Here's the story of Giant Robo... Just one more clue into why the Japanese have a fascination with robots and giant radioactive creatures from space and the bottom of the ocean....

Giant Robo first appeared in 

Weekly Shonan Sunday 1967

The Giant Robo manga (comics) first appeared in a weekly comic book called Weekly Shōnen Sunday on May 1967. Written by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Giant Robo tells the story of Daisaku Kusama, the titular Robo and an evil secret society known only as "Big Fire." In October of the same year, a live-action adaptation premiered on TV Asahi

To see the very final scene of the final episode of Giant Robot - when he destroys the bad guy and destroys himself in the process - thereby saving the entire world by sacrificing himself - watch this one. The part with the final episode begins at about 4:37. Giant Robo meets his most deadly and dangerous adversary so far. The only way to destroy this evil creature is by flying into space and crashing into an asteroid and killing the monster and himself in the process.


Talk about making the ultimate sacrifice!

Fact of the matter is that, even though this was a hugely popular show with the kids and the ratings were good, the productions costs were way too high and sales to sponsors were not good. Maybe, since this was the 1960's, and before Japan's Economic Miracle, kids weren't a choice marketing target.

Watch this with any Japanese who is between 40 ~ 50 years old and they'll probably start crying. This is so very Japanese. The idea that a guy will kill himself - sacrifice himself - for the good of his loved ones is a theme that is steeped in tradition and a part and parcel of the Japanese psyche. In this country, the true hero is considered anyone who will do anything to save his loved ones.


See? I told you the Japanese are quite romantic!


To see more geeky stuff about Giant Robo click here.

Thanks to Ira Hata

Robot Marathon Held in Japan

This is pretty funny! In Japan, a robot marathon race started last Thursday and just finished running a few moments ago. Take time to watch the videos below. They are definitely worth a few laughs.


But, now, I'd like to be the first to announce the winner to the English press. 


Ladies and gentlemen... The winner is.... er, this dude....

Heck, what's his name? I don't know. Let's just call him "Mr. We Love Osaka Dude." He's, er,... she's, it's the winner of the world's first robot marathon ever held and it's was an exciting race!


Omedetou gozaimasu! (Congratulations!)

National Post Reports:


Robot Marathon Ran in Osaka


A group of knee-high androids have crossed the starting line in Osaka, Japan for the first ever robot marathon, reported the BBC. The race, which started on Thursday, is expected to take about four days and will require 423 laps around an indoor track. The rules are as follows: bot operators are allowed to change robots' batteries and motors during the race, but they can't pick them up if they fall over - the droids must right themselves.


Since I enjoy British humor a lot, here two funny takes by the Brits on the festivities. Enjoy!

If you are crazy about Japanese Robots

then visit Robot Japan's web page and gallery.

Also thanks to Japan Today

5 Outlandish Tech Myths About Japan

Over at Dvice they have an interesting article about how outrageous claims are about robots, vending machines, etc. are in Japan.

Here's a snippet from 5 Outlandish Tech Myths About Japan:

Of the roughly 5.5 million vending machines in Japan (the highest density of such machines on the planet), the beverage component (including beer) generated a staggering $27 billion last year. The remaining machines dole out things like candy, food, cigarettes, tickets, and toys. But if you follow the sensational random reports from various blogs, you'd think the streets were lined with machines spitting out lady's undergarments, and various other perverse curios of Japanese arcana.


The truth is that although there are indeed vending machines that dispense such underground items, these machines are almost exclusively limited to specialized establishments that cater to, well, unique customers. You could spend a year traveling throughout Japan and never see anything more threatening in the public machines than a fattening chocolate snack.

Read more about Japan's robots, Internet Cafes, school girls (yes, it's an article about Japan so school girls are required), and Electric City at Dvice.