Though these images look like a cool user interface from a sci-fi movie, they are actually screen grabs from a very serious program. This is “DAEDALUS” (Direct Alert Environment for Darknet And Livenet Unified Security) developed by Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). It’s a system designed to monitor the Darknet for any potential cyber threats such as computer viruses.
The system has been getting some attention because its GUI reminds Japanese anime fans of the series “Ghost in the Shell”. They speculate that the designer got his …

The robot community in Japan is never short of ingenuity, take this robot maid for example. This custom bot was built by Dr. GIY, a well respected member of the Robo-one scene. The first of the Doctor’s creations I saw live was an anthropomorphic robot cat that wowed the audience in a dance competition. It’s quite obvious he’s a wiz at making his creations dance. Watch her go.

According to Dr. GIY the choreography is not as smooth as he’d like it to be so he’ll be working on refining it. …

This 4.9 ton, 12.5 foot (3.8 meter) metal monstrosity is Vaudeville, a project in progress by a small group of mecha enthusiasts called “Suidobashi Heavy Industry”. The single-pilot giant robot is controlled using a smartphone, master-slave control and also a Kinect sensor in the cockpit. Check out this video showing their work in progress.

It is truly amazing that a backyard project such as this could be of such high quality. The best thing about this project is that when it is finished you have a chance to own it. The …

The world famous 1:1 Gundam made it’s return to Odaiba this spring. Youtube user Darwinfish105 has the best short videos of this beast. Even one with last weeks super-moon in the backdrop.

Proving once again that when an otaku sets his mind to it he can make fantasy a reality, a sculptor has created a life size model of a powered battle suit from the Japanese version of StarShip Troopers. The suit doesn’t appear to be able to move, but that doesn’t make it any less cool.
ToyBoxDx via: DVICE

Check out this transforming robot beer can from Ron Tajima. This genius created a Wii-mote controlled walking bot disguised as a cold one. Probably perfect for a reconnaissance mission at a house party. Let’s just hope no one crushes it on their head.

GetRobo

Julie Watai is a model, cosplayer, photographer and sings in a chip-tune band. And if that isn’t enough to make any geek fall in love, she also knows how to mod a Furby to speak Martian. Watch how she skillfully handles a soldering iron.

Send your marriage proposals to Julie Watai
via Japan Probe

An epic lightsaber battle between good and evil, Jedi and Sith.. robots. This display is thanks to Yaskawa, makers of industrial robots who decided to geek out for their exhibition at this year’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Shanghai, China.

Kinda slow though. Wonder if I could take ‘em.
source: Automaton

Sony Dominated the Media
The most hype this week went to Sony with the release of a follow up to their PSP. The Internet was alive with rumors of about what features the PSP2 would have, and thanks to Sony’s presentation at Play Station Meeting 2011, we now know what to expect from “the next generation portable”, NGP.

That’s not all from Sony this week. Mock-up pictures of the “Play Station Phone” started showing up on blogs as early as August last year. Engadget finally got their hands on one. Here’s their …

These Kinect hacks coming out keep blowing my mind. Here is Japanese YouTube user hogehoge335 demonstrating his heroic transformation into Ultra Seven, a version of the popular super hero Utraman. Watch Hogehoge don the Ultra suit, shoot energy beams at real objects and even fly.

It would have been cool if the entire suit was 3D, but this is pure awesome. Agent 340 would be impressed.

Via: Asiajin