Robotic Uprising: The Musical

In the distant future, when our highly intelligent mechanical creations rise up against us, they will do it to the tune of these robots; who have been programmed by unwitting humans to harmonize the soundtrack of our demise. At the end of days, the only sounds that will resonate through the razed streets of our cities will be the constant hum of the robot's gyros and the resonating echo of entire orchestras of these robots playing their victory march in an endless, efficient loop.
Meanwhile, in our present eventuality, the clarinet-playing robot was created by NICTA of Australia; who used it win first place in the recent Artemis Music Orchestra competition (a sort of battle of the robo-bands held in Athens). The guitar-bot was built by TeamDare, who garnered second place for their creation at the same event. Congratulations to NICTA & TeamDare, and good luck to the robots on their future uprisings.





Via AI and Robotics

Next Stop: Lunar Surface

Some awesome footage of the Apollo 11 launch from the gantry.

Water Boarding FTW!

This post is not an endorsement of any torture-related activity, nor is it a commentary on any nations use of "enhanced interrogation techniques". What it is an endorsement of, is uses of existing technology in innovative ways, as well as making more enjoyable any experience of waiting in line, waiting for a flight, or any other activity that lacks, well, activity. This device, called the WaterBoard, takes the principles of a touch screen, as well as a tablet PC, and creates a unique user experience that will make a trip to the doctor's office just a little bit more tolerable. This concept also won the RSA Design Directions award, so kudos to its creator, Mark Burton, keep up the good work.



Created by Mark Burton; Copyright 2007 Mark Burton

nBot Uprising Imminent

David P. Anderson has decided to tamper with the safety of the future of humanity by breaking ground in robotics propulsion systems with his self balancing robot, nBot. The robot operates by using sensors to send the wheel in the opposite direction than the upper portion is falling, thus maintaining its center of gravity. In the robotic wars that proliferate in future eventualities, the nBot's ancestors will scout into enemy territory far ahead of the front lines. In some futures, these robots are the heralds of the Robotic Apocalypse.

specifications and developer diary



Transmitted by The Left Hand of Science

It's The Freakiest Show!!!

Is There Life On Mars?


The endless question may soon be answered. Last week, scientist found water ice on Mars, and not a moment too soon, we could use some, in the right places of course.
Pretty amazing stuff,
It seems that the Phoenix is accomplishing exactly what the mission entails.

The Left Hand of Science

Due to a critical systems malfunction during a routine Positronic Phase Gauntlet test; I, your very own Prof. Lance Cardigan, have rendered my dominant right hand entirely useless, save for base level function as either a fulcrum or a club. That said, i am painfully forced to report to you using ONLY MY LEFT HAND. A full battery of research projects into ambidexterity and splint-augmentation has begun at CardiganLabs Headquarters. I promise to you, the Science Patrol faithful, to continue transmissions despite the multiple-tendon sprain in my prefunctory appendage.

transmitted by The Left Hand of Science

A Nation of Millions

The Science Patrol community is much larger than merely the founding doctors Solong and Cardigan, and our esteemed colleagues, Vision von Braun, S.C.R.I.B.E., and Wormocious Emeritus. It includes the thousands who have visited our site, and even more extensively, all practitioners of science throughout the civilized worlds. Collectively, our efforts have extensively defined the meaning of the future, and made it a destination for millions. Join the Science Patrol--See the Future Today!

(via MAKE, an giant Ultraman made entirely of Ultraman figures.)

Blinded By Science (Fiction)

Of the billions of worlds that science fiction has given us, we humans of today are aware of only a few. Our grandparents were entertained by dozens of stories that are known to us only in theory. Even those of us who are familiar with Buck Rogers (watch here) or Flash Gordon from TV and film are only viewing pale shadows of the original comic serials.

Thankfully, the Cabinet of Wonders known by some as the Intarwub loves you, and wants to to see these worlds. Some may snicker at them, but they are remarkable and should be studied by any transdimensional travelers. Ignore, if you must, the jokes made at these pictures' expense, but do not ignore the images themselves. They are the work of Frank R. Paul, a genius I regard now as highly as Henry Darger and Fletcher Hanks. In the 1930's, apparently, this man was responsible for blowing the minds and visual cortexes of the young readers of Amazing Stories and other magazines of this type published by Hugo Gernsback. Today's link, brought to us by Tales of Future Past, is a tour of the civilized planets and moons of our solar system, from Mercury to Titan, and even extending out into the stars.

Tales of Future Past: Life on Other Worlds

Pull the Switch!

Ahhhh, the Lab Assistant... Too often is their tireless devotion to their mad scientist masters overlooked. According to the following footage, the most archetypal of all lab assistants gets his day in the sun, and makes his digital film debut sometime this fall. Pull the Switch to find out more.



from the desk of Yanos Solong

The Machine that is Science

Several months back, I visited the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Whilst there, I took the opportunity to photograph some of the beautiful machines they keep on exhibit. Due to various paradigm shifts and temporal vortices associated with the research being conducted here at CardiganLabs Headquarters, I have been unable to present these findings to you until now. As such, some of the photographs (robot and hand) are from the Star Wars Experience exhibit, which has since left the Franklin. All photographs were taken by yours truly, and all items depicted can be viewed in person at The Franklin Institute (Star Wars items not-withstanding). I post them here not to explain their utilitarian purpose; but rather to share with you the beauty that lies within the complex machine. Enjoy.

Build a Better Being

I have spoken to you before about Spore, the massively single player online bio-simulator. Now, at long last, EA has just released the trial version of the Creature Creator, the in game bio-form creation editor. While the game world yet remains a mystery, we can at least experiment with the infinite opportunities for imagination inspired xenomorphing that await once the full game is released. Head over to Spore Headquarters to download the free trial and begin creating unprecedented organisms today!

photo via ripten.com

The City is our Collective Future

This video of Masdar City, with its PeopleMovers and Economic Zones, reminded me somewhat of Disney's original EPCOT proposal, although this one seems much closer to reality. Even here, the Wikipedia article points to fears that the city will merely become a trophy for the elite of Abu Dhabi.

Elsewhere, futurists ponder other new forms of personal transportation, like the iFoot, shown below:

Got it now, Earthman?

One of my favorite films of the past that depicts the future is definitely 2001:A Space Odyssey. It is by far one of the most intellectually provocative and prolific movies I have ever seen.

Unfortunately, it is also really really long. And to be honest there isnt alot going on for most of the time. In fact, they barely mention the plot for the first like two hours. When you are circumnavigating the continuum and plotting all eventual points between here and the tenth dimension, you just dont have that kind of time.

Good thing New Media Giants has gone to the trouble of breaking the film down to its barest essence and presenting it to you in a four episode flash presentation that offers a very astute interpretation of the films deeper meaning. Set fazers to www.kubrick2001.com and get the readers digest version of one of the best movies ever made.
By the way, if your computer refuses to load the site, you should probably turn it off. forever.

Visible Kaiju

From the desk of Wormocious Emeritus comes these incredibly realistic drawings of the anatomy of various Kaiju. Without them, Wormocious would be unable to conduct his groundbreaking experiments in the field of Space Monster Surgery. The photos themselves were posted on flickr by user Modern Fred. MF's source for these photos is as of yet unknown; however, research is underway.




Godzilla is totally a copyrighted franchise. SciencePatrol does not want your money.

In the Clouds of the multiverse, the legions assmble.

One of my favorite reads last year was Charles Stross's Accelarando, a book that started on the streets of Amsterdam when a bunch of uploaded lobster-brains called Manfred Macx's cellphone and asked him to launch them into space, far away from the increasingly chaotic human infoflux (Noosphere) which was too primate-dependent for their strange brains to navigate. At the other end of the book, twenty years later, Macx's grandson Sirhan sits in the park of a city he grew on the surface of Saturn, looking down at the acrimonious clouds below. In my imagination, the photo above (click to zoom) contains a tiny blot which, when magnified, resolves into a Mandelbrot-shaped colony of floating lilypads. This post is both a recommendation of that book (buy it here), and a hasty recommendation for you to check out this spectacular gallery of Cassini's photos from her four-year survey of Saturn's gravity well. Cassini will continue to monitor the Saturn system for another two solar cycles.

Future Today Brefing: Cassini's greatest hits
(via The Big Picture)

Internet Relaxation Cooldown (The Return!!)

Yes, i know.... I haven't done an IRC since this blog was just a baby. To be frank, the theme was too random and a little bit boring, so i just kind of killed it. But today, i found this amazing website that is too perfect not to post as an Internet Relaxation Cooldown. So here goes; For one time only-the return of the IRC.
Yup.....the internet is a complicated place, blah blah blah....You need to relax blah blah blah. Now go check out The Spacializer at www.seb.cc/spacializer. Your MYND will thank you for it.

via http://www.seb.cc , home of Sébastien Chevrel: Interactive Media Artist

Legoverse: Science Patrol Assemble!

In an alternate dimensional eventuality, a different team called Science Patrol protects the Earth from invading cosmic monsters; some fifty years prior to the time you and I call 'now'. In yet another dimension, where everything is made of plastic interlocking bricks, the aforementioned incarnation of Science Patrol has been faithfully recreated by Scott Quirk over at mocpages. As usual, I have provided only a sample of the gallery. You have to go HERE to fully understand the depth of this legoverse eventuality.




Sally Forth, Science Patrol!

via mocpages
and
brickshelf

This Guy is Big in Japan

We're sorry, Japan. it's tough to turn on our news and see Giant Monsters (Kaiju) constantly ravaging your cities and what-have-you. But not to worry, Japan, for Masaru Daisatou, the "King of Pain," will keep you safe. The film is entitled Dai Nipponjin, literally "Big Man Japan," and describes the life of a man dedicated to abating those weird radioactive monstrosities that would like to level your wonderful cities. Unfortunately, the monster smashing business has fallen on hard times, decreasing viewership, and bad press, but the Master Daisatsu is still an avatar for Japan, and for all of us.

Today's Recommended Viewing: Big Man Japan Trailer


via Undead Backbrain

Reports from the Uprising

By this point it may not shock you to learn of the robotic uprising which is, at this very moment, indeed quite imminent. In fact, we here at Science Patrol pretty much won't shut up about it. It's just that we are concerned. We like being alive and don't look forward to having robots do it for us in the distant future. In an effort to proliferate awareness, the blog at Templates.com compiled not one but two enormous spreads of computer generated Robots from around the web. The galleries are can be found both HERE and HERE. For the sake of humanity itself, please visit these galleries.

via Templates.com

Mission Statement

To go along with our new Trapper Keeper inspired motif (which we hope you are enjoying), Science Patrol has also adopted a brand new Mission Statement. It comes complete with a picture of some really smart guy manipulating some cutting edge advanced technology. Yep folks-this pretty much says it all:


"In a computerized society where individuality is diminished, there are those who find little or no satisfaction in strict conformity to stereotyped living and are searching for their own answers to life's questions and how to best live, work, and find happiness."


via heyokay (which is totally awesome and you are insulting me and embarrassing yourself by not going there right now).