These assemble-yourself cardboard robots, that you or your kids can paint to look however you want, look so fun. They come in either a 20-inch version or a 41-inch version, depending on how much space you want it to take up.

SPONSOR

When I was little, I always thought that I would have a robot friend by now. It hasn’t happened, but I’m glad to see some progress in robotics development. You may have seen video of the female humanoid robot called Actroid-F, developed by Kokoro; now she has a brother. These robots will assist children with developmental disorders and talk with the elderly to prevent mental decline. Maybe one day, I will get to have a robot friend.

The Host was recently presented in Poland where strange robots danced and twirled around the large warehouse space. They have an unnerving presence, which is inhanced by a 1950s sci-fi soundtrack and automated lighting, including moments of darkness. Marynowsky, the Australian artist behind it all, purposely gives the robots an abstracted human form, which adds to the menacing atmosphere and the paranoia created by the robots.

Tyler Kilback is an aspiring photographer from British Columbia who photographs just about anything. He is fortunate enough to be surrounded by the immense nature of our province but also really loves making and photographing his robots.

The Visitants is a new series of illustrations depicting robot visitors to our planet. The Visitants are lino prints on vintage encyclopedia pages from 1972, with pencil over the top. Each is unique: one page, one cut, one print, one chance to get it right.

SPONSOR

With an appetite for robots and Samurais, I came across the work of illustrator Crom-Cristian Ortiz, who with a tint of propaganda posters, pictures young warriors in a world where having a companion pet seems as mandatory as it is to belong to some epic Mecha army in quest for honour and glory. Cool and fun stuff which makes me feel twelve years old again.

The robot design in this animated short by Cormac Kelly is really nice, combining sleek arachnid-inspired forms with fluid movement that retains the robots cuteness.

This amazing looking thing can be found wandering the streets of Shibuya Station in Tokyo, Japan, dishing up ample servings of Coca-Cola and gripping the city’s teenagers with a sudden fear of the future.

Our friends over at Giant Robot are celebrating their fifteenth year of publishing their print magazine and subsequent expansion into retail shops and art galleries with a group show running at San Francisco’s GRSF until July 15. The exhibition features the work of Lydia Fong (Barry McGee), Kozyndan, Luke Chueh, Saelee Oh, Robert Bellm, Albert Reyes, Matt Furie, and many others.

SPONSOR

Japan certainly takes its giant robots seriously. As reported by Moe Passion, a blog by an American sailor stationed in Japan, a life-sized replica of a Gundam RX78 Mobile Suit was recently built on the artificial island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. It’s up until August 31st, so go see it while you can.

Ashley Wood is my favorite illustrator. You can’t go wrong with sexy women and robots! He’s from Australia and is extremely prolific, putting out several books a year including his magazine Swallow.

Oh boy, Robokill is one of the best flash games ever. It’s a bird’s-eye-view shoot-em-up where you’re a mercenary robot sweeping through a space station that has been overrun by evil, hostile robots. The game is incredibly detailed, and has the best graphics of almost any other flash game. No wonder people aren’t buying game software for their PCs anymore.

Oregon-based Michael Salter works in that strange nexus between art and design. ‘I am critically looking at visual culture, extracting information and synthesizing my own new language in response. My work is usually realized in art installations in galleries, project spaces and museums. Currently my giant Styrobot is in the San Jose Museum of Art for a show they have opening up on April 12th about the robot’s evolution as a cultural icon’. The work shown above, a slip cast ceramic sculpture called subzero, was shown at Salter’s first New York solo show last January at the Jeff Bailey Gallery.

SPONSOR