Via The Echinoblog's profile of starfish-themed monsters in Japanese cinema come these classic clips of Starfish Hitler, a Government of Darkness (G.O.D.) villain who battled superhero Kamen Rider X on TV in 1974.
+ Part 1: Kamen Rider X vs Starfish Hitler
+ Part 2: Kamen Rider X vs Starfish Hitler
[Link: The Echinoblog]
Here is some awesome time-lapse footage of the eruption of Mount Asama, an active volcano straddling the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures north of Tokyo, which suddenly awoke in the early morning hours of Monday, February 2. The video was shot between 1:55 and 2:30 AM.
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Other cameras captured the volcanic activity from different angles. The time-lapse videos below were created from photos shot at 10-minute intervals. The eruption occurs toward the end of each video.
Latest photos of Mt. Asama: 1, 2, 3.
[Link: Maechan.net]
A trio of old-school bunraku puppet robots revived nearly 40 years after they were unveiled at the 1970 World Expo in Osaka are temporarily on display at the National Science Museum in Tokyo. Modeled after classic bunraku puppets, each pre-programmed robot is driven by around 20 pneumatic cylinders that move the arms, torso, head and face in sync with accompanying audio.
Here's some video of one whose face transforms into that of a demon:
A few more photos of the other robots, which are on display at the Science Museum until February 8:
Kintore-Z is a childlike robot athlete that falls apart when it over-exerts itself. Skip 50 seconds into the video to see what happens after too many push-ups.
The robot -- whose looks are said to be loosely modeled after Astro Boy and Mazinger Z -- was the 2007 winner of the annual Baca RoboCup competition, which aims to recognize Japan's stupidest and most useless robots.
Video artist The RP (a.k.a. rokapenis) created this fanciful promo video for Ove-Naxx, an Osaka breakcore/raggacore artist whose quirky sound incorporates elements of everything from dancehall to death metal and J-pop, along with bits of Latin American music and farm animal noises.
More videos on The RP's website and YouTube channel.
The clione, a.k.a. sea angel, is a cute, translucent swimming sea slug that glides gracefully through icy ocean waters by flapping a pair of appendages that resemble tiny angel wings. Don't let the innocent, angelic look fool you, though -- the clione is a vicious demon come feeding time.
The Clione limacina species preys on its shelled cousin, the sea butterfly (Limacina helicina). When the hungry sea angel spots a suitable target, it lunges forward and rapidly unfurls a halo of six hooked tentacles from its head, locking its prey in a death grip. Slowly, the clione sucks the victim's body out of its shell, swallowing it whole.
Here is some video of a bioluminescent deep-sea siphonophore -- an eerily fantastic creature that appears to be a single, large organism, but which is actually a colony of numerous individual jellyfish-like animals that behave and function together as a single entity. The individual units, called zooids, all share the same genetic material, and each performs a specialized role within the colony. The best-known siphonophore is the poisonous Portuguese Man o' War (Physalia physalis), which lives at the surface of the ocean, unlike the one shown in this video (filmed at a depth of 770 meters). Some siphonophore species can grow up to 40 meters (130 ft) in length.
This pleasantly deranged promo video for Maximum The Hormone's "Bikini Sports Ponchin" was directed by Kouki Tange (Yellow Brain).
The multi-talented Motoman SDA10, a dexterous dual-arm industrial robot manufactured by Yaskawa Electric, is demonstrating its ability to cook okonomiyaki at the International Next-Generation Robot Fair now underway in Osaka.
Designed to operate independently alongside humans in the workplace, the 135-centimeter (4.5 ft) tall, 220-kilogram (480 lb) industrial robot has 15 joints -- 7 in each arm and one in the torso -- allowing a wide range of motion for the job, whether it be on the factory floor or behind the kitchen counter.
For a peek at Motoman's dexterity, check out this video (from Fuji TV's "The Best House 1-2-3") of the robot delicately assembling a disposable camera from two dozen parts. The robot completes the complicated series of tasks in two minutes.
This high degree of manual precision comes in handy when grilling up okonomiyaki.
As a chef, the Motoman relies on speech recognition technology to take verbal orders from customers. Using standard kitchen utensils, the robot mixes the okonomiyaki batter, pours it onto the iron grill, forms it into a round pancake-like disk, flips it, puts it on a plate when done, and applies condiments.
No word yet on the taste.
[Photos: AFP]
See also:
- MOTOMAN: Industrial-strength taiko drummer
- Worker bot sorts packages
