Tag: creepy

US Army creates cyborg beetles to fight future wars

radio-controlled-beetle.jpg

The University of California is undertaking research, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, that will allow the creation of remote-controlled beetles. The beetles remain alive, but unable to control their bodies as the chips take control of their wing muscles via their optic nerve.

I don’t know what it is about this story that terrifies me most. It could be the fact that beetles are so easy to mind-control that you can just stick a chip on them and they’ll do your bidding. It could be that it would be incredibly cheap and easy to build a vast cloud of evil cyborg beetles and send them at your foes.

I might even be that there’s these poor beetles in California, alive, and unable to do anything but passively observe the remainder of their pitiful existence as their muscles spasm upon commands from military generals. I think it’s a combination of all three, so how about we end this post right about now, before I start shivering helplessly.

Remote Controlled Beetles (via Hackaday)

More beetle news: Forest fire fighting beetle-like robots in development | Scientists invent human gills after studying beetles

Duncan Geere Weaponry, Weirdness

VIDEO: Terrifying Xbox 360 fanatic shows off his "Xbox Room"

You can sometimes forget that the etymology of ‘fan’ is ‘fanatic’, but the video above will bring that particular recollection screaming back. The best bit? The ‘Silence of the Lambs’ voiceover, and the creepy dim green light. How many hours of his life do you think he’s spent in there?

(via Kotaku)

Related posts: Xbox 360 beats Wii! (in teenager’s Christmas present 2008 wish-list survey) | Microsoft stole the Xbox 360 logo from a bunch of 17th century alien visitors

Duncan Geere Gaming, YouTube Video of the Day

Creepy robotic head copies your facial expressions

This is a damn creepy robotic head, put together by researchers at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. He’s called “Jules”, and can watch your facial expressions and copy them. In the video above, he’s copying the expressions of the scientist behind the camera, while you hear the scientists’ voice.

Dunno about you, but this one, for me, falls firmly into the uncanny valley. Especially if it was copying my facial movements exactly. It’s a bit like that friend everyone has who doesn’t quite ‘get’ social interaction and always behaves a little bit odd. Robotics is great, but we’re still some way off realistic human expressions, it seems.

(via the Daily Mail)

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Duncan Geere Robots, YouTube Video of the Day

Bunny Webcam might just get you in the night

bunny-webcam.jpg

In a straw poll I just conducted with a few former colleagues over Skype, I asked five people whether this product is cute or creepy. Turns out that four out of five rated it as “cute” – surprising, because I think it’s one of the the scariest things I’ve ever seen. Place your vote in the comments.

It’s a plush bunny toy, with a webcam in its nose. The webcam’s not that great – 1.3 megapixel, and it captures in 640×480. Not awful, but not brilliant. Still, if you’re buying a plush bunny webcam, then let’s face it – you’re not doing it for the specs.

There’s a wide range of these webcams, from the cute (cow, penguin) through the obscure (supposed-to-be-a-mole) to the utterly trouser-browningly-terrifying (“Angel Baby”).

Bunny-in-a-wittle-hat webcam

Related posts: Microsoft launches two new LifeCam webcams | Canadian “Robot Doctor” is little more than a glorified webcam on wheels

Duncan Geere Computers, Peripherals, Stupid Gadgets