VCRA 1.0 Winner: Misprint Thursday

Re-post from Mechatiki Research blog:
In a successful mixed-reality ceremony, Misprint Thursday was awarded the first Virtual Cocktail Robot Award for her creation Wodka Bot.
The RL ceremony of the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards was video-streamed into SL, and when the moment came to award the virtual prize the RL video projector was switched to show the inworld scene, where an illustrous round had assembled to celebrate - and witness another world's first: qDot Bunnyhug's RL cocktail robot being controlled from within Second Life. A former Linden Lab employee specializing in controlling sex-toys via SL, he wrote the needed code in 15 minutes as he claims.

Thanks to CYlandSL for hosting this event, Pinkpink Sorbet and 5tefan Negulesco for keeping the stream alive and everybody involved for making this work!

Update: qDot's mixed reality Rum & Coke contraption is featured on Hamlet Au's New World Notes blog!

Awards: awarded.

The Annual Cocktail Robot Awards have been awarde to a list of worthy recipients. You can get the complete list here: http://www.roboexotica.com/?acra
And along with the real world robots, one virtual cocktail robot received an award in Second Life in a mixed reality ceremony.
More of all that later, for now I just wanted to get out the winners!

ACRA 11.0 + VCRA 1.0 = Awesome Beta

You are questioning the rationale behind virtual cocktails made by virtual robots? Well once upon a time people thought making real robots mix drinks was crazy. Hello?!

In any case we are showing our appreciation for cocktail robots in their virtual incarnation by awarding the first Virtual Cocktail Robot Award this year in an inworld ceremony in Second Life (TM), that will be part of the ACRA event at Roboexotica which will be video-streamed into SL.
Join us either in real life in Vienna, or if you prefer at the virtual venue which is hosted by our friends of CYlandSL.

t < 1 Week! OMG Cocktailrobots!

Our little workshop has produced a robot that will offer the choice of a vegan (!) version of White Russian; the artist-in-residence Americans are tinkering away in their laboratories; Bar2D2 has arrived in 2 neat crates ...
Roboexotica is near! Opening Dec 3rd 7pm.
This year at a new location:
"Drinkomat", Missindorferstr. 21/ Stiege 7 / 2. Stock, 1140 Vienna
(http://www.roboexotica.org/?location)
... showing a lot of great new cocktail-robots!
Conference: Sat Dec 5 2pm
Annual Cocktail Robot Awards ceremony: Sun Dec 6 7pm CET
(http://www.roboexotica.org/?schedule)

RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177816081781&ref=mf

Along with the 11th ACRA, we will this year give away the first VCRA - the Virtual Cocktail Robot Award.
The real life ceremony will be video-streamed into Second Life (TM) where the virtual award will be given to a deserving avatar.

If next week doesn't end up being too hectic I plan to post a little more information on the cocktail robots that are coming and our program.

t < 1 month

Roboexotica imminent! All cocktail roboticists on deck, soldering irons plugged.
We invite you to join us at the 11th Roboexotica in history from December 3-6!
While we are still trembling about getting one of the most interesting robots (Bar2D2) from the US over here (cross your fingers that there is a reasonable shipper somewhere), the preparations in Vienna are beginning.
This year a new location has to be promoted in order to get people to find us - we moved the event from Museumsquartier to the former manufacturing halls of a local liquor dispenser manufacturer, Drinkomat, in Vienna's 14th district, Missindorferstr.21. To warm both the location as well as ourselves up for the festival, we are organizing a cocktail robot workshop right there this week.
I am happy to say this year we will also see a number of young blood from Austria entering the cocktail robotic arena, alongside some familiar names from overseas like Mitch Heinrich, who pleased us with Fairy Juicer last year. He's monochrom's artist in residence and will be joining us in the workshop effort. Kyle Machulis is another mono-a.i.r. who will no doubt make the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards interesting.
The countdown is on!

CYland SL Opening: Snails Lab!

Our russian friends of Cyland Media Art Lab have been developing a gallery inside Second Life (R) which is due to be opened this sunday.

Cyland Media Art Lab, an artistic laboratory based in St. Petersburg and New York, arrived in SL! As it opened its doors quietly in summer we now want to point out that there will be an opening-event on Oct. 18th, 10 am SLT!
["Every snail is an artist." - video streaming from RL]

CYland SL coordinator Pinkpink Sorbet will be streaming painting snails live from her RL home and Magggnnus Woodget, my inworld avatar has been preparing a couple snail themed surpises!
Join us for the event Sun Oct 18th, 10am SLT - There will be robots. And there will be cocktails! Follow this SLUrl for a teleport. (If you don't have an account yet, the link will take you to a place where you can create one for free)

(via Mechatiki Research)

1st Vienna Cocktail Robot Workshop!

Some of the world's most renowned cocktail robot builders are going to teach up to 15 participants how to make a cost effective cocktail mixing robot from Nov 9-14 in the 1st Vienna Cocktail Robot Workshop.

With Chris Veigl and Franz Ablinger two seasoned Roboexoticans are willing to share their experiences. My role in this effort is clear: Providing the know-nothing perspective of someone who can be considered an interested amateur. Together we are presently prototyping to find an easy to build configuration, that can be varied easily enough to provide for several totally different robots, based on an Arduino controlling unit. Reinforced by last year ACRA winner Mitch Heinrich we had a rather nice break-through yesterday (Foto), finding an amazingly simple dosing mechanism that will be very useful come November.

With possible other guest lecturers in the loop this week is a chance you don't get very often - as well as the fact that up to 4 participants can opt to own their cocktail-robot after 5 evenings of hard labor. The sixth day will be dedicated to testing the contraptions (or knowing cocktail-robotics - fixing. All participants are invited to present the works they helped create at Roboexotica 2009, Dec 3-6.

@beerrobot pours beer. Wired....cold. beer.

(photo: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

Good old Chassis has got competition in the free-beer robotics class. The tweeting @beerrobot set free by Wired.com has debuted in San Francisco yesterday night at a local brewery:

@beerrobot: I'm here @21stamendment. Come see me! http://yfrog.com/5dc8ikj about 19 hours ago from Tweetie
@beerrobot: I have so many new friends! http://yfrog.com/3qmrxj about 18 hours ago from Tweetie
@beerrobot: I am so popular. I love giving people beer! http://yfrog.com/3or4xyj
about 18 hours ago from Tweetie
@beerrobot: Hello? Where did everybody go? Hey guys! I want to go home now. Hey! 40 minutes ago from twhirl

First impression from overseas: the robot seems to have a nice personality, but so does Chassis - and to be viewed as a serious competitor this one will have to improve it's looks, I'm afraid.

Roboexotica T-Shirts & Hoodies at CafePress!

NEW!
If you can't wait for the next festival to purchase one of the hand-printed-with-love Tees from motmot Design, or are stuck on some far away continent like America ...
you now can still have Roboexotica Merchandize:
http://www.cafepress.com/roboexoticus

For now all in black with one or two greyish articles.
Different types of short sleeve shirts (Organic, Maternity, Kids, Toddler), long-sleeves, sweatshirts, hoodies.

CandyFab 6000

We knew that theoretically RepRap would be able to print with chcocolate. But we are pleasantly surprised that the good people of EvilMadScientist Labs have invented a technology to manufacture pieces from sugar by caramelizing layer by layer.
Watch the process in the video below:

Now I can't stop visualizing cocktails in tiny edible caramel glasses.

Cocktail-Robotic Growth & Progression

Appeal for Money!
As bartending robots become more efficient every year in developments around the globe, it becomes more and more important to uphold the values that make a true “Cocktail Robot”. An abstract concept that has been approached and exemplified for the last decade by a transatlantic mix of innovative and at the same time sensual minds from many walks of life, including but not limited to artists and techies.

The Vienna festival Roboexotica has played a crucial role in inspiring and stimulating constant efforts in bringing forth original and classy contraptions that truely add to a cultivated environment. Moderate arts grants have guaranteed that with many hours of free labor added, an annual platform for the intoxicating results of more free labor by enthusiasts from around the world could be organized.

However additional sources of money need to be sought – in order to keep up with the ever-growing expectations we ourselves but more importantly those of our regular international contributors and visitors bear towards the Roboexotica festival and which are raised in onlookers over internet and old media. Every year there are more interesting projects that need help paying for travelling costs. Every year we need more qualified assistance during the event which can’t be received for free. With increasing number of projects and use of varying venues, the number of surprise costs increases … I could go on.

Is Cocktail Robotics in general endangered?
No. Not if you get in touch right away and find out how you can hire one of the cocktail robots in your neighborhood for your next show opening / wedding / rocket launch.
The Roboexotica festival though is in a phase of transition.
It is not clear at this point what form the event will take this year nor is the date confirmed yet.
Changes are discussed for the future – like moving the event to a friendlier time of the year than Nov/Dec. The future being discussed means there will be a future.
Maybe in your hometown, if you pledge 30.000,- right now!

(smaller donations welcome to help feed the caffeine addiction of the humans involved)

Link:
http://roboexotica.org

Goals:
10.000,- by Oct. 2009 Roboexotica 2009
2.000,- by April 2010 Robogames 2010 Bartending competition
5.000,- by April 2010 Roboexotic-US event
25.000,- by June 2010 Roboexotica 2010 (if majority of contributions from overseas, meaning US in this case, Roboexotica will be held in San Francisco)
10.000,- by Dec. 2010 for stipends and development projects

By donating before Oct. 2009 you could help the following US cocktail roboticists realize their projects in Vienna: Sam Coniglio, Stuart Ferguson, Evil Mad Scientist Lab, Simone Davalos, David Calkins, Christopher T. Palmer, Mitch Heinrich and others!

iLush, Gold Bartender of Robogames

Stuart Ferguson's robot bartender iLush had in fact already won last year's Gold medal at Robogames. Actually Roboexotica has been in contact with Stuart in order to get iLush to roboeXotica Dec 2008. But due to unfavorable circumstances they didn't make it and so the first chance yours truly had to lay eyes on the contraption occured at this year's robotic equivalent to the Olympic games - Robogames 2009 ... where, as already reported,  it promptly won Gold again.

Watch iLush mix several drinks in the video below:

Basic data: mixes four Martini cocktails, which are configurable in size and dryness. Touchpad user interface. Glass magazine holds up to eight cocktail glasses. 

But most importantly - I can attest to that it doesn't just look shiny with it's blinky lights, but it also mixes pretty decent drinks! 

dorkbotSF 7th Anniversary Party

Last week Saturday I saw some crazy ass electric demonstration in Oakland involving the giant Tesla coils pictured above ... a light bulb was powered by electricity transmitted throught the air while sparks flew and didn't fail to mesmerize the watching crowd.

Inside the venue of the dorkbotSF 7 year anniversary party there were several other interesting contraptions being displayed and presented in talks. Alas I didn't get much of the performance involving a 1928 Hogan "medical" electrocution device due to large crowds, which was made up by the who is who of Bay Area robot dorks, occupying the better seats.

V. Vale had a table selling REsearch books; I left a few copies of theRoboexotica book with him (and my no-longer-needed extra battery & charger for the lost Lumix camera)

Robogames Bartending Results

The bartenting competition's winners have just been awarded their medals. iLush (to left in the pic above) came out on top, followed by Fairy Juicer and Cosmobot. Stuart Ferguson's creation had already won Gold last year and winning against such tough competition can apparently be perhaps be attributed to the fact that it was the only bot this year that was able to serve more than one specific drink, since versatility was one of the judging criteria.

More on all the winners soon on this blog.

Robogames 2009 Final Day

The hordes of combots have been weeded out as the fights get fiercer in the arena. The judging of the artbots has been completed. The humans are running on empty batteries. Cocktails are being prepared and served by robots. Candyfab is printing 3D objects from sugar.

It is the third and final day of the world's largest robot competition in San Francisco. I am missing my camera right now so I switched to my phone-cam.  Lots of photos are still waiting to be uploaded to the interwebs, lot of video waiting to be processed. Several robots will require their own post here at a later time.

Lots of family fun still to be had. Off to enjoy the last few hours now.

New Competition at Robogames: Humanoid Mechwar

This promises to be a fun new category among the over 60 competitions at Robogames 2009 - Humanoid Mechwarriors battling each other with BB gun ammunition and other weapons.

Below are two videos showing preparations of a Robonova for combat in the Mechwar arena. The first one shows how motions are captured to be programmed into the remote. The second shows target testing with live ammunition.

Robogames start this Friday June 12th at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.

Schmello Bot the Smores Chef

Greg, the Robogames intern has come up with a marshmellow roasting robot, which he showed off in the Mills Valley kitchen of Robogames organizers Simone Davalos and David Calkins.

Others would add now "Don't try this at home." or something like it. But I just can't get myself to do that. On the contrary, let me urge you to reproduce this experiment! 

Josh Ellingson exhibit in Second Life

When I read the announcement a few days ago on Suicide Bots that Josh Ellingson, the artist that had designed the Robogames 2008 poster, would have his first exhibit in SL at the Museum of Robots, I got all excited because the art on the poster was impressive. And indeed Josh - or Grover Zelin in SL - did deliver.
Highly recommended!

Photos on my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shifzr/tags/joshellingson/

My roboeXotica Diary

Photos and video clips from Roboexotica 2008 in Vienna, the 10th annual festival for cocktail robotics. Covering mostly the exhibit in (and in front of) Museumsquartier, it also includes scenes from Chris Janka's live performance "spark guitar", Hannes Krebs & Marco Eneidi's freejazz gig at VEKKS as well as a passage of reading by Rainer Tramin.

HERO-1 re-examined: It's a Cocktail Robot

The 1980s robot HERo-1, which we had always assumed had cocktail-robotic potential actually proves to have performed such duties assigned to him by his creator, youtube user wendylouwho:

"HERO the Robot, built in 1983 by the author, was programmable and tended bar at parties, just like R2-D2 in Star Wars! I did this for the humor when I was young & crazy (I no longer drink). Mostly, I was fascinated by having a full featured home robot."

We are pleased to once more be able to re-write the history of cocktail robotics and salute this particular plastic little pioneer!

Gearing up for Robogames

Mister Robotics declares:

"... it's robot season! As robot season gets bigger and
better in our sixth big year, here's a whole slew of robot excitement to
get you pumped for this year's RoboGames (just over a month away!)

Three Extra special pre-RoboGames events to get you ready - pick one or all
three!"

Sat, May 9th - Laughing Squid's Super Secret Robot Party

Sat, May 16th - Combat Preview and Beer Party at Lagunitas
Robots And Free Beer: What Could Be Better? Only 100 lucky party-going people will be able to party with us at the Lagunitas Brewery!

Mon, May 18th - Terminator:Salvation
One of the perks of being the last up against the wall when the revolution comes is all the cool free stuff, and RoboGames is happily passing along the pre-apocalyptic joy to you! The first 100 people to buy two tickets to RoboGames 2009 will receive a complimentary pair of passes to the "Terminator: Salvation" sneak preview!

If I was across the ocean I would no doubt opt for all three!
Robogames is happening June 12-14 - follow @RoboGames on Twitter to stay updated.

Fairy Juicer (roboeXotica Video)

This cocktail-robot was presented at Roboexotica 2008 by Mitch Heinrich and won the Annual Cocktail Robot Award in the serving category ... to get an absinth you have to squoosh "the green fairy".

Our Stimulus Package for California

Help Austrian Cocktailrobots travel to the US and provide Californians with a cerebral stimulus package in spring 2009! Donate now with paypal or CC.

Austrians have a 10 year tradition of building cocktail-mixing and serving robots, like this one, or that.
And robots with other achievements in the sector of modern cocktail-culture, like this one, or that.

We (the people doing the annual Cocktailrobotics-festival ROBOEXOTICA since 1999) want to bring a couple of the local pieces (and their makers) over to San Francisco's Bay Area, so that Californians too can enjoy a rich cocktailrobotic environment. By now we can look back on two years of successful roboexotic ventures overseas: 2007 we sent our emissaries to Maker Faire and Robogames, where Chris Veigl's Cockbot One won Gold in the bartending robots category. 2008 Roboexotica was present at Maker Faire again and for the first time we held a dedicated cocktail-robotics event in SF (very much evoking memories of the early years at VEKKS)... the Roboexotic-US, a cooperation with the makers of Robogames who had been regulars at Roboexotica with their own award winning bots for a while.

This year we also have a book to promote: the catalogue we published last december commemorating 10 years of Roboexotica, featuring texts by participants like Karen Marcello, Cory Doctorow, Douglas Repetto, Kal Spelletich and others.

If we get around $1000,- we’ll be able to send an emissary to promote cocktailrobotic values, represent Austrian efforts in the field and carry a few books with him or her.

Between 2000,- and 5000,- will provide for a scalable delegation with robots being sent over.

>5000,- means we can seriously consider sending Robomoji, which we have been debating. Fact remains shipping of this collossus will need some serious sponosorage.

Thank you very much for helping us help you get intoxicated stimulated!

roboeXotica on boingboing Video

Oh, Eddie Codel's video report of roboeXotica 2008 is turning up!

(via boingboing)

FUCK the music industry

(or at least the part going after youtube uploads)
I am using fould language on this blog for the first time (as far as I recall) to comment on the ongoing disabling of youtube videos on behalf of retarded, anally retentive, copyright-abusing music companies.
A) It has been pointed out by far more competent people than me that it does not hurt sales to have fan-uploaded music clips on youtube, so I don't appreciate it if a music video I have favorited is suddenly unavailable.
B) Much less I appreciate when a video I have uploaded, which documents a party in Second Life and which's acoustic atmosphere (the atmo as we call it in the trade) consists largely of the music the DJ happens to be playing, gets muted. This seems to have been action taken by youtube without intervention from outside, it seems their AI found matching patterns in the sound track or something and youtube took pre-emptive action, something we call "vorauseilender Gehorsam" in german and which as a mentality helped the Nazis assume power and perpetrate their crimes greatly.
C) I do absolutely not appreciate nor understand or think it somehow excusable when a video-documentation about the first virtual strike, held by IBM workers in Second Life gets pulled. I don't even recall any music in that video, but undoubtedly there was some used. "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by WMG." WMG ... Warner Music Group? FUCK them.

Let me close my protest with a music video by some folks who I hope will be happy having the world watch their work ... an optimistic view into the future when human idiocy will be extinct:

QA, Dexter & Monty

anybots presented their telepresence robot prototype QA at CES, which is quite humanoidly shaped, except navigating smoothly on Segway-type lower extremeties (and lacking arms).
On their web-page anybots present two more robots in development which arose my interest -
Dexter, a bi-ped with the ability to jump and run.
And Monty, a potential cocktial-robot, which "has one fully articulated hand (driven by 18 motors) and one gripper, and balances on two wheels".

Best part: Monty is already being trained in dish-washing, well, at least in putting dishes in the washer.

ACRA 10.0 Winners

The tenth Annual Cocktail Robot Awards have been handed to these recipients:
SERVING
Sloth (Kal Spelletich) and Fairy Juicer (Mitch Heinrich, David Fine)
MIXING
K&K Kavalier Klavier and Construction Wanker (both FH Joanneum)
CONVERSATION
Chassis (Al Honig, Jon Foote)
SMOKING CULTURE
temporarily suspended - no according entries ... shame on you humankind!
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
reprap shotbot (Bre Pettis, Marius Kinkel, Philip Tiefenbacher) and Rimshot bot (Chris Thomas Palmer)
HUMAN SUBJUGATION
Gina (FH Joanneum)
MOST LEGALLY CHALLENGING
Robovox (Martin Bricelj)
REPRODUCABILITY
Lego shotbot (Anthony Fudd)

And four limes were awarded to:
Sloth - most spectacular fail
Globo - stickiest, ickiest
Drill-Pro-Mill - most displaced in cocktail environment
Construction Wanker - most politically and genderifically incorrect


I'll try to follow up with detailed posts on the individual entries ...

roboeXotica opening photos

Mine, Bre Pettis's, Eddie Coddel's, Christopher T. Palmer's

ROBOEXOTICA - the book

In time for the opening a catalouge has been published to commemorate the tenth ROBOEXOTICA.

Thanks to the good friends who contributed texts to the book ...
and all those who made Roboexotica last this long!

UPDATE: Now available on Amazon.de!

roboeXotica Opening: Yes we Did!

My bet for the first photos and coverage is on SuicideBots.com ... who sent their own Head Rotor aka Jon Foote (who is with Chassis which is making friends with the crowd as I speak ...

Now here's for my VIP guest blogger Kal who will give his first impressions:
OMG i am sooo drunk, this damn festival, robots spewing, dripping, oozing and dumping every perceivable concoction down and all over me!!
AAAAAAHHHH! and, the Ladies!
wowsa!
if only i could get some of them away from MAGNUS

anyways
yeah,
amazing horsepitality and technology and psychology~
peace out
kal

Back to the Future - roboeXotica Symposium

ROBOEXOTICA Chief Theory Officer Günther Friesinger of Bureau für Philosphie and his team put together the conference which accompanies this year's Festival for Cocktail Robotics

Here's the abstract:

Back to the Future – of Utopias in Cybernetics and Robotics

The Roböxotica – an event which is unique due to its scientific standards, its sincerity and its sophisticated way of entertaining, dealing with cybernetics, robotics and their contexts – is going to take place for the 10th time this year. As in previous years the international exhibition will be framed by an ambitious supporting programme: next to the established movie showing there is once again going to be a complementary conference on the main topic.

With its spheres of work so far Roböxotica has always been clearly committed to the up-to-date critical discussion of questions of cybernetics and robotics. Not least on the occasion of the upcoming anniversary of this event, which has become a tradition in the best sense of the word, 2008 will be themed around Utopia. With the title ‘Back to the Future’ not just the field of science and social fiction and its innovation generating potential will be addressed; the aim is rather to also focus on a discussion of the fundamental questions in cybernetics and robotics as well as their social realities in view of the socio-political buzzword ‘Utopia’. The technological possibilities and challenges of the commencing 21st century have led to a growing closeness between man and machine; we take it from reputable scientists that the actual existence of artificial intelligence is only a matter of time now. We are faced here with a clash of technical innovations with societal conceptions of a norm or, respectively, the common call for legal definitions – which is why, despite all its positive aspects, for example in human medicine, the powerful Utopia more often than not appears to be a nightmare. The realisation of the ‘Cyborg’ concept seems to be closer and more realistic than ever, the need for a constructive critique of all these questions is obvious and cannot be neglected.

Technology as applied, socially implemented technics therefore influences scientific discourse: cybernetics as the science of the structure of complex systems and its side effects has become the object of discussion as a university subject. The elements of human science which are actually rooted in the basic principles of the subject act as a necessary supplement to the technicistic perspective it transports and perpetuates. As it were, social reality – and this has also always been part of the mission of Roböxotica – needs interdisciplinarity and the aforementioned elements to be able to deal with the structural development ‘artificiality’-‘naturalness’, eco-political and military transfer and order processes and esthetical debates with a high factor of possible societal impact (e.g. cyberpunk – (post)cyberpunk) in a reasonable and appropriate manner. Due to its alignment, frequency and impact, the Roböxotica offers an ideal opportunity to practically and theoretically present and communicate these complex topics barrier-free and in an appropriate context.

Saturday Dec 6th, 4pm-8pm, Raum D, Museumsquartier Wien
Eddie Codel, Bre Pettis, Jens Ohlig, Martin Bricelj, Thomas Ballhausen, Kal Spelletich, Christopher T Palmer, Evelyn Fürlinger, Melinda Richka, and more. Host: J. Grenzfurthner

Panel 1
Smartass reloaded? - AI and the Future Role of Cybernetics.
Keywords: Upgrading Humanity - Rethinking the Role of Cybernetics as a Meta-science - Neuroscience
Panel 2
Rest in Pieces? Cyberpunks, Cyborgs and the Complexities of Discourses.
Keywords: Cyberpunk/(Post)Cyberpunkt - Aesthetical and Political Debates - Military-Entertainment-Complex - Interdisciplinarity
Panel 3
The Policy of the Artificial: Strategies, Tendencies and Perspectives.
Keywords: Input from Panels 1+2 - Utopia/Dystopia - Rethinking the Roles and Modes of Cybernetics and Robotics - Concepts of Meta-science

roboeXotica schedule online

ENGLISH / GERMAN

roboeXotica 2008 program outlines

As our webpage is notoriously outdated (and our webmeister notoriously over-worked), let me provide you with a preliminary outline of this years's festival program (the german version of the program is online "already" though)

dec 4
7pm opening starts outdoors at the Robovox installation just outside Freiraum/quartier21, where the ceremony proceeds with Live music at 8pm.
dec 5
6pm Literature Reading 8pm taugshow #17 / metalab, Rathausstr. 6, 1010 Vienna
dec 6
4-8pm Symposium Back to the Future / Raum D
dec 7
12am Film Brunch / Raum D 3:30pm artist round table / Freiraum
7pm Annual Cocktail Robot Awards - The Decision
dec 8
6pm Liquidator Performance / Freiraum
dec 12
10pm Back Stage Party / VEKKS, Zentagasse 26, 1050

exhibition: dec 5-14 12am-10pm / Freiraum/quartier21, Museumsquartier Wien, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna
dec 5-7 international cocktail robot show
dec 8-14 10 years Roboexotica

Preview: Roboexotica 2028

Until we decide to release more details on this year's roboeXotica [Dec 4 - Dec 14, Museumsquartier Wien] - I'll leave you with this video tip:

At 21min45sec we learn what the future of cocktail robotics will hold.

(thx jg)

Just in time ...

... for the strenuous ROBOEXOTICA season, comes along this robotic innovation.
An exo-skelton type device that is designed "to help the user walk, crouch and stand without excessive stress on the hips, knees and ankles."
I just wish the technology was already built into pants and I was lucky enough to get a pair of prototypes to review!
The Honda robo legs run on two motors and weigh less than 15 pounds. "The lithium-ion battery is good for two hours of crouching or walking — an interval that matches up nicely with break times."

Sadly I cannot expect to benefit from this device anytime soon - presently it is being tested by Honda assembly line workers.
Maybe I should be renting a HAL then?

(via wired)

Video of last year's ROBOEXOTICA opening

A few video-shots with my photo cam from last year's opening of ROBOEX07ICA Festival in Museumsquartier.

Talking towards the end of the clip: US Cultural Attache Katherine Perez.

roboeXotica 2008, opening Dec 4th: see post below.

roboeXotica - coming soon!

The tenth ROBOEXOTICA is coming closer with big steps, just two month to go!

We expect some very interesting new candidates for the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards 10.0, like this really nifty creation you can get a glimpse of at Jamie Price's flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28127470@N03/

This year's festival will see a main event from Dec. 4-7, with the Freiraum in MQ hosting the exhibit of cocktail-robots from near and far, climaxing in the ACRA ceremony at the Volkstheater's Rote Bar. Followed by a modified exhibit that will focus on the documentation of a decade of ground breaking cocktail-robotic events, lasting thru Dec. 12th.

A Good Robotic Week

First there was news of an omelette frying Chief Cook Robot, followed by notice of Innoc's robot sail boat Row-Bot winning another contest making it ruling robot sailing world champion.

Today finally there was news on TV about an Austrian with two full prosthetic robot arms showing off his banana pealing and eating skills, the device is cleverly hooked up to his brain and with a little training many manipulations are learnable for the onboard computer, so that the arms can easily be operated by thought. No internet links for now, but we have heard of the institute's neuro-scientific achievements in the past.

SERVO Article Published

The SERVO article on ROBOEX07ICA mentioned earlier is available online now - Link.

Wednesday May 15 - Roboexotic-US Closing Night

Rumors of a cocktail hour or two on Wednesday night are thickening to a degree where it seems appropriate to send out an invite -
If you missed the opening, visit us at 360 (!) 5th St. SF, Cocktail Hour(s) starting at Wednesday 9pm.

Anthony Fudd's Horton

Behold Horton the robotic elephant pour one of our plants shots of pure clean water.

If needed Horton could be told to pick up additional ingredients for a well balanced nutritious plant cocktail.
Here's another short vid of a test-run on the floor.

Roboexotic-US - Wired Gallery

The Wired Gallery of our opening is online, 9 great shots each with a witty paragraph of text. Our press department is happy.

Roboexotic-US Exhibition

Firstly, thanks to all who made the grandiose opening on Saturday happening - Simone Davalos, David Calkins, Skot Kuiper of Space, the exhibitors, the helping hands and the crowd who were eagerly embracing cocktail-robotics.
Tonight the exhibit will be open to the public between 8-10pm, at 354 5th St. SF - the entry is different from the party, it's next to the window-room, where you will be able to see the robots from outside.

Roboexotic-US Opening

Yesterday night - finally - I had a chance to see Chassis serving beer (Al Honig, one of the creators informed me it's easily possible to serve pre-mixed cocktails) ... beautiful Chassis! Sprung right out of a 50s science fiction fantasy he rolled about and poured people delicious beer. And communicated via a human operator, who lent the service robot's performance during the evening an even more crowd pleasing quality.

For the bestest photo shots turn to Scott Beale's Laughing Squid blog and follow the links to flickr!

Another novelty for me to see was Anthony Fudd's Lego Shot Bot which served two alternative shot drinks, but could also be made to mix a drink from two ingredients. I talked with Anthony about avenues for the future regarding cooling and mobility and got the impression he might be eager to join the competition of cocktail-roboticists called Annual Cocktail Robot Awards ...

Finally, here's a short notice on yesterday's Wired blog - with promises of more photos today ...

Roboexotic-US preview

We had a couple early birds drop by the venue yesterday night, among them cnet journalist Daniel Terdiman - see his article..

Here's a clip of El Borracho serving his first flaming cocktail this season:


Join us tonight May 10th at 354 5th St. San Francisco to get a glimpse of the strange and wonderful world of cocktail-robotics! Opening 8pm.

Drunken Combots at Maker Faire

Talking of Simone - this video comes via her blog, Suicidebots.com:

... starring a spinning beer keg turned fighting robot - Beer Bash!

Article in June 2008 Servo Magazine by Simone Davalos - Preview

Simone Davalos who built one of the award winning cocktail-robots at Roboex07ica, wrote an article for Servo magazine to appear June 2008, of which I present you an exclusive preview:
"[...] Participants from around the world brought their machines to vie for the top awards, which go to the robots that best fulfill the stringent and exacting standards of the judging categories: Serving, Mixing, Conversation, Fire and Smoke, and Special Achievements. Other sub categories this year included Persistence, Environmental, Most Welcome Off-Topic entry, and Best Swiss Entry, about which more later on.
The Freiraum machine gallery space at the Museumsquartier in Vienna was crowded with old favorites and some promising up-and-comers. David Calkins, founder of RoboGames, showed up for his third RoboExotica with Chapek, the snarky arm-swinging bartender bot with glowing red eyes. Chapek razzed the crowd and made vodka or gin martinis as well as inappropriate comments to young women. Chapek ended up taking home the Cocktail Robot Award for the Conversation category at the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards, which took place the last night of the festival.
Robert Martin brought back RoboMoji, a popular machine and four year veteran of the contest. RoboMoji makes mojitos with a chain-drive conveyor belt, mechanically actuated lime squeezer and mint muddler, and automatic shot pourers. The drinks are tasty, but take a bit of patience while the machine does its thing. Robomoji's parts are handmade out of aluminum for an industrial effect with a sugar-coated ending. Watching the process is fascinating when it's running flawlessly, and even more fascinating when the machine breaks down and the creators swarm over it to find the problem (rule one of robotics, especially cocktail robotics: robots break). For this reason, RoboMoji was awarded Honorable mention in the category of Patience.
Chris Veigl's Mind Reading martini maker, the winner of the Mixing category, collected EEG scans of the drinker's brain to determine how strong a drink the drinker is to receive. The more relaxed alpha waves the machine can detect, the stronger the drink. Since everyone there had been previously relaxed by other offerings, great amounts of gin and vodka flowed from the generous mindreader.
[...]
RoboExotica 2007 was not without its other mishaps. The winner of the Fire and Smoke category, El Espanol Borracho, offered up a stunning display when the flamethrower got stuck in the 'on' position and lit both its creator and the floor on fire. Luckily there were no injuries, as bystanders were laughing too hard to douse the flames effectually.
When it was repaired, ESB made excellent Spanish Coffees. With a press of ESB's Big Red Button, Kahlua and sweetened coffee mixture were poured into a rocks glass, and a small shot of the Austrian liqueur Stroh 80 was floated over top. Many would-be drinkers were warned away from grabbing their drink prematurely, as the final touch is a three second burst of butane/propane flame to add “flavor”. [...]"

And apropos - the publishers of Servo were among the judges for the bartending bots at Robogames 2006 ... and apparently fancied Chris Veigl's Cockbot One.

Simone - thanks for this entertaining and informative write-up!

Roboexotic-US - A Call for Roboticists

ROBOEXOTICA - the festival for Cocktail-Robotics - is inviting you to bring your contraptions to our first US exhibit/cocktail-party/mini-festival, if it shows any of these behavior patterns:
- serving drinks
- mixing drinks
- activities in smoking culture
- bar conversation
- other achievements that fit into the sector of 21st century cocktail culture

Opening: may 10 8pm / 354 5th st. san francisco

For details or to participate please contact
dcalkins[AT]robotics-society.org or magnus[AT]shifz.org

... and if you don't have cocktail-robots to bring ... bring your friends!

PS: Finally I will get to see Chassis by Al Honig and Jon Foote!
And imagine my delight when a guy walked up to the ROBOEXOTICA booth at Maker Faire and asked if he could bring his cocktail-robot to show at Roboexotic-US.
Also showing: David Calkins, Simone Davalos, Anthony Fudd, Chris Veigl, monochrom, CTP, ... and more!

Roboexotic-US - A Call for Drinkers

"What could be better in life than robots and cocktails? Well, nothing! Roboexotica is the premier cocktail making robot event which happens in Vienna each year. This week it comes to San Francisco. Join us for good music, cocktails, and robots that pour you drinks, insult you, and test your BAC. Several different artists from around the Bay Area and Europe will be presenting their work for your imbibing pleasure." (quoting Simone Davalos)

Roboexotic-US - Opening May 10 San Francisco

Next Saturday the first US Robexotica exhibition is opening at Space, 354 5th St. San Francisco.
The Austrian cocktail robots that came to the Bay Area for Maker Faire will be joined by several local creations, ones that have been to Vienna for ROBOEXOTICA before, and some that haven't.
You are invited to join us at the grand opening on Sat. May 10th from 8pm-2am! The show runs for a week after that, information on opening hours will be posted here.

When I inspected the venue this week a lot reminded me of VEKKS, the original location in Vienna in a positive way - so the last minute change of venue seems to turn out to be a great thing.

Maker Faire 2008 Bay Area

Day One has been survived - many pictures wait to be uploaded, but some are ready to be viewed on Flickr.

Maker Faire Bay Area 2008: Cocktailrobots Inside

Does this robot know how you like your martini? Yes it does! Presenting the MindReading MartiniMaker and other award-winning cocktail-robots, the founders of ROBOEXOTICA, the world's leading festival on the matter, announce the American franchise of the cocktail-robotic plot to achieve world-domination meet the MindReadingMartiniMaker and others of the world's best cocktailrobots at the ROBOEXOTICA booth.

The grandiose Maker Faire is returning to the San Mateo Faire Grounds May 3-4, and the MindReading MartiniMaker is too. After it's world-premiere at last year's Faire it won big at the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards in Vienna, and in the meantime it's creator Chris Veigl has implemented some improvements that make it an even more precise and reliable cocktail-robot.

... Oh, and what about that American franchise thingie, you ask? Watch this blog for an upcoming post on the ROBOEXOTIC-US exhibition in San Francisco, May 10-15, organized by multiple ACRA winners David Calkins and Simone "Missy Suicidebots" Davalos!

Robot Soldiers make Human Comrades nervous, get discharged

What would your thoughts be if a lethally armed combat robot started pointing his M249 light machine gun in your direction - when apparently not told to do so?
Seems the US military is just as dastardly - they pulled out the three SWORD units that were deployed to Iraq last year, after "the gun started moving when it was not intended to move."
While the actual incidents happened already last year, so far no reason had been given for the withdrawal and the Army’s Program Executive Officer for Ground Forces, Kevin Fahey, felt obliged to note that the robots had never fired a shot when they weren't supposed to, at the RoboBusiness Conference in Pittsburgh.

(via Popular Mechanics)

Billion Euro Trashcan

Today ESA's first Automated Transfer Vehicle "Jules Verne" will be practicing machine-sex ("docking") with the International Space Station orbiting our lovely planet.
The Vehicle is a step forward in Europe's aspirations in outer space autonomy. It will help supply the ISS with needed goods - and will probably take back part of them as trash when it leaves the station again.
This time the ATV will stay docked for 6 months before it is going to be launched, packed with the space station's wastes, to eventually burn and die down.

Beer Pouring Robot

Chassis, which has actually been announced to participate in ROBOEXOTICA 2007, is officially finished now and Simone of SuicideBots has a nice little presentation video online ...

Hope to see the foaming fellow soon!

Robogames 2008

From June 13-18th 2008, hundreds of robots will descend onto San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, where they will compete for dozens of gold medals inside the Festival Pavilion.
Last year was great fun, and Chris Veigl's Cockbot One returned home with one of those treasured trophies.

Funding Your Robot

Suicidebots has a link to an article on how to fund your robot project on a page called Society of Robots ...
Covering dumpster diving and "begging like a hobo" it also has tips like:
"Yeap, companies are itching to give stuff away for free. Basically if you work at a company, and are working on a prototype, parts manufacturer companies want you to sample their parts in an effort to convince you to use them again for mass production. But I seriously doubt this is your case. But hey, why not apply for free samples, have them shipped to your 'company,' and tell them it is for a 'prototype' robot. Obviously this system can be abused, ruining it for everyone, so I won't tell you which companies are good victims. But it is usually the manufacturer of the part. ..."

The site has also other interesting sections including a forum and countless helpful informations, so have a look for the sake of your robots!

Gracious Living

Gracious Living is the appropriate title of this limited edition "Giclee"-print by Coop. The mail person brought it one early morning this week and since it will take me a while before getting it framed, I am unrolling it daily to admire it!

ROBOEX07ICA Post Scriptum

Three weeks after the festival's over, I am slowly recovering from my annual peak alcohol-consumption (and reckless sleep-deprivation) - simultaneously fighting off the consequences of a snowy winter settling on Vienna (*coughcough*) - and I am starting to try to complete the coverage of this year's cocktail robotics festival #1 ...

- Conference audio: The symposium has been audio-recorded and put online. Link (german AND english)
- eSeL, our official photographer this year, has created the flickr-group roboexotica.
- There has been some (printed) press coverage locally - DerStandard, Wiener Zeitung, Kurier, ... - but so far there seems to be less international stir created than last year.

Upcoming: next year ROBOEXOTICA will be celebrating 10th anniversary, look out for special events right here!
So far the next scheduled big cocktail robot event will be at RoboGames 2008 - and we are trying to raise money to hopefully be able to send Robomoji to win a medal this time.

[ROBOEXOTICA's 2nd Office in Second Life is always open for a visit, of course!]

A Closer Look at the ACRA-Winners

Wired blog has a closer look at some of the ACRA 9.0 winners: Chris Palmer's Brethalyzer Genii, Franz Ablinger's Gesundheit, Robert Martin's Robomoji, Roman Maeder's Holy Golden Milk+Wodcow and Misha á Crest's Explanator.
Oh btw Mr. Dempsey, the Explanator not only is an alcohol-producing musical instrument - it is also an alcoholic vapor dispenser, enabling you to consume Absynth by inhaling plus it is an absynth-filled "water"-pipe!

(Photo above, from Poetina's ROBOEXOTICA-set: Gingerbread replicas of ROBOEXOTICA-logo "Guzman")

ROBOEX07ICA Pictures

eSeL has taken a lot of pictures: Opening - Exhibition ... and has even started uploading them on flickr.

More photos taken by: Chris Thomas Palmer, Simone Davalos, Bre Pettis, Cory Doctorow.

My own camera got "lost" during ROBOEX07ICA, so my flickr-set is smaller than anticipated (and covers more of the build-up than the festival).

ACRA 9.0 Winners

While the cool kids are partying on at Bre Pettis' residence, the only thing keeping me from sleep is the urge to let the world know the winners of the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards 9.0 ...
In a late and dynamic gala there were prizes given away in more categories than ever.
At this point a word or two on the judgment system seems appropriate: The "secret judges" never knew they were judging when they were interviewed and the results of this method had interesting implications. Entries won categories that didn't previously exist.
So there were ten main winners this year who went away with precious gingerbread trophies crafted by poetina - replicas of ROBOEXOTICA's logo Guzman.
5 honorary mentions were formulated.
And there were 5 winners of a new kind of trophy awarded for meager achievments: Limes!

So here it is, the list of outstanding cockail-robotic manifestations shown at ROBOEX07ICA, with short notes on the judges' motivation:

SERVING
Explanator / Misha a Crest - Breathing might be THE future way to ingest herbal/alcoholic beverages
MIXING
MindReading MartiniMaker / Chris Veigl - way of determining ratio & innovative way around shaking/stirring
CONVERSATION
Chapok / David Calkins - the way he inspires drinking is quite authentic
FIRE & SMOKE
El Espanol Borracho / Simone Davalos - a) for not triggering the fire alarm b) only robot that includes flambéing in the preparation process
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
Blow Your Fortune / Chris Thomas Palmer - always knows what u should drink
PERSISTENCE
Gesundheit VI / Franz Ablinger - is hardheadedly trying to find a lasting configuration.
MOST WELCOME OFF-TOPIC ENTRY
Aktionsgruppe LN2.0 / FH Joanneum - good example of why and when humans are still needed in the cocktail environment
BEST SWISS ENTRY
The Holy Golden Milk+Wodcow / Roman Maeder - the milking proved to be a favorite human pastime
ENVIRONMENTAL
Perpetual Popper / Jaques Gallant - feeds people using only corn and sun

HONORARY MENTIONS
PATIENCE: Robomoji / Robert Martin - patiently adds assembling steps year by year (VIDEO)
VISIONARY: Robofriend 2 / Tom Heike first robot that combines mixing and mobile delivery
MOST CUTE AND SIMPLE UI: Rabbit's Revenge / FH Joanneum
MOST ACCURATE DEPICTION OF A ROBOT PENIS: Urinator / FH Joanneum
MOST VERSATILE: Explanator / Misha a Crest

LIMES
The Prisoner's Dilemma / David Fine - installation is a construction site
R.R. Shot-Bot / Bre Pettis- unfinished
Kalkohol / Johannes Grenzfurthner - causing floods is not an achievement
BF Ice Cube Gun / FH Joanneum - Vodka theft and militaristic behaviour
Urinator / FH Joanneum - ghastly impression makes drink undesirable
Bic-o-Mat/ Adrianb Dabrowski - no-show despite anticipated added features

(All other bots were in between so-lala and great and should return next year to try again.)

ROBOEX07ICA Opening

The ninth ROBOEXOTICA opened it's doors yesterday in Vienna's Museumsquartier. Artists and roboticists are showing their creations at the annual Festival for Cocktailrobotics, competing for the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards.

Pictured above is the American Cultural Attache Katherine Perez, admiring the achievements of her fellow citizen David Calkins - by now a ROBOEXOTICA regular - who is holding the world's largest (Guinness approved) robotics competition at home in San Francisco.

ROBOEX07ICA Bloggage

In exactly 19 hours ROBOEXOTICA 2007 will be officially opening, already there is some serious bloggage going on:
SuicideBots
BoingBoing
Gridskipper
Make:blog

ROBOEX07ICA: Nov 22-25, Vienna - Link to Schedule

Robots Abroad

It's the time of the year when robots from all over are traveling abroad to meet up with relatives and celebrate the Annual Cocktail Robot Awards, which are part of the world's first Festival for Cocktailrobotics - ROBOEXOTICA.

The ninth installment is about to start this thursday evening in Vienna - here are some first pics from the build-up at Museumsquartier.

Apropos

BTW, in case you haven't studied the updated schedule thouroughly enough - Comic-Superhero Cory Doctorow is visiting ROBOEXOTICA again.

(Part 5 of "1337" by xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.)

Updated ROBOEX07ICA Program Schedule

Thursday 11/22, 2007
Museumsquartier Wien, Freiraum
7 P.M.: Roboexotica 2007 and AiR Space opening.
Live - GameJew, Mr. Electric
On the turntables - DJ Borka, VJ Ozo

Friday 11/23, 2007
Museumsquartier Wien, Freiraum
10 A.M. - 10 P.M.: Exhibition
5 P.M.: DJ Ossi & Kilian
Museumsquartier Wien, Erste Bank Arena
1 P.M. - 5 P.M.: Symposium (in german language)
Thomas Ballhausen: Geister sehen. - Zur Veränderung der visuellen Kultur und ihrer (Seh)Räume um 1895.
Kerstin Ohler: Generating Ghosts 2.0 - Der phantastische (Erzähl)Raum und seine Bewohner als VR-Mechanismus.
Alexander Edelhofer: "Radio, live transmission."
Psychogeographische Industrielandschaften und Subkultur: Joy Divison, Manchester.
brut Konzerthaus, Lothringerstraße 20, 1030 Wien
8 P.M.: Recording of taugshow #15.

Saturday 11/24, 2007
Museumsquartier Wien, Freiraum
10 A.M. - 10 P.M.: Exhibition
5 P.M.: DJ Funke powered by sonance, DJ phonuel
Museumsquartier Wien, Erste Bank Arena
1 P.M. - 6 P.M.: Symposium
Sean Bonner: The inmates have taken over the asylum... but that's OK because as it turns out they are far more entertaining than all those stuffy doctors.
Jens Ohlig: Monkeys, typewriters, and the Markov chain reaction. Programming machines to write literature so humans don't have to.
Cory Doctorow: A Singular Metaphor - Why consciousness uploading, post-human existence, and life after the Singularity are popular today, and why science fiction is always about the present.
David Fine: The Consciousness Conundrum.
Bre Pettis: Machines: If you can't beat them, join them - The Apocalyptic Utopia.
brut Künstlerhaus, Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Wien
20 Uhr: Gold Extra - Black Box - Theater for eight remote controlled robots (in german language)
brut Konzerthaus, Lothringerstraße 20, 1030 Wien
22 Uhr: Paul Granjon - Reflections and Constructions of a Button Pusher

Sunday 11/25, 2007
Museumsquartier Wien, Freiraum
10 A.M. - 8 P.M.: Exhibition
2 P.M.: Grjasnaya Gallereya - The Inevitable Time Travel (Performance)
3 P.M.: Rainer Tramin
Wir sind wie Roboter? (Lecture in german language)
Museumsquartier Wien, QDK Veranstaltungsraum
11 A.M.: Filmbrunch
brut Künstlerhaus, Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Wien
6 P.M.: Gold Extra
Black Box - Theater for eight remote controlled robots (in german language)
brut Konzerthaus, Lothringerstraße 20, 1030 Wien
8 P.M.: Paul Granjon - Reflections and Constructions of a Button Pusher
Volkstheater Wien, Rote Bar, Neustiftgasse 1, 1070 Wien
10 P.M.: ACRA V9.0 - Gala of the Annual Cocktail Robotics Awards 2007

Since I posted the outlines of ROBOEX07ICA's schedule there have been some corrections and more details have emerged ...
Note the changes of the whens and wheres of Paul Granjon's Reflections and Constructions of a Button Pusher - both performances are at brut Konzerthaus and one has moved from Friday to Saturday!

The symposium's abstract has been posted on roboexotica.org:
Ghost In The Machine

AiR at ROBOEX07ICA

quartier 21's Aritist in Residence program hosts two of this year's participants - monochrom (who rent an office in q21 and are eligible to name a portion of the AiRs) have invited Make: Magazine's Bre Pettis and David Fine, who has had his hands in one of last year's ACRA-winners - the External Combustion Engine.

"What makes the Artist-in-Residence program of quartier21 so unusual is that in keeping with its broad understanding of art and culture it is not limited to fine art, but is also open to artists who often have no other access to studio programs, including media and sound artists, fashion designers, art theorists and critics, DJs, game designers, photographers, and filmmakers."

Coinciding with ROBOEXOTICA's opening on 22nd, the new AiRbase space will be inaugurated - it's the small room behind the bar inside Freiraum, which has been used by ROBOEXOTICA before.

The Humans Are Dead

The Humans Are Dead by Flight Of The Conchords comes without words via Suicidebots - and really, there's not much to say - just: WATCH THIS, MEATBAG!