A company in Japan named TOTO makes Greenmax toilets and has decided to promote them with a robot action figure. TOTOROBO has a signature catchphrase, "Protect the Earth, GMAX! Ready - Switch, on!" This apparently has to do with the fact that the toilet is ecofriendly with a low-flush switch that uses only 4.8 liters each time.
LG's mascot now has a name. Feeney, chosen after a recent contest, is not only a Whisen air conditioner spokesbot in print, he has his own Olympic commercial in all his CGI splendor.
We cannot imagine that anyone missed the 2010 Super Bowl, but for those of you who may have missed a commercial or 2, robots were predominate in several of them. They had cameos in the spot for the Sorento, Intel and Waldos made an appearance in the ad for Vizio Apps. You can catch those and others via the link.
Evolta has turned green. He isn't nauseous; he is being used to promote Panasonic's new rechargeable batteries. The cellphone charm will come with selected packages of the eco-friendly batteries in Japan.
Sometimes a TV commercial inadvertently promotes another product, such as a download of the background music or clothing on a model. So when we see the USPS ad for Priority Mail that features the FemiSapien, we are impressed enough to make her our Must Have this week. Not only does she come loaded with 36 functions, 20 routines and 59 hidden functions, she can sing, dance and blow kisses. We bet WowWee is proud as punch of their spokesrobot, even if was only a cameo appearance.
This Dell commercial for their colorful Inspiron laptops, with the Chordettes song "Lollipop," almost makes us want to get one, but only if they prove they were made by robots. But we are seriously considering downloading the tune released in 1958.
Sohgo Security Services in Japan has a new bot. An9-PR has a 19" touch panel LCD monitor, 2 12" LCD monitors in the back and an electric bulletin board on top. He can provide both shop info and coupons to cell phones that have FeliCaHe and, with his camera, has face recognition and will approach perhaps unwilling shoppers. (It's kind of like when you don't want the team's mascot to notice you.) At least he has a sponge-like chassis so if he runs into you, it will be minimal anguish.
The service/security robot will be placed in shopping centers and other public places as a guide and can run for an hour at about 1km/h before automatically returning to his charger. An9-PR doesn't come cheaply and will cost ¥10,436,000 (~$109,587.00), with an additional ¥3.9 million for five years of maintenance costs.
This idea is wrong in so many ways. Moon Publicity wants to utilize robots to create ridges in lunar dust on the moon and then use Shadow Shaping technology to form logos, domain names or other advertising. Claiming to have a patent on this technology, the company has gone as far as selecting areas for prospective buyers to choose from. Their spiel reeks of strange, anti-environmental greed, don't you think?
"Creating images on the Moon provides a commercial incentive for turbo charging space travel technology. Shadows are only the beginning. These advancements will eventually place robots on other worlds building space stations and planting crops."
As much as we dig the Denny's Grand Slamwich commercials, we have to hand it to Chi-Chi's for this one. What else can we say but "Robot Snob want chicken and Chi-Chi's."
What to say about a majorly chained restaurant whose main claim to fame is offering up the greasiest, most carb-laden food on the planet? Only that Denny's new Grand Slamwich (1,320 calories, 89 grams of fat) commercials are awesome, dude!
In order to promote their 25th anniversary, Casio came up with G-shock Robots. Designed by Shiro Nakano, they seem to appear at various retailers in Japan. We expect that if enough bot-freaks pay attention and respond, we will see more of them in the States in commercials and maybe even real-life models.
Micah Carrick is not your average robotician (is that a real word?) He has now created the 5th generation of his FailureBot, a project that involves a "build a line" robot. After studying datasheets and searching through parts, he came up with the FB on a limited budget and from scratch. Kudos to him and his brainwaves. Hit his site and get extensive details.
We remember reading sci-fi by Heinlein, Asimov, and others in the 70's that gave us our first taste of Waldos (robotic arms.) This commercial brings the idea to fruition. It is for the Chevy Malibu and features the music "Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie. Rather nifty, don't you think?
TOTOROBO Hawks Greenmax
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