Technology moves fast. Often, you’ll be hard-pressed to force devices that are just a few years apart to interface. Sometimes though, it’s surprisingly easy. Aliencurv accomplished quite the feat in that regard by modifying a 1983 TRS-80 with 20kb memory to control a 2012 Wall-E robot. Sure, it’s not quite modifying a telegraph key to tweet, but I’d argue this is somehow crazier.

Not only is this a picture of a person wearing a cyborg suit made entirely of old Mac computers, but if you look next to the costumed person, you’ll find Chinese mutton-chopped Steve Jobs.

Japan is rebuilding a life-size RX-78-2 Gundam that stood in the artificial island of Odaiba back in 2009. Relocating the Gundam to Tokyo, the series of videos seen below the break cover the construction of the Gundam, in a convenient, time-lapse format. Luckily for the human population of the world, the Gundam doesn’t function as a real one, and is simply an intricate statue.

MorphHex is an ongoing robotics project by Kåre Halvorsen, also known as Zenta. His most recent development has been to equip a hexapod robot with curved polycarbonate panels for feet. The new paneling not only allows the bot to walk around like some kind of futuristic crustacean, but it also means it can retreat into a perfect ball. At the moment, the ball can’t roll of its own accord, but that functionality probably isn’t too far off. I would totally want one of these as a pet or something if I wasn’t 95% sure it would harvest my DNA in my sleep, or something equally nefarious. See a video of MorphHex in action, after the break.

There’s a really strong trend for modeling robots after insects (and mollusks!) for good reason. Those creepy-crawly guys have adaptable mobility down to a science. Thousands of years of evolution have resulted in mechanisms of locomotion that just make sense, so what better idea is there than to totally rip them off for robot designs? The Slug Crawler Vehicle from the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan sort of mimics the way a slug moves, and as a bonus, is completely covered in a waterproof, tread-skin to give it an extra edge.

What do you do with an advanced, voice-activated chatbot system that can help you search the web, call people, compose text, and generally organize your life? You have it talk to another chatbot, duh. That’s what you do if you’re if you’re Jordan Mechner, creator of Prince of Persia who sat down the iPhone 4S app Siri and had it chat with a somewhat older program ELIZA. You do that, and then you post it on your blog.

If you’re unfamiliar, ELIZA is chat program from way back in 1966. As you might expect, ELIZA is fairly uncomplicated and makes up for its simplicity by responding in the fashion of a Rogerian pyschotherapist, that stereotypical “and how does that make you feel?” sort of way. As a result, the converstation reads a little bit like a therapy session, ELIZA trying to get to the bottom of things while Siri manically goes off to search the web and look for hotels. It’s almost touching how if Siri states she can’t do something, ELIZA will ask if she even tried. Too bad Siri is too distracted to answer.

Read the whole conversation after the jump.

GoBots Transformers, everyone’s favorite robots in disguise, have found a new way to become even more unsuspecting. Made out of plastic canvas, magnets, cross-stitching yarn (or whatever it is you make cross-stitching things out of) this Optimus Prime can not only masquerade as a truck but also chill with all your other knickknacks. That’s right, this guy can still transform.

This awesome interpretation of Optimus Prime comes from Lord Libidan who’s fondness for Transformers and cross-stitch could not have found a cooler point of intersection. If that weren’t enough, Lord Libidan has also designed patterns for Jetfire, Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker, with Soundwave and Blaster coming soon. Now just the patterns are for sale on Etsy, so if you want these, you’ll have to learn cross-stitch. But seriously, what better reason could you possibly find?

The 2012 London Olympics are not that far off and, of course, there are many preparations in order, including deciding who will be involved in the traditional torch relay. The bearers are to be chosen through a nominations system (which is now closed, sorry) that is aimed to allow people with “inspirational” stories a chance to bear the flame. People with “inspirational” stories and also a robot, apparently.

James Law of Aberystwyth University nominated the iCub robot as a potential torch bearer, and not just as some sort of prank. Here’s Law’s pitch:

2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, the founder of computer science and a figurehead for the code breaking efforts of WWII. A robot torch bearer would be a fitting tribute to Alan Turing, and an inspiration to future generations of scientists and engineers.

People who can actually finish the iconic Ironman triathlon are practically machines, but now, an actual robot is going to attempt the same feat. The robot in question is Panasonic’s Mr. Evolta, created by Tomotaka Takahashi and mascot for Evolta AA and AAA batteries. Unlike the Energizer Bunny which just claimed that it kept going and going, Mr. Evolta plans to prove it’s endurance by completing the Hawaii Ironman.

As awesome as it would be, Mr. Evolta won’t be running with actually human contestants or held to the same standards. Instead, a number of concessions have been made to give the robot a comparable experience.  Since Mr. Evolta stands a scant 6.7 inches tall, it would be unreasonable to expect him to finish the race in standard human time. Instead, since he stands at approximately 1/10th the height of a normal person, he’ll be given ten times the amount of time to finish the race, about a week.

Meet Denise. She is not a real person, but instead, a personal assistant conjured up by Guile 3D Studio. She used to be a AI secretary, starting Aug 24th, she’ll be promoted to AI DJ at KROV in San Antonio. Denise cost a meager $200 when she was “hired” as a personal assistant to answer phone calls, Google things for people, check emails and make appointments. You know, the same kind of things you have your intern do after you’ve bought him for $200. It was radio personality Dominique Garcia‘s idea to promote Denise to DJ.

Don’t get too excited, Denise can’t actually fill airtime on her own. For the most part, she requires a human writer to script out what she needs to say. How is that any better than a traditional DJ? Money, dear boy. Apparently DJs demand thousands of dollars a year in return for their work, whereas a personal assistant for this personal assistant-turned-DJ can probably be found for only tens of dollars an hour.