Robocop
Latest
A Neuromancer TV series is coming to Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has ordered a 10-episode series based on William Gibson's book. It's the novel's first TV adaptation since its 1984 release.
'RoboCop: Rogue City' has been delayed to September
The latest RoboCop: Rogue City shows the cyborg police officer dealing out swift, gory justice to drug dealers.
Amazon completes its $8.45 billion takeover of MGM
The James Bond movies, 'RoboCop' and 'The Wizard of Oz' now belong to Amazon.
'Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown' arrives September 22nd, 2022
Nacon also announced a RoboCop first-person shooter and offered another look at 'The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.'
RoboCop is coming to 'Mortal Kombat 11' on May 26th
The next 'Mortal Kombat 11' DLC will add... RoboCop.
‘District 9’ director will helm new ‘RoboCop’
Neill Blomkamp, director of sci-fi hits District 9, Elysium and Chappie, will helm a new RoboCop film. MGM wants to revive the franchise with the appropriately-titled RoboCop Returns, which will apparently directly follow the 1987 original film -- and ignore the 2014 reboot.
Ford patent details system for autonomous police cars
This month, Ford was granted a patent for an autonomous police car. The car can work in cooperation with a human officer or by itself, and it can tell when a traffic law has been violated and act accordingly. These may be described as "autonomous police vehicles," but I'm just going to say what we're all thinking: This is RoboCop.
'Wilson's Heart': Inside Oculus' new psychological thriller
You come to as thunder crashes overhead. Streaks of lightning illuminate the room through gaping holes in the building's blown-out facade as you begin to take in your surroundings. But before you move on to the more pressing matters of why you're waking up in a mental hospital and why the building looks as though it survived an artillery bombardment, you'll first have to figure out how to remove the wrist restraints tethering you to this wall. The worst part is, this may well be the sanest part of your night.
A South Korean robotics company just built a real Gundam
We won't have to wait much longer for our Robotech future. South Korean robotics manufacturer Hankook Mirae Technology debuted its first prototype piloted mech over the weekend. Say hello to the Method-2.
ICYMI: Channel your inner magician with IoT controllers
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: If you've gotten chicken juice on your smartphone one too many times while trying to whip up a masterpiece in the kitchen, you may be interested in a motion sensor that you can control with a wave of your hand. There's the practical option, or the adorable. Do you. Meanwhile, an MIT study aims to understand urban decay and will next automate the process of scoring city photos to help with urban planning. The parody video your shortcut-obsessed friend needs to see is here, while the Silicon Valley Fashion Show story is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The Big Picture: The Congo's solar-powered traffic robocops
While Detroit waits for its Robocop statue, the Democratic Republic of Congo's one-upped The Motor City and installed a quintet of robots to keep an unblinking eye on any traffic-law violators. The Guardian reports that these solar-powered aluminum bipeds are armed with cameras to monitor the vehicle-piloting populace, and hand-mounted red and green lights to help regulate the bustling flow of city Kinshasa's some nine million residents. Each new, female-engineered unit runs $27,500 (cheaper than some SWAT 'bots), and the country hopes to add another 30 to the force in an expansion effort for monitoring its highways.
Must See HDTV for the week of January 20th: Black Sails, Sleepy Hollow and Workaholics
While football takes a breath before the Super Bowl in two weeks, others rush in to fill the gap. The NBA has a full slate of games scheduled for Sunday afternoon, while Starz will premiere its new Michael Bay-produced pirate series Black Sails (you can actually watch the entire first episode embedded after the break) on Saturday night. Netflix follows up its Oscar-nominated documentary The Square with another highly anticipated doc, as Mitt takes a look at the presidential candidate from inside his own campaign. Still, our eyes will be trained on the season finale of Sleepy Hollow tonight, and the return of Workaholics on Comedy Central later this week. Dead Rising 3 just pushed out a massive patch ahead of its DLC release tomorrow, while Blu-ray releases include Captain Phillips and a remastered version of the original Robocop. Check after the break for trailers plus our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
10-foot ED-209 model from RoboCop 2 storms eBay, demands $25k to comply
If you're a fan of RoboCop -- and if you were a child of the '80s, why wouldn't you be? -- then today might be your lucky day. A ten-foot-tall prop of the executive-gunning ED-209 is now available for purchase on eBay for the low, low price of $25,000. Okay, so that's not exactly cheap for what isn't even a real working bot, likely made as either a stand-in or a marketing piece. It also apparently needs a couple of wooden planks to stand on its own and was built for the infinitely less cool RoboCop 2. Still, did we mention this thing is ten feet tall? And its leg extensions contain metal bars and pneumatic cylinders? And there are real electrical connections below the legs there? Sure, it might not actually power up, but it's certainly more intimidating than the robotic officers we have now. So go ahead and bid on it if you have the cash; just keep it away from stairs.
Panasonic's hair-washing robot exterminates dirt, unauthorized humans (video)
Panasonic is now testing its hair-washing robot at a salon in Nishinomiya, Japan. Designed to care for the elderly or the physically less-able, it sprays water, shampoo and conditioner over your bonce while 24 robotic fingers knead at your scalp. The company claims that it offers a more satisfying and relaxing experience than a wash from a human, unless you remember what happened when Mr. Kinney tested ED 209. If you're in the Osaka region, you've got until June 10th to get down there and have a go yourself -- for everyone else, there's a video after the break.
MGM delivers 600 movies to YouTube and Google Play, gives you one more place to watch Robocop
With Robocop currently in rotation on both Netflix and HBO Go, you're probably wondering, "where else can I get my daily dose of media and cultural criticism delivered by a trigger happy law enforcement cyborg?" Well, YouTube and Google Play apparently. MGM has struck a deal with the folks in Mountain View to bring 600 of its titles to the streaming services, including the aforementioned dystopian-Detroit sci-fi classic. Of course, plenty of other top shelf titles will also be available to rent and purchase in the coming weeks -- including Terminator, Rocky and Rain Man. Unfortunately for those not in the northern portion of the western hemisphere the deal is only applicable to the US and Canada. This also means that, regardless of whatever struggles Google has had in the content distribution market, it now has four of the five major studios on board. Though, we wouldn't hold your breath for Fox.
Robo-guard the South Korean correction service robot says 'stay out of trouble' (video)
It sounds like the sequel that didn't even make it to DVD: RoboCop's jaded, rotund, less attractive younger brother, who never made the police force -- and tired of living in his sibling's shadow -- took a job as the next best thing: a prison guard. Well, that might not make the silver screen, but it's certainly reality TV. Meet Robo-guard, the world's first robotic correctional officer. Developed in South Korea, Robo-guard is equipped with 3D cameras that let it observe inmates, while special software looks out for changes in behavior. Should anything suspicious be detected, he'll raise the alarm. A lone wolf, he works his beat autonomously, but can also be controlled manually via an iPad, if human colleagues want to check what's going down. Initial field trials are under way right now, and if all goes well, he'll earn a place in more prisons. Who knows, he may even make deputy one day.
Robocop avatar items are part Avatar, part machine, all cop
We're always vaguely shocked when something genuinely awesome happens on the Avatar Marketplace, since the very idea of paying for promotional items for the little you on your Dashboard seems to negate awesomeness. But there it is. Robocop avatar items, promoting nothing, apropos of nothing and available, as far as we can tell, just in case people want Robocop suits, OCP t-shirts, or little ED-209 pets. Something about the randomness of it -- "hey, here's Avatar stuff from that one movie from 1987!" -- is appealing. Something else appealing about this: the trailer above was actually a contest-winning fan creation, by Giant Bomb user MoleyUK. The gear will be out August 25.
BodyGuard stun-glove leaps out of comic books, into the arms of LA Sheriff's Department
What's better than a seasoned crime fighter? How about a seasoned crime fighter packing a 300,000-volt punch? A new prototype stun-glove is poised to make such Robocop-inspired dreams a reality, integrating a non-lethal taser, LED flashlight, and laser guided video camera into a fetching piece of futuristic armor. Activated by pulling out a grenade-like pin and palming an embedded finger pad, the Armstar BodyGuard 9XI-HD01 sparks a loud and visible arc of electricity between its wrist-mounted taser spikes, a sight that inventor David Brown hopes will encourage would-be crooks to surrender. The gauntlet's hard plastic shell is even roomy enough to add GPS equipment, biometrics, chemical sensors, or other embedded additions, as needed. The first batch of pre-production superhero gloves will hit the streets of LA later this year for testing and evaluation. Need more? Check out the via to see Kevin Costner (what field of dreams did he walk out of?) take the edge off this shocker in a surprisingly dull video.
Brazilian police live out Robocop fantasies, test glasses that scan for criminals
In advance of the 2016 Olympics 2014 World Cup (and the thousands of visitors it'll draw), military police in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are testing glasses topped with cameras capable of scanning crowds for criminals. The camera analyzes 46,000 biometric points on up to 400 faces per second -- data that then gets compared with a database of up to 13 million people. If a mug happens to match a wanted person or known troublemaker, a red light will appear on a small screen connected to the glasses. And, in a twist particularly befitting Robocop, the glasses can purportedly be calibrated to zoom in from 12 miles away, though they'll typically be used to manage crowds at a much more personal 50 meters (164 feet). For now, local cops will use them to tame crowds (and likely brawls) at soccer matches and even concerts, but hope to eventually monitor those crowded World Cup stands. As for us, we're all kinds of curious. Where do those tens of millions of faces come from -- Santa's naughty and nice list? What if people wear masks? Or sunglasses at night?
Naked Florida man opens fire on SWAT bot with AK-47, no kidding
"Investigators say they've never dealt with a naked man attacking a robot before." So starts perhaps the most insane local news story we've ever heard. According to an ABC affiliate in Florida, a disgruntled man, sporting nothing more than his birthday suit and an AK-47, opened fire on a robot last week, after threatening to shoot himself and anyone who crossed the threshold of his home. The $65,000 SWAT bot was sent in to investigate, and captured every inch of the man on video before being pumped full of bullets. Deputies say the man eventually surrendered fully-clothed and was taken for a mental evaluation. No word yet on when or if the footage will be released in a Robo COPS: Disrobed and Dangerous Special Edition. For now, you can check out video at the source link below.
