Got $36,200 burning a hole in your pocket? Then have I got something for you! What you’re looking at is a desk clock which looks like some kind of creepy robotic octopus, and it’s simply awesome.
The meticulously crafted Octopod clock was made by MB&F and L’Epee 1839, and looks like the sort of robotic creature that a supervillain would turn loose on one of his victims. Sitting atop its eight spindly, articulated legs is a glass orb, which contains an intricate clock movement, and can rotate 360 degrees either horizontally or vertically.
While part of me is sad that it doesn’t actually crawl around, I’m also happy that this thing can’t find its way up onto my bed in the middle of the night, and inject its toxins while I’m sleeping.
Just 150 of the Octopod clocks are being made – 50 each with black, blue, or silver legs, and chances are there are enough fantastically-wealthy people out there that they will sell out quickly.
[via Digital Trends via Popular Mechanics]
Octopi are very intelligent creatures, and they want to be left alone. You try to get some footage of an octopus, and they will steal your camera because they don’t care about your silly YouTube channel. True story.
Check out this video of an octopus stealing a diver’s GoPro camera off the coast of Nice, France. The creature grabbed the submerged camera and swam off with it. The diver had to catch the octopus and pull it out of the water to get it to let go. I mean, the thing has eight tentacles, so it doesn’t let go easy.
Look people, always ask permission before getting footage of an Octopus.
[via Laughing Squid]
German industrial automation company Festo has another creepy creature to add to its menagerie. The Octopus Gripper. The origin of Doctor Octopus, Spider-Man’s foe, is right here people.
Octopus tentacles are a “muscular hydrostat,” like your tongue. This robotic tentacle is designed to flex and bend without a hard “bone,” or metal, structure inside. In place of water-based muscle, compressed air bends the robot tentacle and controls its pliability. Then passive and vacuum-powered suction cups provide grip. Right now, it can hold smooth, cylindrical items, like a rolled-up magazine or a tube, and I’m sure it will grip many other objects after they work on it some more. Check it out in action:
The octopus tentacle is actually attached to flexible arm called the Bionic Motion Robot, a flexible mechanical arm inspired by the trunk of an elephant. So basically what we have here is a half-elephant, half-octopus hybrid. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s pretty darn creepy. It won’t be long until they unleash a robotic elephant with eight octopus trunks, ready to rip us all apart.
[via Motherboard]
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I'm no parent, but I was sort of a lazy jerk as a child. While I eventually got my act together, I have to wonder if having something like the Octopus watch as a wee lad might have helped. Unlike other smartwatches for youngsters, which usually focus...
