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We created Zingy as a robotic mascot for UK-based EDF Energy. In this TV spot (launched yesterday), he goes home with a new canine friend.
Agency: AMV BBDO
Direction: Joachim Rønning & Espen SandbergFor more information, visit zingy.beatbots.net and edfenergy.com/brand.
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Dance with robots at next week’s Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences! March 7, 6-10pm in Golden Gate Park. Details on the Facebook event.
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Keepon makes new friends.
Art by Greg Katz. -
Mellow Yellow! Four 10-second My Keepon spots airing in the UK this fall.
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BeatBots 2D for iOS - Keepon on your phone!
Our new iOS app has just been released to the iTunes App Store! BeatBots 2D puts an animated Keepon on your handheld device. Interact with the character through touch (he responds to poking & swiping), movement (the accelerometer detects shaking and gravity), and microphone input (he listens for beats in music or snapping).
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New Venturist: The Characters of RobotsBabs Carryer at New Venturist has profiled BeatBots in a blog series on robotics startups.
Featuring some recent photos of our Potrero Hill workshop:
“Marek and his vision are all about taking robotics to the next level of art and expression. That he can make a business out of it is to be applauded. I am clapping… now. Go BeatBots!”
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Consciousness is the creature of Rhythm. Bald and terse as the statement was, I now found it infinitely alluring. At each recurrence it broadened in meaning and deepened in suggestion. Why, here, (I thought) is something upon which to found a philosophy. If consciousness is the product of rhythm all things are conscious, for all have motion, and all motion is rhythmic.
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We’re working with 3D-fabricator Shapeways to bring you an opportunity to spiff up your My Keepon! The Shapeways My Keepon Challenge invites the designer/hobbyist/DIY community to create accessories (hats, glasses, belts, rocket packs, etc.) for the yellow fellow and to submit them for a chance to win a My Keepon, a Shapeways gift certificate, and a 3D print of the winning design.
Contest announcement and details may be found here.
Update: The winner is alimae’s Catwoman mask.
You can also check out the new BeatBots shop on Shapeways, where you’ll find full-scale and 1/2-scale models of Keepon that you can order printed in full-color sandstone!
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We’re happy to report that the My Keepon toy is coming along nicely!
Last week, the MyKeepon.com website went live with a new music video featuring the toy.
We’ve had wonderfully supportive interviews/coverage from Businessweek, Engadget, CNET Crave, MIT Technology Review, Automaton, Robots Dreams, and Adafruit. And our press release has just gone out on the wire.
My Keepon is available for presale in ToysRUs.com in the US (where it has made their Fabulous 15 List), and at other retailers around the world.
In other news, My Keepon saw his first public showings at World Maker Faire. Marek carried My Keepon around the Faire to the great delight of fans and Keepon noobs alike. The toy held up wonderfully to the enthusiasm, handling, and loud noise! We also printed mini-Keepons from yellow ABS plastic (with bonus googly eyes) on our MakerBot Thing-O-Matic and gave them to the most excited children (and a few very excited adults).
We’re as excited as you are that My Keepon will be hitting shelves in just a few weeks!
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Wherein Keepon's fans are a crafty lot.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve received a fantastic collection of crafty Keepon-gear from fans. Here’s some of their beautiful work!
You may remember Anna the Red from this Keepon-themed bento box. Well, Marek randomly met her at a sidewalk cafe in Brooklyn, and invited her to come to the Robot Film Festival. She was generous in giving us not just an autographed photo of the bento box, but also a plush Keepon:
Next, we have master knitter Taj Bortz who, at the request of Carol Reiley, created a warm and cozy cat costume (left) and prosthetic-arm sweater (center). Olgalyn Jolly created the orange super-hero sweatband and cape (right). With Halloween coming up, Keepon is looking for more costumes like these!
Finally, Taj also knitted this mini-Keepon for Keepon to take care of:
These craftswomen all ROCK. Thank you!
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Carnegie Mellon Today magazine has published an extended article on Keepon and BeatBots.
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RoboGames
Marek curated a robot short-film screening for the RoboGames Speaker Symposium in San Mateo, CA on April 16-17, 2011. This also served as a teaser for the upcoming Robot Film Festival in NY in July. Submit your robot stories for a shot at being featured on the silver screen! (Vimeo group here.)
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The Danish Technological Institute is using Keepon in a research project. We visited the Rosengårdskolen and Tornbjerg Skole in Odense, where the kids drew these fantastic pictures.
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Marek spoke about Keepon, and the relationship between robotics and animation, at the Pictoplasma festival in Berlin on April 9, 2011.
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Marek was in Oslo with a collaborative team of roboticists and artists to install and open our New Artist project, “How to Build a Dishwasher,” at the Kunstnernes Hus. If you happen to be passing through Scandinavia between now and June 19th, please check out these two robots—a performer and a spectator creating art together.
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"My Keepon" from Wow! Stuff
By popular demand, we’re going to have a toy version of Keepon made.
UPDATE: Please visit MyKeepon.com for more information.
UPDATE: Thanks to FastCompany, BotJunkie, GetRobo, Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET, HackADay, Ubergizmo, CrunchGear, and Gearlog for coverage.
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Plum TV’s technology show, Masters of Innovation, has created an episode about the Robotics Institute. We got a lot of great footage of Keepon interacting with kids at the Children’s School. The episode premiered on Plum’s resort cable network on December 23, 2010.
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Keepon will be on exhibit for the next few weeks at Platoon Kunsthalle, an incredible art/culture space in Seoul that is built from shipping containers. (Our friend Soomi was a resident there last year.)
