BeatBots

Appearances

Sep

My Keepon updates

Posted by beatbots at 1:49 pm

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!

Become a fan on Facebook and follow My Keepon on Twitter.

Apr

Updates: DTI, Pictoplasma, RoboGames

Posted by beatbots at 8:00 pm

A few updates on miscellaneous BeatBots happenings:

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:

Marek spoke about Keepon, and the relationship between robotics and animation, at the Pictoplasma festival in Berlin on April 9, 2011.

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.)

Mar

The New Artist Project

Posted by beatbots at 10:00 pm

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.

UPDATE: Project page here. And a new video:

Oct

Keepon at Platoon Kunsthalle

Posted by beatbots at 9:46 am

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. (Or friend Soomi was a resident there last year.)

Jun

Keepon at Three Rivers Arts Festival

Posted by beatbots at 4:00 pm

Keepon is on display at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, an annual 10-day celebration of the arts in downtown Pittsburgh. During the weekend (June 5th, 6th, & 12th noon-6pm), Keepon is playing outside with kids at Point State Park in the Creativity Zone (sharing a tent with the Saturday Light Brigade). During the week (June 4th, 7th, 8th & 9th 4-8pm; June 10th & 11th noon-8pm), Keepon is in the gallery on the 3rd floor of 805-807 Liberty Avenue for the Art of Technology visual art exhibition, sharing floor space with local artists such as Lori Hepner and Burton Morris.

UPDATE: Photo by Renee Rosensteel.