[Katrin Baumgarten] has fourteen switches that are made to gross you out. From a button that retreats into its hole as your finger approaches, to a mysterious goo-oozing faceplate, to a hairy housing that gets aroused as your try to flip it on, the intrigue is enough to get you to try out the next creepy node in the network. There’s a clip of several different switches after the break and if that’s not enough she’s got more on her Vimeo channel.

Here at Hackaday, we may be somewhat divided in our opinions of Anime and Manga. We were all pretty impressed by this robot build(translated) though. We’re not totally clear on who actually did this build, but we can see a few pictures and a video on the site. The original doll looks to be roughly 3 or 4 inches tall, judging by the Eeepc keyboard that it is standing on. We counted 7 servos stuffed into this thing with a controller board hiding in the back of its hair. You’ll have to watch the video to see most of the details. It looks like there is one in the head, one in each shoulder, both hip joints,  and both feet. Though the motion at the end of the video is limited, we still think it is impressive. Creepy, but impressive.

note: the video is not embedded in the translated version. Just go to the non translated to watch it.

[thanks Francesco]

This [Dwight Shrute]-esque project will let you try out your taxidermy skills. Apparently you can acquire a ‘wetware’ mouse fresh or frozen from pet stores. We just need to wait until fall when our pantry is visited by the less-domesticated variety.

A travel-sized optical mouse acts as the replacement guts. Some creative dremeling brings the plastic housing down to a more acceptable shape. The furry bits need to be processed using the mouse taxidermy guide before they are fit over the electronics. What you end up with is a creepy peripheral that nobody wants to use.

If you’re into embedded clothing this stroke sensor is for you. As demonstrated in the video after the break, stroking the threads in a particular direction will create a circuit that senses and, in this case, turns on an LED. The concept uses two conductive buses on the back of a piece of neoprene. Conductive and non-conductive threads are then  added for a furry or bristly finish. When stroked perpendicular to the power buses the conductive threads come together and form a circuit.

For some reason this just seems a bit creepy to us but perhaps that’s only because we haven’t come up with the right application for the technology. We’re pretty sure that a sweatshirt with an LED marquee and a “hairy” back that you stroke to illuminate is the wrong application.

If they wanted to, [Levin] and [Baltus] could possibly crank up the spook factor by adding facial recognition and programming it to remember how certain people interact with it, then tailor its behavior to wink at different rates or become more shy or bold, depending on the personality of the person watching it. Of course, that would require that someone goes back to it more than once…

[via Glass Tumbler]

[via BotJunkie]