Kricky The Alien Frog – Progress

I just received photos back from my manufacturer of the new [re]sculpt of my next toy, “Kricky The Alien Frog“. Originally it was going to be manufactured and released a couple of years ago, shortly after my first toy the “Broken Heart Robot” was released, but due to financial circumstances and other obstacles beyond my control, I was unable to continue through with moving the project forward.

Luckily, things are now moving forward. The manufacturer has been paid and the manufacturing process has begun (again.) The first step is re-sculpting the figure based on my design (see photos below of the sculpt.) After this, the manufacturer will make a wax pattern from the sculpt. I will be posting the progress here as I get the photos and samples in.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally, the Broken Heart Robot will have his side kick! Kricky will of course be released under my own toy brand GENSHI:TOY.

Broken Heart Robots Seen In Wired Magazine Article!

I discovered an interesting article today in the U.K edition of Wired Magazine. It talks of how researchers are experimenting with giving robots the ability to “sense” when their human owners are upset and to then avoid their angry owners.

What caught my eye though was that the picture they used for the article was one I took of my Broken Heart Robot toys! (did I mention I am a toy designer?)

Broken Heart Robots in Wired Magazine

I’m very honored that Wired Magazine chose my Broken Heart Robot as the image (inspiration?) for the story.

Coincidentally, since I’ve been experimenting with the Arduino platform and thinking about making an actual, autonomous robot… maybe I should program it to fear me as well!

The article was written by Katie Scott for Wired U.K. (Online editing by Holden Firth.) Article link: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-03/30/robots-taught-to-hide-from-grumpy-humans.aspx