The Mistletoe Drone by San Francisco artists George Zisiadis and Mustafa Khan.
'Tis the season for Santa bots and Christmas drones. As spectators debate whether Christmas gifts will soon be drone delivered, others have taken creative approaches to dressing them up in mistletoe or sending life-sized St. Nick robots down the streets of San Francisco. From old school sites where you can IM Santa Claus to the wish list from latest space bot from Japan, here are a few Christmas highlights from the year of the drone.
Mistletoe Drone
This mistletoe-draped dragonfly DelFly Explorer drone descended upon Union Square in San Francisco last week to spread some holiday cheer. A project co-created by San Francisco artists George Zisiadis and Mustafa Khan, the drone hovered over unsuspecting pedestrians who offered to kiss for the camera. Khan also hosted the Robot Dance Party at SantaCon.
Santabot 2.0
The Santabot 2.0 short doc by Nick Brewer.
Keeping in the tradition of partying hard at SantaCons worldwide, journalist Nick Brewer made his Robot Santa a few years back for NYC Santacon. Retrofitted with arcade-style buttons, he tells his tale in a short documentary called “Santas On The Move: A Short Documentary About a Santacon Robot,“ which involves beer and posing for a thousand photos.
Santa Bot
Speaking of Santa Claus, why not IM jolly Saint Nick? Though in basic form, Santa Bot is online and is willing to take your wish list. He is also willing to share what he wants for Christmas: “A humanoid body.” Started by Marvin Minsky, a media arts professor at MIT, Santa Bot was created with an albeit spooky sense of humour. One message board shows that Santa plays shrink while asking about your fears, says he’s a carnivore, and will send the reindeer mafia after you—whatever you do, just don’t say “Die.”
Nano Retro Bot
If you’d rather see Santa IRL, check out the uber-adorable KidHoHoHo Santa bot by Kidrobot. A three-inch bot has a Mohawk under his red and white toque, he may be backed by a key, but is not a wind up bot (it’s just a retro accessory).
Kirobo
Created by Kiochi Wakata, the first Japanese commander to join the International Space Station, Kirobo has been dubbed the first robotic astronaut to leave planet Earth. The 34 centimeter tall, one kilogram bot answers human questions, and was created to be a conversational companion to people in isolation (i.e. astronauts in outer space). He looks a bit like part-Power Ranger, anime character or even draws a likeness to Astro Boy. Kirobo asked Santa for a rocket this Christmas, but we're not sure he'll deliver.